Doug Wicken
'SHORTS (Fact & Fiction) blends both fictional and non-fictional accounts, inspired by real events and my own imagination; a collaboration between the left and right channels of my cerebral cortex. The fine line separating the factual from the fictional is akin to scanning the landscape from the tip of my nose to infinity through a pair of progressive eyeglass lenses.''In my short stories, as in my recent novel, Circles of Confusion, it is my goal to allow you ... the reader ... some ambiguity as to the outcomes, so we can collaborate as a team; a dialogue of sorts ... an intimate conversation that challenges you to question before arriving at a decision. Is that not the way life works?''Some of these stories are humorous, others are dark. Some start as humorous but become dark, and vice versa. That too, is life.'A collection of 25 short stories and two poems culled from the author’s experiences, observations, and imagination.Some are thematically connected:LESSONS LEARNED is a series of stories that follow the maturing of a boy as he deals with the inner and outer conflicts of aging.TALES FROM QUAGMIRE TOWNSHIP observe the citizens of a small Ontario community and its relationship with each other and the tourists who arrive during the summer months.NICARAGUA recalls selected moments from the author’s own experiences while working as a photojournalist in the Central American nation during the 1980s.MEMORY TRAIN and LUNCH both offer insights into the subject of age-related dementia.Other stories stand alone:SELF-INTOLERANCE observes the awareness of someone who discovers hatred for his own actions.THE NON-INVASIVE PATHOLOGIST offers a high tech alternative to the solving of crimes.OF BODY & SOUL follows the passions of two jazz musicians in their later years.BECOMING ERNEST reflects upon a writer’s blank page dilemma and an epiphany.KARMA ON RUE GOYER; WHY DID WE LIVE AT GRANDAD’S; and SOMEBODY TOLD ME, are non-fictional recollections from the author’s own memory bank.
