Tales of Our Time - Publishers of uncommon fiction

Guilt, abandonment, frustration, self-doubt and the need to feel worthy of being loved are the dominant emotions fermenting within the encapsulated shell that is Peter Osborne’s paralyzed body.

Davis offers an engrossing look into the vagaries of a mind grappling with “grief induced trauma”. Layer by layer, scene by scene the reader is led further into the disturbing complexities of the main character. Davis has creatively woven a story steeped in subtlety and innuendo.

On the one hand according to Osborne, “She lets me do what I want to her,” he said in the voice of a young man who had established a clear and unambiguous connection with women and his own capacities.”

While we hear from Warren Russell, the therapist recruited to lead Osborne back from the brink and whose office provides the setting for this narration that’s, “fixated with rage, anger, internalizing, boasting, outbursts of cursing and infantile behavior and mood swings. Then there was Angeline, and Marcy Layton. And Edna three months earlier.

Except that Peter Osborne had no girlfriend. He has had not had sex, fellatio or otherwise, including masturbation, and besides the most obvious physical limitations was so socially inept no woman would approach him unless it was for directions”.

Arthur Davis displays the same sensitivity and in-depth understanding of the human psyche in his writing of this tale as South American author Gabriel Garcia Marquez does in his classic One Hundred Years of Solitude. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

Arthur Davis', "The Cracked Goblet" is an intellectual thriller, with the troubling neurosis of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and the unfathomable paranoia of "The Twilight Zone." In a direct-address monologue, the narrator leads his "friend" through the jungle, in search of an abandoned mansion that will be soon be taken over by their master, Arthur Wexton.

Or, perhaps the narrator himself is a deranged Arthur Wexton. Or his "friend" is Wexton. Or his friend does not exist, and neither does Wexton, and the narrator is talking to himself in a deranged rant. The psychological tension mounts, as we are taken further into the jungle, and deeper into the mystery of the characters and their dark quest.

Whatever Davis' intent, the "insane narrator with the imaginary friend," scenario seems most likely, making for a wild yet obscure journey through the jungle. Even the ending is inconclusive, with various clues to suggest what has happened, but no absolute clarity on the matter.

The Stonepills, by Arthur Davis, is a hard-edged story that scrapes at the madness between the real world and the nightmarish world of abuse.

The nameless, main character could be anyone…and she exists with deep despair, dark secrets, plus mental and physical pain, yet she possesses a courageous spirit that ensures her survival. This haunting story floods the mind with disturbing images that certainly make the reader want to rescue this child.

Her father, monstrous in his deeds, inflicts not only physical pain upon his victim but steals all self-worth with a glance. Is he human? Maybe.

Excerpt from The Stonepills…

…’I remembered his words the first time he saw me naked as a child. I will never forget the look on his face. Revulsion. That he had fostered something so disgusting was unacceptable….’

The reader is left wondering if the stonepills are real, or if they represent the horrendous suffering the child must swallow daily in order to live. This story does not shy away from the damage caused from abusive situations. The Stonepills is a thought-provoking, engaging read.

“St. Mayor for Life” by Arthur Davis is a story of redemption, not of personal choice, but of chance.

Mayor Carlos Rudolpho Simperson is driven from the village of Santa Margarita following his foolhardy confrontation with a US aircraft carrier task force that resulted in a horrifying retaliatory air raid.

Though no lives were lost, the villagers, infuriated with the attack and years of incompetent and isolated rule, elect a new leadership committee and build a statue that, despite an attempt to rally anti-Simperson sentiment, loosely resembles the ex-mayor. This statue soon becomes the object of worship in a twist of, what appears to the villagers, fate.

After a bout of drunkenness, Simperson is discovered lying in a ditch and barely alive. The people of Santa Margarita find new hope in what they believe are a series of miracles.

“Some of the villagers described the discovery of Carlos Rudolpho Simperson in terms of a resurrection. Overnight, peasants from nearby villages heard of this miracle, of this man who had single-handedly fought back the American onslaught until they offered rich compensation for the damage they had wrought.”

They reappoint Simperson as Mayor and he gains the trust and support of the villagers. He appears to be nothing like the man he was before and finds the courage to face the personal and political challenges that he had avoided for years, rallying the villagers through the sheer force of his will and belief.

But Simperson is hiding a secret, and only one other person knows why he has changed for the better. While the villagers enjoy the newfound notoriety, will the witness to his secret keep it forever?

Davis has crafted a surreal tale of political ambition, religious salvation and the backlash of a seemingly defenseless country over dominant international leaders makes “St. Mayor for Life” complex and reflective of the politics controlling our world today.

Set against the backdrop of a Lucian Freud art exhibit, Davis weaves a sometimes dark and insidious monologue of a voyeur watching those who pass through the hall. Some excite him, others fill him with disgust, but all are his unwitting pawns. He sees himself in concert with the artist as he tells the reader:

“They have taken the bait Freud offered them. The decoy I have used to bring them to this room, to be matched and catalogued and measured for posterity. For that is my judgment. I am the judge before the final decision. I am the one who approves and disregards. Without my nod, they would drift on into netherness.”

“In Search of Lucian’s Echo” is mastery in its detail of the human condition. While some may find the dialogue raw and intense in places, others will be captivated at Davis’ ability to keep the voyeur’s discourse hovering on the edge of madness.

Anyone who reads “In Search of Lucian’s Echo” will find themselves ever more aware and wary of that before unnoticed “stranger in the corner”.

NURSERY SCHOOL EXPOSE'

Reviewed by Vironika Tugaleva
February 2009

Andrew, a hilariously cynical and observant four year old, recounts his first day at nursery school in this brilliant, funny tale.

Arthur Davis’ genius quickly reveals itself in this multifaceted, complex character with the nature of a sardonic and skeptical adult and the interests, behavior, and appearance of a little boy. All in one story, he derisively mocks the nursery school teacher, churns out dramatic conspiracies in a poignant film noir tone and brags about how well he can play ball and avoid eating broccoli.

“I only knew that if I ate [the food] I would turn out just like these kids. The food here would eat away at my brain. It would make me stupid and before I knew it I would be playing with blocks like a child and standing quietly in line.”

“Nursery School Exposé” reveals the limitations of being a preschooler through adult eyes, the realities of love and freedom, the nature of change and progress and, of course, the truth: that nursery schools are a place where alien space monsters suck out children’s hearts and souls in order to control them and eat them.

Andrew is a delightful, sensitive blend of Shel Silverstein’s endearing and clever Peggy Ann McKay from “Sick” and Seth MacFarlane’s derisive Stewie Griffin from television’s “Family Guy”.

“Nursery School Expose” is a rare read, impossible to put down, and rich with warmth and profound truths. It will have you laughing and nodding along all the way through.

Reviewed by Lora K. Kaisler
January 2006

Wonder no more at the thought processes, instincts and genetic memory that drives an animal to act as it does, to function as it must, to behave in such crude and bestial ways. I Have Become The Leopard by Arthur Davis takes you inside the mind, heart, and soul of the animal.

You stalk with the lion, scavenge with the vulture, swing free with the gibbon, race with a herd of gazelle, and ambush with the leopard. Know the mystical cycle of reincarnation as flashes of previous lives teach coping skills, as the rainforest becomes the jungle, which in turn becomes the savannah. Bake in the African sun; delight in the muddy watering hole. Puzzle over ivory hunting by human animals.

Experience the circle of life up close, personal, real. Become the leopard. Feel the satisfaction of the kill as a warthog piglet’s heart and lungs cease to throb under your tense jaws and sharp claws, as its lifeblood flows rich juices down into your loins, restoring energy, granting another day of life. Tear the flesh and chomp quickly before the lions and hyenas come to claim their territorial rights marked on the trees and rocks you call home.

“I rest back on my haunches, licking away the fire where the lion's claw ripped into my right hindquarter. Flies again, hunting for their morning meal find my wound more than they had hoped. I chase them away with my tongue. It is soothing, and will cleanse. If it doesn't heal, I will die. Not quickly, but all too soon.”

Puzzle the mysteries of life and death, master the art of the hunt, and experience the realities of biology personally in I Have Become The Leopard, by Arthur Davis.

THE FOUR WALLS

“Dreyfus stared at the four walls…Waiting. Calculating…prepared for the time when they would begin moving against him.” Thus, the reader enters the protagonist’s delusional mind, trapped with him in the shrinking confines of his room. A classic paranoid, Dreyfus detects in the most innocent of circumstances a world of evil forces conspiring against him.

The thrill of the story comes in the fine detail Davis brings to Dreyfus’ delusions, the walls sneaking in at first, but then rushing to crush him, windows slamming shut, floor buckling, furniture upended and flung against the wall.

And Davis gives us glimpses of Dreyfus’ sad life before madness has completely overtaken him: a perplexed family, concerned neighbors, old friends now shut out and lost. Poignantly we learn of his children, “They never sang to him. They never spoke with eagerness or glee to him. They never trusted him with their frights, fun and formulas…Or pledged him to secrecy as he had learned from other fathers that children do when they loved and believed in you.”

Davis traces Dreyfus’s descent into the abyss through a running stream of consciousness, much like Conrad Aiken’s device in his classic short story about a young boy’s descent into schizophrenia, “Silent Snow, Secret Snow.”

But in the end, The Four Walls snaps us back to a view from the outside. We see the perplexity of those who come upon the final results of madness. If they only knew the journey poor Dreyfus took to arrive at his end.

‘Dallas of my Dreams’ is a haunting, first-person journey into the heart of a man who yearns passionately for his dream-girl, Dallas, a leading stripper at one of the last burlesque houses in New York City.

Our unnamed hero begins his quest in the streets of Times Square, where he pushes through crowds, stopping only to question the pretensions of Christmas shoppers wearing social masks of happiness.

He seems innocuous until he reveals the knife at his side. The weapon raises the question why the main character would carry a makeshift blade in the first place. Does he want to protect, or hurt himself?

Upon arrival at the “The Gaiety”, he describes in delicious detail each move Dallas makes and her effect on the crowd:

“Her body sent a surge of blood deep into the groin of every man there, her every movement gave them room to speculate on how she would behave in the grasp of their hungry embrace.”

But when a derelict drunk harasses Dallas, the protagonist stands up to defend her only to severely wound himself on his own knife. By losing consciousness, however, he gains his deepest subconscious desire.

In this ironic setting, Arthur Davis raises poignant questions about sexuality and trust. The prose is punchy. Metaphor and meditation are seamlessly woven into the plot, adding not only layered meaning, but also hope, to this delightfully dark fantasy.

CHANTILLY REDS

Reviewed by Emily Bosak
July 2008

Small town life isn’t easy. This rings true for twenty-year-old Corley Winslow, a brooding, tough-skinned teenager living the small-town lifestyle in Arthur Davis’ absorbing portrayal of a character talking the talk, and unable to walk the walk.

Winslow has dreams of getting out of Texas just like any other young and ambitious teenager. Yet, something keeps him from leaving his gorgeous yet promiscuous girlfriend, his seamy friends and the thrill and money he gets boosting cars.

“Chantilly Red’s was a home long before he knew he didn’t belong in school. Long before he knew he didn’t belong in a town like Mesa. The thought of watching this great old hall with the stinking smell of beer, urine, and cigarettes vanishing in a convulsive red ball of flames was as unthinkable as taking a young girl’s life.”

Davis crafts a very real and compelling study of a young man at a turning point where, if he fails now, he might well fail forever. Facing opportunity he sees a threat, facing an uncertain future he chooses the safety of Chantilly Reds and the stinking smell of beer, urine, and cigarettes.

We’ve all questioned the track that we’re on and where it might go. Corley serves as an inspiration for what not to do and what can be the addictive pitfalls of familiarity.

At its core, Davis’ Chantilly Reds is a strong, insightful tale of a universal archetype, a loner caught in a web of hopelessness, fearing change, lacking confidence and conflicted by bravado and his own sense of inevitability.