Fringe Locations: True & Fictional Stories (Paperback or Softback)

STORIES HEARD, LIVED, IMAGINED.

Fringe Locations is a collection of 17 distinctly diverse tales from three continents and decidedly contrasting settings, which bring to life a wide variety of characters from all walks of life: from a girl caught in a sand storm in South Africa's interior, a boy who shot his girlfriend, an environmentalist who refused to be silenced, a lawyer who flew to the Yucatan to find peace of mind, to stories from Müller's life: meeting the poet Allen Ginsburg, befriending a concentration camp survivor, going on a pilgrimage to the active volcano Stromboli in Italy, and his multifarious hitchhiking adventures over a ten year period. Though fictional, many of the stories in Part One are based on true events. The autobiographical accounts in Part Two are all true, save for some slight creative deviations. Together the stories traverse frontiers and probe the deeper levels of what it means to be human in this wonderfully variegated world of ours. Each story reflects, on some level, the indomitable striving of the human spirit, in both grand and small ways. They are astute vignettes of the human condition, encompassing loneliness, socio-political injustices, sickness, sorrow, death, love, companionship, redemption, succumbing, and overcoming.

Stories include:

1) The Red Wind 1

2) Hotel Pischa 11

3) Sundial 12

4) Pool Cleaner in the Yucatan 15

5) Up in Smoke 23

6) Optimistic Freshman 27

7) Yeah, I Killed my Girlfriend 29

8) 4' 33" 32

9) Fringe Locations 34

10) Draft Dodger 57

11) A Walk-through Time and Snow 55

12) Allen Ginsberg at the Atlantis 58

13) Stromboli 66

14) 7 Trains, 7 Planes: A Blessing 73

15) Water 81

16) We Met at the Met 81

17) Thumbing Down the Road 93

Eric G. Müller was born in Durban, South Africa. After graduating from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, he continued his studies in England and Germany, focusing on drama, music, and education. He is the director of Teacher Education at the Alkion Center, and a humanities teacher at the Hawthorne Valley High School in Harlemville, New York. He has published numerous books, including novels, children's books, and poetry.