Like a Flower in the Field

<p>A strong sense of place and its impact on our lives runs through this collection of twenty stories and two one-act plays.</p><p>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.</p><p>Places leave an indelible mark on our lives but do we leave a mark on the places we’ve been? This is the central question in C. W. Spooner’s second collection of short stories.</p><p>“Aging wisdom remorse poignancy what it means to be a man in a changing world—it’s 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 didn’t put it down until I’d finished” (Casey Dorman editor Lost Coast Review author of I Carlos Finding Martin Bloom and Murder in Nirvana).</p>