Fiction. Art. It's possible to read LIFE RAFT as a continuation of
The Brain Harvest,
Nash's first story collection. The major themes of sundry infatuations, family relations, and the power of art to sustain us remain. But there is something new happening below the surface, lingering beneath each story. Something darker and more threatening than anything in
The Brain Harvest.
Yet, like with that first story collection, LIFE RAFT remains determined to reveal that art and imagination are perhaps the only way to safely traverse such dark waters.
"Life Raft," the title story of Nash's new collection, makes this creative strategy nearly explicit. Nine passengers are apparently lost at sea aboard a small, inflatable raft. They have been drifting for an inexplicably long period of time. How can they survive like this? Why is it taking so long to be rescued? The subtle, dry humour neither causes nor saves us from complete despair.