Published in 2016, this was my second book and with it I wanted to collect a lot of the stories I’d been writing since my youth. Some of the stories were new too though, and I settled on ten total stories:
List of stories contained within:
The Turning
An Evening At The George
Yuri's House
Death Grips Me ... Cold
The Last Drive Home
Scarlet Sun
Dead End
Sliced
The Dam
Porch Steps
Synopsis: “From the author of Weathered Tracks comes a collection of 10 short stories. The multi-genre collection will have you laughing, crying and hiding in fear beneath your coziest afghan. Domenic Marinelli takes you on 10 terrifying and emotionally jarring adventures that everyone should take the time to read. From a terrorizing tale of the dead, to compelling crime fiction, to psychologically disturbing tales that will stay with you long after you turn out the lights. Save … Act - A Collection of Ten Stories is a must read for anyone who loves to read well-crafted stories of any kind.”
*Original cover for the 1st Edition...
In “The Turning” I wanted to capture the very possible turmoil that can occur for a person, and yes even in the depths of a zombie apocalypse. I’ve always loved zombie stories and here I pit a tumultuous personal experience for the main character and at the backdrop a civilization that is crumbling down around her. A personal story of triumph, devastation and the lengths a person will go to for revenge.
“Yuri’s House” is a crime story the likes of which I love to read…simple but fast-paced and with an ending that should shock even the most avid of mystery readers.
And finally in “The Dam,” I show the power of what a dark secret buried deep within the confines of a soul can do…and just what can happen when that truth is leaked out bit by bit…even if it takes a mysterious stranger with his own agenda to draw it out.
The bridge and inspiration that led to the story...
And speaking of that story…I’ll share with you how it came about. Inspiration can come from anywhere, as many great writers have said before, and sometimes it comes from something physical. In this case it was a bridge I’d stumbled upon on one of my walks, or rather stumbled under.
In Montréal, I had crossed over the Pie IX Bridge a zillion times, but rarely walked around the pathway underneath. One day I finally did, and under the bridge, right across the cement support structure beneath the metal of the bridge, were the words: “Save Acte,” and yes, with an ‘e’ spray-painted underneath.
I wondered just what the artist had in mind when he placed those words there and what he meant by them. The word ‘act’ was obviously misspelled, but I figured the artist in question was perhaps francophone, as it is Montréal we’re talking about here, but I figured the soul was trying to inspire people to save themselves somehow. Anyways, this story came out of that, and I’d have to say it’s one of my favorite in the collection, but that’s hard to do, and always has been…to pick a favorite, as they’re all special to me and always will be.
Current state of the bridge…
Well, as it turns out, the old bridge was torn down and is being worked on, so I guess the cover photograph and the story within the pages of the book are now an historic piece. Go figure. Getting old, people. Just look at all that hair in the original promo shots for the book back in 2016!
A shot of the Pie IX Bridge under construction is shown below. As you can see, the graffiti is gone, and is now a mere ghost image from the past….
Anyways, the stories collected within Save … Act – A Collection of 10 Stories mean a lot to me and I hope that they reach and help as many people as possible, as fiction has a way of doing that.
Us readers know.
And perhaps if we’re lucky, a few more people, like Charlie in “The Dam” will eventually find out, that perhaps the time is nigh to Save…to act…and to move past the boundaries we set upon ourselves by staying stuck in the proverbial mud of the lives we’ve built up around ourselves, and through faith realize that no matter how dark, no matter how bleak, if we believe, there’s always a way out.
Find it here…
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/save-act-a-collection-of-ten-stories-domenic-marinelli/1124724518?ean=9781983952470
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All Rights Reserved © Domenic Marinelli
See the BIO section on this site for the full Domenic Marinelli biography.
*photos via Domenic Marinelli
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