Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories is about people who can't or won't gain control over their lives, and so go "left of center."
Will they have time to correct their course or will they crash?
There are some people who, whether by accident or design, find themselves traveling left of center. Unable or unwilling to seize control over their lives, they allow fate to dictate the path they take—often with disastrous results.
Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories details the experiences of characters in life situations for which they are emotionally or mentally unprepared. Their methods of coping range from the passive and the aggressive to the humorous and hopeful.
In each of these eighteen stories, the characters’ choices—or non-choices—are their own. But the outcomes may not be what they anticipated or desired.
Will they have time to correct their course or will they crash?
Excerpt
“Annabelle”
“My father was a painter,” Annabelle had said—was it at the second session or the third?—“and my mother would pose for him.”
Annabelle remembered watching her father paint in the cold, clear light filtering into his studio. He used canvas and oils the way God had used clay, creating life from inanimate objects. The walls of the house were hung with his paintings—those his agent could not convince him to release—and everywhere Annabelle looked, her mother’s dark eyes would follow her, glowing on the canvas.
Sometimes, after a long session in the studio, her mother would be pale and weak, barely able to stand, so colorless that one would think her a ghost. The portraits, by contrast, were pulsing with life. Annabelle had feared that her father was drawing the very lifeblood from her mother, leaving behind an empty shell.
And yet, her mother gloried in the attention, willingly changing herself into any figure her husband desired, just to be able to stand there, caught by his passion, while he painted.
His work sold quite well in galleries across the country, but even if it had not, her father would have continued to paint, and her mother to pose.
And Annabelle-the-child would be standing, somewhere just outside their line of sight, watching. And waiting.
Professional Reviews
Christie gives the reader a provocative slice of Americana that is equal parts real and gripping
Nancy Christie has mastered the challenging art of short-story fiction. She has found a concise way to fabricate commonplace fears and desires within plausible characters placed into vivid and evocative scenes. In TRAVELING LEFT OF CENTER AND OTHER STORIES, Christie’s haunting narrative, dramatic personalities, and cogent dialog compel the reader onward…Christie’s short stories often produce a protagonist whose character faults drive them to engage in inappropriate behavior. Like the compulsive gambler or the substance abuse addict, Christie’s characters understand in a visceral sense that their conduct is aberrant. Yet they seem unable or unwilling to adequately admit to or confront it. In this way, Christie gives the reader a provocative slice of Americana that is equal parts real and gripping. Charles S. Weinblatt, author and book reviewer for New York Journal of Books (U.S.)
Ms. Christie’s mastery of the short story is remarkable
I was looking for a good love story, to break up the string of thrillers I have been reading. Instead, I found TRAVELING LEFT OF CENTER. As the title indicates, these 18 short stories have protagonists who are slightly off kilter psychologically. We all know they are “out there.” It is estimated that one in four Americans suffers from some form of mental illness. Ms. Christie has given them a voice… Nancy Christie is an excellent writer, using superb language skills to make these characters come alive and incite the reader’s appreciation of their thought processes. She appears to understand the various stages of disconnect and struggle to function in the world that make up the lives of the mentally ill. I found myself thinking, “Yes, of course, that makes sense in their view of the world.”… Ms. Christie’s mastery of the short story is remarkable, especially given that the genre has pretty much fallen off the publishers’ line-of-sight the past couple of decades. It would be so lovely to have short stories restored to their rightful place in modern literature. This collection is a step in that direction. Margaret Gust, Coastal Breeze News (U.S.)
A noteworthy look at human angst… an insightful, yet chilling read
I sincerely enjoyed this conglomeration. Each piece was well-written, interesting and, more often than not, quite believable…. Each tale found within TRAVELING LEFT OF CENTER AND OTHER STORIES certainly lived up to the book’s rather unusual title – and while some were on the very edge of ‘disturbing,’ Christie never crossed the boundary of providing the reader with too much information. If anything, she masterfully wrote these stories in such a manner that the reader’s own imagination will fill in any blanks. TRAVELING LEFT OF CENTER AND OTHER STORIES was an insightful, yet chilling read. Christie is a master with the pen, and I’m looking forward to more from her in the future. Charline Ratcliff, Blogcritics book reviewer (U.S.)
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