October 4, 2021
Tell Me, Mariner – a Collection of Transcendent Short Stories
Tell Me, Mariner is a collection of short stories I’ve recently put together. More still, it’s a collection of what I refer to as transcendent short stories. If you remember “1992”, that I recently published here, it’s part of this very collection.
This collection features The Mariner, a character who is very special in my work, for reasons that become clearer to readers of this volume. In a nutshell, The Mariner is a character that is, quite literally, central in many of my novels. He’s not a main character in any of them, and he’s not even literally present in all of them – though he is figuratively present. Recall what we’ve said about style and authorial trademarks.
If all this sounds abstract, remember that this is a collection of transcendent short stories. Part metaphorical, part magical-realism, part Kafkaesque.
What Transcendent Short Stories Look Feel Like?
Transcendent short stories are not about what is there, but what it feels like. Such short explorations of affect allow me to do things I normally don’t with novels.
Indeed, in terms of plot, the following blurb is the most you would get out of me.
From New York to a Greek island and from Lake Zurich to Michigan, the Mariner seems to always be where people need him the most. A young man who has lost the will to live; a young woman with a letter to post; a mother with a terrible secret… Lives that wander around, trying to find some meaning, some hope, perchance each other. The Mariner listens patiently to their stories. Sometimes he speaks, sometimes he remains silent. Sometimes he even becomes the cog missing from the grand machine. Who are you?—the question floats around him but, as the Mariner would tell you, there are no answers; only questions.
If you’ve read any of my previous works, certain aspects this blurb describes might appear familiar. I leave it up to your imagination to figure out what this is all about.
Tell Me, Mariner: A Sample
I mentioned Kafka in the introduction, and I freely confess that his short-story style has always intrigued me. I’m not even sure I like it, but I certainly find it interesting from a narrative perspective. Some of his stories are little more than fragments, yet they still fulfill the purpose of literature: instigating affect. With this in mind, here’s a sample from Tell Me, Mariner. It’s not an excerpt from a story; it is the entire story.
You are dreaming, Mariner. And in your wordwaves I can feel the truths drifting, like Neptunian gifts no one claimed. Are they meant for me, perhaps? Do I dare to lift them, feel them, taste their briny scents and recall their swishing songs?
Tell me, Mariner; what will become of these truths if I don’t embrace them?
Tell me, Mariner. Tell me, about dreams and what isn’t as it seems, about cute faces and nameless places.
Tell me, about drops falling into oblivion, about cerise tints, about casual observers.
Tell me, about what you think when the wind is whistling around the wires.
Tell me, about space-time and in-betweenness. Tell me, about all that you and I are, tell me, Mariner, even if you’ve told me all before.
Where to Read
- Option 1: Buy from Amazon.
- Option 2: Email me and ask for a free digital copy.
- Option 3:
Most of my novels are available as an immediate free download – simply visit the Fiction page on the main site. And remember, you can also just email me and ask for a free, no-strings-attached (e.g. review etc.) digital copy of any of my books.
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I am halfway through reading the stories and I find them pure magical. It doesn’t matter that I don’t know the precise personal references because what’s important is the mood it creates in the reader. I am aware of only one writer who does have this effect on me: Ray Bradbury, who can evoke deeply hidden memories by one metaphor and knows how I felt when I was a teenager or when I lost my children to this new world. Thank you, Chris for sharing it with us.
Thank you for your kind words!