2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, longlist
At the heart of the stories in Everything Flirts are some of life鈥檚 trickiest questions: Why is it so hard to make the first move on a date? How do we find the person we will love? If you finally find a person to love, how do you convince them to love you back?
With a mixture of humor and reverence, Sharon Wahl hijacks classic works of philosophy and turns their focus to love. The philosopher Wittgenstein helps us consider the limits of language: Does there exist an argument, a logical deduction, that will cause another person to love us? The philosopher Zeno鈥檚 laws of motion stipulate that we can only ever cross half of any distance. This principle is applied to a first date, where making a first move becomes more and more impossible because the movie this couple goes to see is a depressing mood-killer. A woman afraid of love applies Bentham鈥檚 utilitarian principles to find her perfect match, testing every man she meets until she finds one who aces every one of her tests. Nonetheless, she wonders: Is he right for her? Is she ready to fall in love forever? The sublime and the ridiculous come together to playfully examine why love just might be a topic too hard for philosophers to explain.
鈥淒elightfully clever and philosophically complex, the stories in Everything Flirts unfold like dreams, carrying you from one poignant love affair to the next. The prose is exquisite and seductive. The characters charm and disturb. And the collection as a whole lingers with you. Like a haunting.鈥濃擩amil Jan Kochai, judge, John Simmons Short Fiction Award
鈥溾楤eing human was sufficient camouflage,鈥 writes Sharon Wahl, in her witty new collection Everything Flirts, about a philosophical love life. The question of whether one should collect a cascade of packing peanuts or go to class brings on Wittgenstein. Einstein proves that nothing鈥檚 impossible, especially in love. Bertrand Russell's interesting for his kissing technique. Wahl redefines it all with autofiction. A rare and scintillating peek into the hearts of math and philosophy geeks.鈥濃擳erese Svoboda
鈥淗ere fiction and philosophy are paired like wine with cheese. . . . Wahl moves us through stages of relationships, from unrequited yearnings to breakups, creating subtle linkages and uniting the stories with her nimble, playful style. Surreal flashes of humor serve as a welcome counterpoint to the weight of Big Ideas. . . . these stories bring old concepts to new, vivacious life.鈥濃Kirkus
鈥淓loquent, elegant, deftly crafted, fun, and fascinating, Everything Flirts is an impressive short story collection that will hold special appeal for romance fans and philosophy students alike. Original and memorable, it is especially and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library Romance & Literary Fiction collections.鈥濃Midwest Book Review
