Read on, fellow voyager, fellow reader, read on in "the bright book of life," past the fantasy trilogy of AMERICAN ECSTASY.
Salman Rushdie reminds us that "The novel tells us things about ourselves that we hear from no other quarter." That's a mouthful to swallow in the age of the Internet, but I believe it's true. Every day, day in day out, there is human drama all around us and in us. It contains struggle, success, failure, irony, paradox, and contradiction.
The following seven books (six novels and a book of short alternate history stories) expand on the main themes and ideas described on the home page. In these works you'll meet Joseph Kaye, Henry Esparza, Frankie Croce, Andrew Pilger, Adrianna Romano, Joyce Munn, Ariana Rogers, Stiven Dedall, Julia and Roy Turner, Adolf Hitler and Franz Kafka, and people like Brenner and Erika, with only one name to identify them. They are troubled, disappointed, confused, anxious, striving, determined men and women bent on some kind of release and aspiration. These people appear in the following novels:
1. IF I DIE BEFORE I LIVE:
Andrew Pilger and Adrianna Romano, having lived together for two years, decide to take a vacation on Montauk Point, Long Island. The want to know where their lives are going and what will be their next step as a couple. They never get the opportunity because once they are settled at The Sunset Inn, Andrew goes for a walk and doesn't return. The novel then follows Andrew on the beach and Adrianna at the Inn as she awaits his return. Has Andrew consciously decided to escape or has he let events take their course?
2. THE EVENTS AT VISTA BAY:
When Roy and Julia Turner retire to an upscale 55-and-over condo complex at Vista Bay, Roy finds himself swept up in local politics and inter-generational conflict while his wife finds new business beyond the complex and a boyfriend. As Roy focuses on the gulf between the few rich and the many poor, and on the conflicts between age and youth, Julia finds much more personal matters to attend to. Their new goals and aspirations split them apart.
3. HIS FATHER'S SON:
Joseph Kaye's life is a muddle and it's his father's fault. Jacob Kaye has made an important decision for his son that alters Joseph's life and his way of thinking. In this American historical fiction, it is 1950 and the Korean War has just begun. To save his son from being drafted, he convinces him to sign up with ROTC at college to insure a deferment. This decision goes against everything Joseph Kaye believes and wants. Deeply disappointed and demoralized, Joseph nevertheless earns a commission and goes on active duty after graduation. How he deals with this burden, whom he meets, and the new experiences he has lead him to rethink the meaning of his whole life.
4. A DUAL NOVEL: (Two stories are told in alternating chapters.)
The Elephant's Sense of Smell
Stiven Dedall, a rootless and isolated man, finds a mis-sent letter in his mailbox and opens it by mistake. The content of the letter surprises him, begins to interest him, and then gives a focus to his aimlessness. Encountering two very different women, Ariana Rogers and Joyce Munn, he sees a way to change his direction and his life.
For Reasons Unknown
Brenner, a scandalous poet, is forced into exile by a ruthless regime. He's got to endure a life of isolation which is completely opposed to his active and prominent life as a popular and controversial poet in a renowned city. While Brenner is wrenched from society into bitter and extreme exile, Stiven Dedall finds intense and dramatic social contact and intellectual interaction. What choices will they make in these new and radical circumstances?
5. THE MURDER OF HITLER:
In Prague in 1912, two years before the outbreak of World War One, Franz Kafka, a Jew, undergoes extreme duress as he plans the murder of young artist Adolf Hitler, a man who suddenly invades Kafka's life. A dream has told Franz that his three sisters are in mortal danger from this street artist from Vienna. The question that plagues Franz is where in this young street artist is the evil man who will endanger his sisters? Until he has substantial evidence, he cannot act. He decides to engage, observe and get to know the young man who, as a result of his experiences in the coming war, will emerge as the powerful and murderous leader.
6. BLOODSTREAM:
As Frankie Croce tries to get out from under his father's violent behavior, he turns in desperation to drugs, petty crime, deceit and betrayal. He has spent his life in the Croce family fearful, dependent, and desperate. He tries to fight his father's control and violence, but he is impotent. As he comes to realize, after many attempts at flight, that there is no escape, he resorts to the only solution that will finally and forever rid him of his overwhelming burdens: the murder of his entire family.
7. HOW SHALL I PUT THIS? (Short Stories)
Here the author departs into darker more ambiguous realms and positions. The people in these short stories are troubled, mixed up, sometimes rudderless, and generally don't know the way out. Therefore, a condition of stasis exists.
Note: THE MURDER OF HITLER is published by Authorhouse.com
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