Synopses & Reviews
A shipwrecked sailor discovers the island he has landed on is not as deserted as he thought. A lone survivor describes an extraterrestrial invasion surprising in its circumstance. A woman wakes up to find a stranger in her bed, twins compete for a woman's affection, and a vessel trapped in the Antarctic ice becomes a site of dread and desperation. In the tradition of literary fantasists like Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, Tony Wolk delivers a feast of stories that challenge our assumptions about history, reality, and what stories reveal about their tellers. A collection decades in the making, The Parable of You is the work of a writer able to move from the cosmic to the personal in the space of a few deft sentences, with surprising and moving results.
Review
"It's a rare book that can make me, on reaching the last page, turn back to the first page and begin reading again. The Parable of You is that book. A slim set of stories, beautifully wrought, that wander into strange and wonderful territory. Stories that are unexpected, funny, unsettling, and moving. Stories that amaze, provoke, and puzzle. Writing doesn't get any better than this." Molly Gloss, author of Wild Life
Review
"Built on a foundation of intricate cyclical dimensions, The Parable of You is a world unto itself. Wolk's stories offer delicate, beautiful universes of vast and tiny wonderment, full of human revelation." Evan P. Schneider, author of A Simple Machine, Like the Lever
About the Author
Tony Wolk is the author of the novels Abraham Lincoln: A Novel Life, Good Friday, and Lincoln's Daughter. He has taught writing and literature at Portland State University since 1965, and lives in Portland, Oregon.