Strange Bay

After I published Tales from the Peninsula (2021) and More Tales from the Peninsula (2022), I thought I was through with this genre of historical-based short stories. In a way, I was, but I wasn't finished yet with the San Francisco Bay Area, and I wanted to expand the reach of my stories to the rest of the surrounding bay. I am a proud native of this region, and it has been my home for over six decades. It was important to pay homage to places like Oakland and San Jose, cities I visited many times growing up and after.

Strange Bay is more of a spiritual successor than a sequel to the Tales from the Peninsula books, which is one reason why I didn't name it Tales from the Peninsula 3. While the "Tales" books included numerous genres set at different times in the Peninsula's history, Strange Bay focuses on science fiction, paranormal, and a bit of fantasy in the present and future (with a few crazy detours into the past!). And, of course, it encompasses this region we know as the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Bay Area has always been my home, and one of the things that makes it special is how unique each part of it is. As you travel by car around the bay, going from San Francisco down the Peninsula to San Jose, then wrapping around to the East Bay, north to Hayward, San Leandro, Oakland, Pinole, Hercules, Vallejo, then west to Marin County and Sausalito, each place is unique from the last. The bay acts as a neutral zone that prevents sprawl and allows each area along its perimeter to grow and develop in its special way. Imagine if there was no bay, only land. It would be another Los Angeles basin. I shudder as I write this.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride around the glorious San Francisco Bay. Along the way, you will travel through a hellscape that looks suspiciously like San Francisco, see if a scientist can use quantum realities to save his son, learn if a murderous android can find love and understanding, find out if a teenager and his teacher can save their city from killer drones, visit a man who must overcome the challenges of dementia to solve a murder mystery at his retirement home, watch ancient Egyptian history dangerously come to life at a museum, take a plane ride into the shadows between life and death, and discover the future of intelligent life on earth. The bay can be a strange place but a wondrous one.

Dennis Venturoni
Belmont, California
January 31, 2025