by Jack Billings (Author)
SOME OF THIS IS REAL -- By Jack Billings. This debut collection of stories from the experience and imagination of author Jack Billings brings a host of familiar characters to vivid life. At turns ironic, humorous, poignant, and honest, these tales will engage readers with the uncanny way they employ fiction to dissect our often difficult realities. When five hundred gay men on a holiday cruise get stuck in a remote Alaskan village, everybody's tolerance is put to the test, with surprising and sometimes unpredictable results, in THE ORION. The story THE PHONE CALL recounts what happens when a middle-aged man is confronted by a ghost from his past, teaching him an important lesson about the meaning of family. A chance encounter on a long distance flight with an evangelist in AN AGNOSTIC'S JOURNEY leaves a man with a renewed faith in his own beliefs, however incomplete they may be. In THE INTERROGATION, veteran detectives confront a brutal murder. The opening story, THE SO WHAT, reveals an unexpected level of respect between black and white business owners in an Iowa town otherwise laden with racism. Father and son bond in cancer's crucible in THE WAITING ROOMS. These stories and more will entertain readers able to appreciate characters who confront complex challenges--and don't just survive, but thrive.