Addled Essence

ADDLED ESSENCEThe most plausible excuse for a short story collection as varied andscrambled as this one is that it’s a grab bag of oddities that couldn’t bedisguised within a sensibly-themed book. But anchored by the longest,Addled Essence, a belated story of two late teen KoreanWar veteranslost within themselves on a varied road trip of self-discovery as told yearslater in grandfather-hood, it compiles a litany of characters, situationsand philosophy that forms an eccentric saga.A few titles from the other thirty-eight stories might produce readervertigo: Idas’s Journey, Anonymous Anonymity, Matters Most Private,Excess Baggage, Celestial Bar and Grill, All In and Then Some, Brotherand Sister Act, Human Factors in Daily Life, Wake the Dead and AnInfinite Instant. Birth, Burglary, Childhood, Death, Drugs, Family,Fantasy, Fate, Fear, Humor, Love, Movies, Murder, Parody, Parents,Poker, Police, Politics, Psychoses and Senior-hood soar throughout likebirds gone mad on alcohol-laced nut meats. These tales are an acquiredtaste for those who walk, lope or run on the literary wild side.