Old Roads and Shadows

This ebook is a work of creative nonfiction by Laudizen King: stories, memoirs, and essays of travel and adventure that celebrate the human spirit. 'Old Roads and Shadows' includes many of the author's best-known works: discovering pool as a teenager and meeting the future road hustler and world champion Larry Lisciotti (Remembering the Dugout and Larry Lisciotti), a fire and its emotional aftermath (Paper and Fire), the story of two ascents on the highest peak in Southern California (Mt San Gorgonio), an account of a backpacking trip to the Cabinet Mountains of Montana where he (twice) almost met a violent end (Leigh Lake), and a look back at the hometown of his youth (Manchester Redux).

This volume also presents several stories from Laudizen's days in the US Army: the savage killings of two Military Policemen, James Workman and Eugene Cox, in a downtown Saigon bar in 1969 (Murder at Midnight), a night mission in Vietnam (Bridge Inspection), and an emotional duty assignment at Fort Bragg in 1971 (Burial Detail), an assignment that led the author to visit unexpected places and emotions.

Within this collection are stories celebrating various artists (the singer Joan Osborne, writer Richard Brautigan, and the great American chess player, Bobby Fisher), while memories from childhood come back to haunt the adult ('Worms' and 'September 1959') as lifelong lessons are learned and cherished as well (Snow Day). 'Cheers and Slainte' is a fond remembrance of the years spent working with British technology consultants in New Hampshire and Georgia.

'Blood Mountain' recalls the author's love affair with Blood Mountain and the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, and several other stories are taken from the trails of the American West ('Mt San Jacinto, Winter 1991', 'Mt San Jacinto, Summer 1992', and 'Dog-Day Afternoon in the Laguna Mountains').

Timeless and emotive, these stories will resonate with the reader long after their initial discovery.
(approx 118,000 words)