Today’s the day! My short story and poetry collection, THROUGH DARK INTO LIGHT, is now live on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and will (should?) be available at other online retailers soon. But I know, for sure, that it’s live at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Promise.
But Craig, you may be thinking, How do I know I’ll like any of the stories? I didn’t read your first book because I couldn’t pronounce the title so I don’t know what to expect.
To that I say check out the Vignettes section of this here website. If you’re a frequent reader of the vignettes I post you’ll probably recognize a lot of the stories in the collection, since many of the stories in the collection were originally vignettes that I posted here.
If you need more convincing, here is a list of the stories with a short description of each:
- Followed: Driving home to his sick daughter, a man is followed by three mysterious vehicles that become more aggressive as he gets closer to home.
- Nightmare / Dream, Dream / Nightmare: A man’s dream is a woman’s nightmare, until the tables are turned.
- Real Monsters: A little girl has to decide what scares her more–the monster under her bed or the monsters invading her home?
- A Night Not to End: A young man tells a strange girl at a party that he wishes the night never had to end, and she grants his wish.
- The Secret Monster: From childhood a man is terrorized by a creature that tells him the secrets of those he loves.
- Hit and Run: On his way to a party at a cabin deep in the woods, a teenager hits a family dog and is haunted by the guilt–and the dog.
- Together Forever (Poem): A poem about being with the person you love as the world ends.
- A Cold, Silent Nothing: Before a scientist is allowed to use a time machine to travel to the end of the Universe he must first meet with the only other man to make the attempt and learn what he saw that drove him insane.
- Every Day the Same Dream: A bored office worker varies his routine in an attempt to break the monotony of his life.
- Say Something New (Poem): A poem about creativity.
- Distance: The captain of a generation ship uses its resources to clone the wife he left behind until there is nothing left.
- Eryn’s Dream (Poem): A poem about empathy.
- Thoughts and Actions in a Car Crash: A man reacts as he rear-ends the car in front of him on an icy road.
- Ode to the Ellipses (Poem): A poem about the deep meaning of the ellipses.
- Letter(s) to the Girl(s) I (Once) Love(d): A letter to a girl a young man once loved.
- A Brief History of Their Love: A chronicle of the relationship between a man and an android, and the extremes each will go to protect or fight for the other.
- To Go Back: An old man explains the purpose of his time machine to his daughter.
- Small Decisions: A man is faced with the consequences of his indiscretion.
- You Will Be Remembered (Poem): A poem about passwords, multi-factor authentication, and sometimes unwelcome reminders.
- Her Tea: The routines we break and the small imprints we leave in our lives can be the most lasting reminders of love, as one young man learns.
- A Sixteen Year Old’s Lament (Poem): A poem about pressure, responsibility, and cliche from a sixteen year old’s perspective.
- The Final Days of Florence: An old woman negotiates with an Angel for three more days of life so that she can make amends with her estranged son.
- Your Anger (Poem): A poem about watching your parent die from their own mistakes.
- The Passenger: As a man escorts his father’s corpse across state lines, he is helped by his father’s spirit when he finds himself in bad situations.
- Cliched Goodbye: In the warm light of sunset two friends say goodbye and reckon with their unspoken feelings.
The collection is organized to start in the dark, with horror stories, and end on a lighter, more reflective note. I think there’s a little something in here for everyone. If you did read ANH NGUYEN AND THE DISCORDIAN and liked it, then you’ll probably like this. If you read ANH NGUYEN AND THE DISCORDIAN and didn’t like it, well this collection is totally different, so give it a shot.
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