Thomas Baumgärtel

Pieces of Eight Thomas Baumgärtel

Eight stories of passion, love, crime, mystery, revelation, and spirituality. Eight stories of challenges to people trying to find their way in a confusing world. Crafted in a variety of styles and set in a variety of places, these contemporary stories focus on unremarkable people facing decisions and situations requiring them to draw on strengths and depths they did not know they had and revealing to them a new dimension either to the world--or to themselves. In one story, a man comes across a weird and violent crime. In another, a man sets out to discover facts about his grandfather, facts mysteriously kept from him by his mother. In another, a retired farmer sets out to honor a promise made decades before on a field of battle. And in another, an aspiring musician finds and loses a soulmate and lover and tries to make the best of the long, dry life afterwards. Amid all the seriousness, there is humor. Amid the despair, there is hope. Each opens a tiny window on the human condition, the human character.