Like a Flower in the Field

A strong sense of place and its impact on our lives runs through this collection of twenty stories and two one-act plays. Spooner begins with Chasin the Bird, a story of brotherly love and near tragedy set in San Francisco, the music of an aged street performer providing the soundtrack. In a Sacramento suburb, And Spare Them Not is a tale of vengeance for the murder of a ten-year-old girl. In the mythical town of Millers Forge, Fireworks for Mickey tells of a family forced to deal with death and unresolved issues from the past. Spooner closes with Moral Imperative, a story of moral and ethical choices set in Orange County, California, fireworks from Disneyland booming in the distance. Places leave an indelible mark on our lives, but do we leave a mark on the places weve been? This is the central question in C. W. Spooners second collection of short stories. Aging, wisdom, remorse, poignancy, what it means to be a man in a changing worldits all there in twenty-two unforgettable stories, told with elegance and sensitivity. I picked up the book on a sunny morning, looking for a brief diversion, and didnt put it down until Id finished (Casey Dorman, editor, Lost Coast Review, author of I, Carlos, Finding Martin Bloom, and Murder in Nirvana).