Kirjahaku

America in 1960 is undergoing a great sea change. Cultural comfort is being challenged by an unpredictable world rattled by a Communist expansion in Southeast Asia. Tradition is being mocked by the intelligentsia, T. S. Eliot and the beatniks. John F. Kennedy, and his youthful Camelot, will soon become the source of a new power - and a new prestige. It is a world that will soon say goodbye to Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. It is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. And love will rule the stars. Misfits is the story of America's burgeoning youth movement at the beginning of a turbulent decade. It is the story of the Dayton High School summer dance and the end of the innocence. It is the story of how this galactic shift gains traction in the most unlikely of places - the desert of the American Southwest. Misfits is about adolescent angst, rage and confusion. It is about a world slowly spinning out of control. It is about a world under quiet observation by a benign race of extraterrestrials floating through the skies in nearby Area 51. It is a story about growing up - and about standing down the unfairness and bigotry that permeates the galaxy we call home. But what do I know? I'm just the Ol' Coot. Hang on, dear earthlings, for we shall surely fly

I always wanted to write an opera. Don't ask me why, I'm just weird that way. Sadly, even after I accumulated the tools necessary to achieve the goal, I just couldn't pull off a decent result. It's a lot harder than it looks. When I first started writing novels back in the late 1980's, I was determined to put characters, story and structure first and foremost over every other writing variable. And guess what? I came up with this - a bona fide opera. Sometimes letting go of the dream brings the dream to fruition. This crazy dream of mine weaves fairytales, ghosts, unrequited romance and even a performance of Puccini's Turandot into a libretto-like tapestry. It is both self-referencing and stand-alone in nature. Amanda Deems is a young prostitute plying her trade on the mean streets of San Francisco mere blocks away from the City's opulent opera house. A supernumerary working in the local production of Turandot meets Mindy in a Laundromat and the two strike-up a tentative friendship. The stage actor, Bradley Kinkaid, is an unhappy, lonely man who needs a project to keep from going insane. Mindy meets the criteria, but is undisciplined, surly and works in a particularly nasty industry. At first, the relationship reeks of Pygmalion, but when Mindy begins to paints scrims and backdrops for the opera's production, it quickly becomes apparent that it is Mindy who is in creative control. In fact, Mindy turns out to be an artistic prot g and the talk of the opera town. But Mindy's dark and ugly world will not release its grip on her. Her pimp is on the radar of the fugitive recovery division of the San Francisco Police Department, and the long arm of the law wants Mindy as well. Before the curtain descends, there is murder, retribution and tragedy hitting every character of the story. What good opera isn't awash in multiple layers of tragedy?