This Side of Reality

In 2020, author Gary Floyd published Liberté The Days of Rage. He labeled it "the little book with big ideas." The book hinted at existential questions that were hidden in plain sight. They soon grew into fruition in Washington, European capitals, and eventually the world over. Four years later, after a sojourn into a devastating pandemic and a riot/insurrection further undermined America's unity, This Side of Reality picks up where Liberté left off. The book asks troubling questions about the level of representation Americans and, by extension, Western allies enjoy. It questions whether anything other than preapproved narratives are allowed-something that Orwell wrestled with 80 years ago. The chapters in Floyd's earlier works were limited to a thousand words, a common criterion for flash fiction. This Side of Reality doesn't strictly adhere to this, but Floyd, always the iconoclast, still packs a wallop in his condensed pieces of contemporary prose. They make for short, thought-provoking morsels that can be consumed in several one- or two-story sittings, or devoured in their entirety all at once. Like a modern-day Tiresias, it's a compelling mélange of prose, nonfiction, and essays that reads like a clarion call that will inspire readers toward a more sustainable future.

Gary Floyd is the author of four books. His short stories and flash fiction have appeared in several magazines. He is based in Massachusetts and operates a blog that showcases his work. The Road Sometimes Travelled can be found at https: //theroadsometimestravelled.blogspot.com.

Floyd graduated with a history degree with a concentration in American Studies, including several graduate-level American Studies courses. He was a member of the history honor society. He has worked as a journalist as well as worked with at-risk youth. He has attended the Wildacres Writers Workshop in North Carolina annually for nearly 30 years, where he hones his writing skills with a community of writers. From 2011-2014, he edited a Boston labor blog called Labors Pains where he was on the periphery of covering US Uncut movement as well as Boston's Occupy Wall Street movement. He was a member of SEIU who took part in the union's lobbying effort in Washington, DC.