Fringe Locations: True & Fictional Stories

STORIES HEARD, LIVED, IMAGINED. Fringe Locations is a collection of 17 distinctly diverse tales from three continents and decidedly contrasting settings, which bring to life a wide variety of characters from all walks of life: from a girl caught in a sand storm in South Africa's interior, a boy who shot his girlfriend, an environmentalist who refused to be silenced, a lawyer who flew to the Yucatan to find peace of mind, to stories from Müller's life: meeting the poet Allen Ginsburg, befriending a concentration camp survivor, going on a pilgrimage to the active volcano Stromboli in Italy, and his multifarious hitchhiking adventures over a ten year period. Though fictional, many of the stories in Part One are based on true events. The autobiographical accounts in Part Two are all true, save for some slight creative deviations. Together the stories traverse frontiers and probe the deeper levels of what it means to be human in this wonderfully variegated world of ours. Each story reflects, on some level, the indomitable striving of the human spirit, in both grand and small ways. They are astute vignettes of the human condition, encompassing loneliness, socio-political injustices, sickness, sorrow, death, love, companionship, redemption, succumbing, and overcoming. Stories include: 1) The Red Wind ~ 1 2) Hotel Pischa ~ 11 3) Sundial ~ 12 4) Pool Cleaner in the Yucatan ~ 15 5) Up in Smoke ~ 23 6) Optimistic Freshman ~ 27 7) Yeah, I Killed my Girlfriend ~ 29 8) 4' 33" ~ 32 9) Fringe Locations ~ 34 10) Draft Dodger ~ 57 11) A Walk-through Time and Snow ~ 55 12) Allen Ginsberg at the Atlantis ~ 58 13) Stromboli ~ 66 14) 7 Trains, 7 Planes: A Blessing~ 73 15) Water ~ 81 16) We Met at the Met ~ 81 17) Thumbing Down the Road ~ 93