Moral Delirium

<p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>In his fifth collection of eight riveting new stories Michael J. Atwood explores the moral complexities of human nature through narratives steeped in ambition obsession love betrayal and disillusionment. From the shadowed streets of London to quiet towns in rural Massachusetts from the sun-soaked sprawl of Los Angeles to the historic avenues of Boston these richly atmospheric tales expose the hidden desires and dark truths that shape-and often haunt-the lives of unforgettable characters.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>A college student wrestles with his father's alcoholism and his parents' divorce while pursuing his first love. A professor begins a dangerous relationship with a graduate student spiraling into addiction and ruin. In London an American expatriate is forced to face his dark criminal past when a ghost from his past appears threatening the fragile family life he's built. A mother discovers her son's psychic abilities may solve the decades-old disappearance of a 21-year-old woman. A failed screenwriter turned adjunct professor travels from Boston to L.A. for an MFA reunion only to be recruited by a CIA operative-and faced with a choice between ambition and conscience. In a Beacon Hill brownstone of the near future smart technology reveals infidelity and buried secrets unraveling a marriage and a young couple's sense of reality. In the stillness of rural Massachusetts a grieving man becomes entangled with a reclusive neighbor harboring a dark and dangerous secret. And a young Boston teacher loses his first love only to discover a new love-but years later a heartbreaking revelation.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Inspired by James Joyce's twin themes of </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>paralysis</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> and </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>delirium</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> and drawing on the emotional candor of </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Dubliners</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> Anderson's </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Winesburg Ohio</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> and the moral bankruptcy found in Ibsen's </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>A Doll's House</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> Atwood brings his literary influences into sharp contemporary focus. His love of mystery suspense and noir infuses these stories with psychological depth and a haunting sense of inevitability.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Blending psychological acuity with taut evocative storytelling </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Moral Delirium</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> is a masterful examination of fate identity and the moral choices that define us. Atwood's characters are deeply flawed yet achingly human-torn between desire and consequence truth and delusion. For readers of literary noir and provocative fiction these stories offer a haunting exploration of the fine and fragile line between right and wrong.</span></p>