Like a Flower the Field

A strong sense of place and its impact on our lives runs through this collection of twenty stories and two one-act plays. Spooner begins with “Chasin’ the Bird,” a story of brotherly love and near tragedy set in San Francisco, the music of an aged street performer providing the soundtrack. In a Sacramento suburb, “And Spare Them Not” is a tale of vengeance for the murder of a ten-year-old girl. In the mythical town of Millers Forge, “Fireworks for Mickey” tells of a family forced to deal with death and unresolved issues from the past. Spooner closes with “Moral Imperative,” a story of moral and ethical choices set in Orange County, California, fireworks from Disneyland booming in the distance. Places leave an indelible mark on our lives, but do we leave a mark on the places we’ve been? This is the central question in C. W. Spooner’s second collection of short stories. “Aging, wisdom, remorse, poignancy, what it means to be a man in a changing world—it’s all there in twenty-two unforgettable stories, told with elegance and sensitivity. I picked up the book on a sunny morning, looking for a brief diversion, and didn’t put it down until I’d finished” (Casey Dorman, editor, Lost Coast Review, author of I, Carlos, Finding Martin Bloom, and Murder in Nirvana).