{"product_id":"the-imaginary-lives-of-mechanical-men-stories-paperback","title":"The Imaginary Lives of Mechanical Men: Stories - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eRandy F. Nelson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mechanical men in these stories--Industrial Age holdovers, outsiders wanting for relevance and respect, or overwhelmed people who confuse the certainties of one reality with the doubts of another--are cut off in some way from contemporary culture. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSometimes in these stories, which Randy F. Nelson calls \"thought experiments about values in conflict,\" the characters are like the Native American prison guard in \"Escape\" Rifkin thinks that atonement is possible even for fugitive killers. Others are less sanguine. In \"Breakers,\" a corporate hitman arrives on a forgettable island off the African coast. His mission: to shut down a hellish, polluting, ship-demolition business. His nemesis: a lawyer, now gone Heart-of-Darkness crazy, who preceded him years earlier for the same purpose. The bottom drops out in other stories, rearranging all reference points to good and bad, true and false. In \"Abduction,\" for instance, a distraught young woman summons a tabloid reporter to a grubby hotel room, where the now-lifeless alien who had invaded her body lies wrapped in a sheet. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNelson once explained his motivations by alluding to a line in a Gabriel Garc a M rquez story. A crowd of villagers are gazing upon a man, \"but even though they were looking at him, there was no room for him in their imagination.\" \"Stories and characters and situations that ask the imagination to accommodate something bigger, further, deeper--that's what I'm after,\" said Nelson.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eRANDY F. NELSON is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Almanac of American Letters\u003c\/i\u003e. Nelson's stories have appeared in such publications as \u003ci\u003eGettysburg Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNorth American Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eKenyon Review\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 224\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.7 x 7.6 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 15, 2012\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43158643277887,"sku":"9780820344430","price":36.23,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/HXUsiEVlPh9780820344430.webp?v=1776991884","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/the-imaginary-lives-of-mechanical-men-stories-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}