Collateral Damage and Stories by Bob Mustin
Bob Mustin’s sixth book, Collateral Damage and Stories, is a collection of five short stories and a novella (titled “Collateral Damage”) that examine the ways in which people use imagination to set aside human anguish and get on with their lives. Characters battle with challenges—mental, physical, and/or emotional. In “Singularity,” for instance, a surgery may help Harold with his excruciatingly painful headaches, but a test result leads to a life-changing surprise. John Fromme, of “Collateral Damage” is a journalist with schizophrenia who experiences familial strife and debatable memories.
D.W. Frauenfelder, author of Skater in a Strange Land reviewed the book. “If there is a theme to this collection, I would say it is elegy…It’s a look back over many years, wistful, grief-tinged, but not nostalgic. There is a sense in these stories that you shouldn’t ever want to go back to the past, or have things be the way they were.”
Before moving to Asheville 16 years ago, Bob had a brief naval career and a longer one as a civil engineer. In addition to writing, he has been involved in mentoring others since the early ’90s. On Saturday, August 13, at 3 p.m., Battery Park Book Exchange in downtown Asheville will host a book signing event with Bob that is free and open to the public.
Collateral Damage and Stories, fiction, 2016, softcover, $14.99, by Bob Mustin, and published by AM Ink Publishing, Wilbraham, Massachusetts.
