Kirjahaku

This is a wonderful adventure tale. A child abandons an abusive home and heads for the hills, as they used to say in a simpler time. The child would not survive long in the wild were it not for the vast and elemental friend who chooses to provide support. The wind comes to the child's aid and all is well for some time, however Jan's ability to communicate with the wind and call upon it draws the attentions of certain elements of the government, the military, and a host of unknown forces, all of which have their reasons for wanting to understand how Jan communicates and seemingly commands an elemental force of such magnitude and power. When Jan is befriended by Mr. Fish, an ordinary appearing native American, the adventure takes an ominous turn as the pair is hunted. Only ancient and wholly mystical methods allow them to escape to a place and time beyond human knowledge. Jan comes of age there and all is well until the wind comes, in terrible pain, calling for help. Jan and Mr. Fish go back to the civilization they had escaped from only to be pursued by the same malevolent forces staging a show down between the animal kingdom and a humanity gone mad. A desperate battle for the freedom of the wind, for liberty brings about an end to the violence of warfare and the dawn of a new world.

Science fiction has always been a favorite form of prose. When I was young, I'd buy used paperbacks for a nickel or dime at bookstores or flea markets and was greatly entertained for hours on end. I used to stack them on my bookshelves as one did tape cassettes with their titles visible. I would then select a favorite to enjoy discovering ever more as I did so. This collection of stories, and psalms, portray the range of influences, which affected my writing. I grew up watching the Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Star Trek, and One Step Beyond. I read authors such as Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, A.E. Van Vogt, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and a great number of Sci-Fi anthologies. Then too, I enjoyed H.P. Lovecraft, Poe and works such as Paradise Lost, The Odessy, Frankenstein, and Grimm's Fairy Tales. I also read a great deal of poetry over the years. Altogether, in this volume, there is evidence for each of those influences. In it you'll hear those voices, behold such visions and virtual vistas as they come to life. This selection of bizarre tales takes one from the beginning of time to its end and beyond. Yes, there may be stranger things yet to come, as well as the time to tell of them, but I hope this collection will be memorable, for all that. May you grok and enjoy