In this glorious, amazing dance called life, some people are content to attend as spectators while others devote themselves to mastering its steps. This is a story about joining the dance...of taking responsibility for one's happiness, for everything one thinks, says and does. This is a story without ending...a beginning that offers its hand...a story that says, "Take the chance... ."
And an excerpt from chapter one . . .
He sat on the edge of the chair to put on his socks. Black socks and black shoes, all he wore for years, covered feet white as bleached paper. Thin veins, like tiny blue spider-webs, showed through transparent flesh. To make the left shoe fit better, he stuffed paper into the toe.
Polio, Robert thought, remembering the 50s scare. You're lucky. It could-a killed you. Who cares if you couldn't serve your country. They killed enough of your friends. Cripple...just because of a slight limp. He stood and looked at himself in the mirror. There's more to life than one Sunday a week. More than reading the New York Times and listening to a blues station that plays classical three hours a night.
He glanced back at the bookshelf. What have you learned? You've nearly memorized that dog-eared collection...Moby Dick, War and Peace, Catch 22, The Catcher In The Rye, The Glass Bead Game, the complete works of Shakespeare. Where's your talent, my friend? You're no Hesse. Look at all those minds. They've filled you with theirs...and you better let those feelings out. Sartre, Camus...and you, James Joyce. Maybe I've made myself crazy by not playing. You gotta do this...now...you have to.
Hope this made you want to read the story... .
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Reviews:
Here's what Michael Graves says,
"David Coyote is one of the true unsung heroes of American literature. His elegant and tight writing style has the reader feeling that he or she is conversing with an old friend, rather than reading a brilliant novel. This book belongs on any serious reader's shelf."
Note: Michael Graves is the author of a series of books designed to help people become computer hardware and network technicians. "The Complete Guide to Networking and Network+" has recently been adopted by a number of high schools and colleges as a textbook. MWGRAVES.COM
Better Books for Better Living http://www.mwgraves.com *
Lauren Kessler, author of ten books, including her newest, Clever Girl: Elizabeth Bentley, The Spy Who Ushered In The McCarthy Era (HarperCollins, Summer 2003), says of Roomful Of Rainbows,
"Welcome to David Coyote's wonderful alternative universe where innocence is honored, good things happen to good people, and enlightenment comes free with the sushi. Roomful of Rainbows is part 1941 "Meet John Doe" and part Zen tutorial. Cynics should beware. This book may be hazardous to your way of looking at the world."
Lauren is the founder and editor of Etude, an online magazine devoted to new and emerging voices in literary nonfiction. She directs the graduate program in literary nonfiction at the University of Oregon in Eugene.*
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To purchase a signed copy of Roomful of Rainbows:
The coyote has been practicing signing his name for a year. He'll autograph and mail out books if pals send $14.95 + $3.00 shipping and handling for the first book...plus fifty cents S/H for each additional copy to:
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