The Gates of Polished Horn

<p><strong>What happens when you're face-to-face with a truth that shakes you? </strong><br><br>Do you accept it or pretend it was never there?<br><br>Award-winning author Mark A. Rayner smudges the lines between realist and fabulist literary and speculative in this collection of stories that examines this question-what Homer called passing through The Gates of Polished Horn.<br><br>We discover the cruelty of creating synthetic consciousness. A woman is worried that her husband is having an affair but discovers it's much much worse. A time traveler uncovers a reality-bending fact while observing the death of Socrates. Waldo of Where's Waldo fame has an existential crisis. A traveling salesperson is killed on the highway and this is just the start of his journey through the gates.<br><br>Infused with comic insight and tragic vision this collection invites readers into new realities that<br>touch on our shared humanity.<br><br><em><strong>Mark A. Rayner's formidable storytelling is on full display in this thoughtful and diverse collection. He's a fine and creative writer whose characters and storylines are quirky inventive and often very funny. Bravo!</strong></em><br><br><strong>~Terry Fallis two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour</strong></p>