My first book in eight years, I wrote these short stories while
recovering from knee surgery in February, 2013. These stories just
came wafting out of me like exhalations of breath. They are all about
strange little events and adventures I had between the ages 10 and 13,
in the years 1970 to 1973 while I was living with my family at the
Ponderosa Acres housing complex in Billings, Montana. A common theme
that runs through many of the stories is how to maintain the integrity
of your rational mind when you're surrounded by irrationality.
My personal favorite of the stories is "Journey to the Center of the
Earth," about how after reading Jules Verne's novel Journey to the
Center of the Earth, I began planning my own journey of cave
exploration and recruited a bunch of friends to join me in the
adventure. But since we were just a group of kids operating without
adult supervision, things didn't work out the way we planned! I
think it's a funny story, but I'm sure adults who read it might think
otherwise. But what do they know?
These are coming of age stories that are written in such a way that
they should be enjoyed by both adults and kids 13 and up.