Double Exposures

by Dennis Vickers

Double Exposures is a collection of short stories, some previously published, some not, some related, some not. Each strives to shed light on an underlying complexity (psychological, metaphysical, or aesthetic). That is the main characteristic they have in common and the main reason they are collected together.

There is a world behind the world we experience, behind the world science considers. This back-stage reality is responsible for much of what we encounter and for all of the meaning we discover. Perhaps Plato was right. Perhaps this world is more real than material reality. The truths there persist while the truths of the material world are fleeting. The elements there remain what they are while the material world is a seething, churning, cauldron of short-lived things doing what they do for a short time.
I’m fascinated with how similar are the processes of painting pictures and writing stories. Both look into the world behind the scenes, the reality where meaning is rooted. Both attempt to reflect something there with what is ultimately an imitation of an imitation. Storytelling uses words and sentences for this purpose; painting uses colors and two-dimensional shapes. Plato would judge the result a reflection of a reflection, the shadow of an imitation projected onto the cave wall. Yet, if the story or illustration succeeds in revealing something of the world behind, if it taps the meaning there and draws its blood onto the page, we circumvent the everyday world and kiss the eternal. This is the storyteller or artist’s aspiration.

163 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Surprisingly, truth is best told through fiction. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Of course, lies are best told through nonfiction, but I don’t do that. With fiction, the story can be about almost anything so long as it has the stuff of life in it. The stuff of life -- aye, there’s the rub.

Like bears and Sasquatch, Dennis Vickers lives in the north woods. Sometimes he teaches philosophy and creative writing at a tribal college; other times he holds up in a river cottage and writes this stuff. As the previous sentence proves, he knows how to work semicolons and isn’t afraid to use them.

Book-length fiction:
1. Witless: Rural communities clash in 18th Century Wisconsin.
2. Bluehart: Life story of fictional blues accordion player.
3. Second Virtue: Courage -- where it comes from and where it goes.
4. Adam’s Apple: Life story of congressman who fucks his mother. You thought they all did?
5. Passing through Paradise: Narrative collage mixing quest story with love story with satyr play. No salt.
6. Between the Shadow and the Soul: Love and lust, or maybe the other way.
7. Mikawadizi Storms: Open pit mine vs. pristine forest. You decide.
8. Double Exposures: Collection of short stories, some realism, all magical.
9. Only Breath: Ghost story wrapped in a mystery wrapped in waxed paper.
10. Only Words: Lost-love quest story set in neolithic Europe told by the words themselves.

Reviews

[Tracy St Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Double Exposures is, at first glance, a neat little book of short stories based primarily in Mexico, but like its title the book isn't all that it seems. Most of the short stories lay back on themselves on an obvious layer -- rich on poor, God on Satan, sex on purity -- but it is the less obvious undercurrent of Plato's alluded-to Cave in the preface, the happenings are hinted at but not spelled out. The stories are charming, with both surface beach reading appeal and also worthy of deeper study. The stories are set with paintings done by the author. Look out for the single exposures and triple exposures.

[Dennis Vickers]

Double Exposures is a collection of short stories, some previously published, some not, some related, some not. Each strives to shed light on an underlying complexity (psychological, metaphysical, or aesthetic). That is the main characteristic they have in common and the main reason they are collected together.