Journeys: Stories from the book of life

by Henry Harris

This is a collection of short stories dedicated to the victims and families impacted by COVID19. May we emerge with a renewed sense of hope and find strength in each tear we cry. Fiction allows us to depart from our everyday circumstances, and to become engaged with the lives of characters in different times and places. These shorts provide the unforgettable revelation of character. They offer the vision of a world through the eyes of the characters; a glimpse of truth captured in a moment in time. These shorts provide a quality of experience that enable the reader to discover depths of meaning in the most casual word or action. This is the goal of the short story; to suggest in a page what could not be expressed in a volume. Ultimately, it is the shortness of the work that evokes its greatest strength. The goal of this selection is to provide the reader with that quality of experience. DEAD PRESIDENTS describes the exploits of Bobby Ray and Earl, wannabe hustlers navigating the streets of midtown Manhattan. THE NECKLACE is a murder mystery with interwoven themes of gentrification and race in 1995 Harlem, New York. THE GREEN BOOK explores the plebe year of West Point cadet Eddie Mann during the turbulent year of 1969. KINDRED SPIRITS follows the ancestral journey of Darius Tyler. LEGACY surveys the challenges faced by Evan Jefferson; an affirmative action hire for Southern Bell Telephone company in Charlotte, North Carolina during the early eighties. PIPELINE traverses the progression from school to prison through the lens of Daniel Procter, guidance counselor at an alternative high school in Decatur, Georgia. THE ROAD TO PERDITION takes a bold look into the year 2100; the culmination of a century that survived a global pandemic, economic collapse and social upheaval. ALMOST A MAN chronicles the evolution of Preston Miller to manhood amidst the COVID19 pandemic and civil unrest in Brooklyn, New York. Readers will find these stories delightfully intriguing and thought provoking.

159 pages, Paperback

Published November 7, 2020