A diverse collection of three short stories: The Marshmallow War, Peripheral Witches, and Parson’s Song.
The Marshmallow War is a humorous look at how organizations sometimes push aside older workers and their accumulated knowledge in favor of younger workers with “fresh perspectives.” The story is set inside the Merryman Marshmallow Corporation’s research and development department where management confuses youth with innovation.
Peripheral Witches combines elements of a fairy tale and the paranormal as a young working mother struggles to discern whether or not she’s losing her mind. A trip home at the end of a long, stressful day has Miriam seeing witches that disappear whenever she looks directly at them. The witches reappear in her peripheral vision.
The last story in the collection, Parson’s song, is based loosely on the legend surrounding the folk tune “MacPherson’s Lament.” Set in the rural south, a small town speculates on whether or not a young gentleman named Billy Parson will be a great man or great criminal. According to their superstitious beliefs, he would be legendary whether for positive or negative reasons. Billy also struggles to come to terms with the local superstition surrounding his fate.
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9746296-6-7