The Sound of Wings

This collection of short stories explores loneliness and the inability of people to connect with one another on an emotional level. That lack of emotional contact leaves the characters no alternative but to act physically upon one another, often in violent ways. The settings range from the Southwestern desert, to Bermuda, to the corn fields of the Midwest. In "The Bank, the Water, the Sky," for example, a vacationing couple witnesses the suicide of a protester. Neither of them is able to articulate their reaction to the death, and the man acts out on his lover's passive body. In the title story of the collection, lonely men attack those around them, unaware of the connections that exist between them. In all these stories, the landscape plays a central role, acting as a character in and of itself. Against these often bleak backgrounds, the characters stumble through their dangerous lives.