Roadless Homelands

In this wry collection, Baroness Melody Von Smith explores our need for a place to call home, either literally or figuratively, and how this need is directly tied to our identity. <br><br>In &quot;The Ocean doesn&#39;t Want Me Today&quot;, it is a physical place&ndash;Downeast Maine&ndash;that provides solace for the young woman contending with her mother&#39;s suicide by learning to be a lobsterman. In &quot;The Snows of Jake Manjaro,&quot; it is Jake&#39;s all-consuming vocation as a war journalist that defines, preserves, and ultimately consumes him. &quot;Yes, This is A Fine Promotion,&quot; (adapted from a stage play of the same name) features a young man who meets himself on a subway train in Chicago, while in &quot;The High Price of the Wild Truth,&quot; a beach bum slowly transforms into his once-famous television character, a hired vigilante killer. <br><br>These stories&ndash;blunt, funny, and deceptively simple&ndash;showcase the Baroness&#39;s knack of capturing the wonderful ridiculousness of being human. Her characters are unforgettable, her realities fantastic, and her dialogue both crackling and crackerjack. All this, woven with a gentle, quirky satire and an odd optimism, makes for a wild ride with a satisfying splashdown. <br>