This is a long-time-coming of age of the daughter of a deceased World War II hero, and the stepdaughter of an abusive Air Force officer, who attended myriad schools and moved every couple of years until detachment became her ingrained norm. It is an unorthodox odyssey of an ex-military brat seeking ballast after the loss of a father she can’t remember and a mother she wishes she could forget.
In a series of “stories” – each set in a different locale at a different stage of life, Loose Fish takes the reader through a literary potpourri of pathos and humor: bull fighting in Madrid, 1960’s sexual escapades in Greenwich Village, home invasion by Arabs in Morocco, mental ward incarceration, dancing on Ed Sullivan’s Show, a romance with Dustin Hoffman, a stint on the est staff with Werner Erhard, and an assortment of quirky friendships and adventures.
you may wonder about the title of this memoir. In old whaling jargon, a fast fish likely has a harpoon in its side, "dibs"--while a loose fish is just up for grabs. As Meliville puts it:
1. A fast fish belongs to the party fast to it. (nearest to it)
2. A loose fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it.
"...these two laws touching Fast Fish and Loose-Fish will on reflection be found in the fundamentals of all human jurisprudence . . . what are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish? What are all men's minds and opinions but Loose-Fish? What is the great globe itself but a Loose-Fish? And what are you, reader, but a Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish too?"
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
PUBLISHED EXCERPTS OF "THE LOOSE FISH CHRONICLES"
PRIME NUMBER Issue 11 Jul-Sept 2011 "The Wing Shed" (creative non fiction)
WORDRUNNER ECHAPBOOK.COM 12/15/11 Winter Issue "Six Chapters of The Loose Fish Chronicles, a memoir in stories" ( creative non fiction) Chapbook with hot links and photos
RED WHITE AND TRUE: Stories from Families and Veterans, WWII to the Present Anthology to be published in August 2014 by University of Nebraska Press/Potamac Books. Preorder on Amazon. Contains "The Wing Shed" excerpt.