Here, now, stories

by Eastwood, Peter

Here, Now: Stories Peter Eastwood The four long stories in this collection focus on men struggling with questions of responsibility -- personal, familial, moral -- that characterize their relationships with others: the betrayal felt by a teenage theatre usher once he realizes the projectionist he admires is an unfaithful and abusive husband; the anxieties faced by a young man after his partially artificial teeth corne loose just before he proposes to his girlfnend; the strange comection made between a displaced university instmctor and an immigrant taxi driver; and the new hope found by a young father during the intrusive visit of his bizarre, bom-again father-in-law. Al1 of these men face significant and often unexpected dilemmas as they negotiate their ways through contemporary urban [ives that are suddenly revealed to be different than the ones they envisioned themselves living. These stories reposition these characters on the precipice of new discoveries about their lives, wherein which their recognition of the realities of present tinle and place is a necessary first tentative step towards maturity.