Kaleidoscope

My "Kaleidoscope" is , indeed, a patchy and complicated picture:some stories are tragic, some nostalgic,some funny ,others just offer food for thought.

This is what life offers us every day, and this is what we should regard without fear or prejudice,each episode being a precious lesson , a reminder,gentle or harsh at times,of what we are and what we did (or did not do),be it the despair of a man, savouring his last love and torturing himself to extinction with doubt,suspicion and hopelessness ;or the boy's" love at first sight" gaffe ;or hypocrisy of self-righteous Christians;or the unusual for our deceitful times integrity and honesty of a Chinese young man, who prefers returning to his homophobic homeland to seeking political asylum in the USA at the cost of breaking his promise;or the struggle of a very young boy to preserve his unique and pure self in the nightmarish Communist atmosphere;or the trials of an American teacher in Taiwan...

As is the case with my previous collection of short stories,"In the Battle",none of my "Kaleidoscope"is mere fiction.All stories are true and the names have just been slightly changed or omitted altogether.Also, as in my previous book,the narrator is not to be identified as a writer.

Peer into the intricate pattern of my "Kaleidoscope", grow into it, compare it with your own experience, and you will understand that all over the world, be it Taiwan,Russia or the USA, people struggle for the same rights, look for the same happiness, encounter the same problems.Though, the problems are the same, the solutions can be very very different...

Like my great literary predecessor in the realm of American belle lettres,Vladimir Nabokov,I believe that in creative writing ,HOW is much more important that WHAT,so, I tried to master my style, and you, my patient and, hopefully, benevolent,reader,are to be my literary judge.

I will be thankful for any critique or comment that you choose to send me.