"Storyteller" combines Alvarez's intimate knowledge and fascination with the people and places of Baltimore, his own sense of personal history and his ability to make fact and fiction alike resonate with a poetic sense of the human condition. As Scott Shane states in the book's introduction, "All literature, like all politics, is local…..And it is from a long immersion in the newspaper facts of Baltimore and environs that Rafael Alvarez has begun to create his own rich ficitonal locale, the holy land of East Baltimore."
Fiction and journalism blend in "Storyteller:" The three short stories in the "Something Made" section weave imaginary characters with the fine detail of real places. The ten chapters of "Newspaper Work," all originally published as articles in The Sun, weave real Baltimore profiles and scenes with Alvarez's mastery as a storyteller. The stories cover a couple with an informal ministry in the basement of their rowhouse floral shop, famous writers and musicians with Baltimore roots and "working-class heroes" – including a glassblower, a nightclub bouncer and a meat grinder. In addition to examining these and other examples of "Characterus Baltimorenis," Alvarez reveals his own rich heritage and shares his musings about life's journey as he travels cross-country with his teen-age son in summer 2000. "Storyteller" is not just for the Baltimore-familiar. Alvarez's ability to weave a tale and bring a story to colorful life is appreciated by all audiences of all ages.
Rafael Alvarez was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1958, and educated in Catholic schools. He is the father of three children and lives in the Greektown neighborhood of East Baltimore. He works at a record store on Charles Street in Baltimore and is the owner of The Fountain of Highlandtown Gallery in East Baltimore. Alvarez is the author of two books of short stories, "The Fountain of Highlandtown" and "Orlo and Leini," as well as "Hometown Boy," a previous collection of his articles for The Baltimore Sun newspaper. A fan of the rock band Cheap Trick, he admires the writers Richard Ford and Tim O'Brien. Alvarez retired from his reporting career for The Baltimore Sun and joined the Merchant Marines. He will be at sea through the summer of 2001.
