The Man Who Escaped This Story and Other Stories

Book excerpt: Containing the stories: PURITY BALL (2015); LIFE COACH (2012); HOWL OF THE SHEEP (2010); BLIND ITEM (2015); NATASHA HATES A VACUUM (2011); THE TELLTALE PARTY (2019, original to this collection); AND THE ANGELS SING (2013); WE WILL REBUILD (2009); BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED (2011); THE FREE SCHOOL (2016); DUST MADE OF WORDS (2014); MISERICORDIA (2019 original to this collection); OF A THOUSAND CUTS (2014); NIGREDO (2015); THE MAN WHO ESCAPED THIS STORY (2013).From Author's Introduction: "I hope these stories of bad things happening to worse people will give you thrills and chills, but if they are worth reading and remembering, if they were worth writing, I hope they will give you some sense of empathy for the condemned -some understanding of how people who feel trapped or driven by circumstance are too often the authors of their own undoing, or how even the most venal villains are the heroes of their own stories- and (perhaps it's not too much to hope for) help you figure out how to be the hero of yours ... and maybe even how to escape it."Cover art by Wendy Saber Cor