This Is Not An Accident by April Wilder

 

These eight stories and concluding novella are April Wilder's first book although her stories have been published in various collections and writing magazines.  The overarching theme is that while we think we can plan our lives, life will do what it wants and we are left to react.  The novella talks about a housesitter who agrees to the job for a few days, maybe a week or so.  Two years later, he is still there walking the dog and waiting for the soldier whose house it is to return.  When the dog escapes and is killed, he can't bring himself to give such news to a soldier in a military zone, perhaps being shot at.  The housesitter flees to another state where he lives with friends while deciding what to do.  

April Wilder is a writing teacher who lives in California with her daughter.  Wilder has written about her experience with getting pregnant which happened with her ex-husband four years after their divorce at a wedding where they drank a bit too much and fell into bed together.  This kind of experience is exactly what these stories are about, how life has a way of happening regardless of our plans.  This book is recommended for anthology readers of literary fiction.