These fourteen short stories contained in A Collection of Characters explore the tangled relationships that mark us and mold us, some for better and some for worse.

REGRETS
A novelist with writer’s block befriends an old man with many stories to tell. This odd turn sets him on an unexpected new course.

DEMONS AND THE RED BICYCLE
A little boy wants a new father and a red bicycle. But his mother’s demon stands in the way.

HERO
A veteran returns from the war, a hero to everyone but himself.

THREE NIGHTS
A successful man and a younger woman, each with their own ambitions, seek satisfaction in each other.

DOUBLE UGLY
A truly ugly man encounters a charming younger woman. He can’t trust his good fortune.

HAPPY HOUR AT THE DMV
A cheeky young woman finds relief from an insufferable bore at everyone’s favorite bureaucracy.

A PILE OF MONEY
A man discovers there is no end to his best friend’s quest for more and more money. But he’s too entangled with her to say “enough.”

LITTLE BIRD
A married woman finds a long-lost lover in damaged condition. Their shared past still holds her.

STRAINED LEASH
A domineering mother works overtime to control her already-compliant son. Then her overly-clever manipulations provide him with an unexpected opportunity.

AN INCIDENT AT SHAY’S BEND
A habitual hell-raiser in mortal peril crosses an ethereal boundary to redeem himself.

BYGONES
A decent man who has lived with the stain of humiliation for thirty-one years at last has the chance to confront his tormentor – the same man who was once his best friend.

WHARF RAT
During the bitter 1934 San Francisco longshoremen’s strike, a meek young boy strives to earn his hard-bitten father’s respect with the help of his older friend next-door, Frannie Potter.

FRANNIE POTTER
In 1937, an unusual young American woman runs off to fight in the Spanish Civil War to save the Republic and keep her friend Marty alive. She almost succeeds.

FINALE
Frannie Potter’s best friend Yvette arrives in San Francisco amidst the hysteria of Congressional anti-Communist hearings which threaten to ruin Frannie’s old friend, Marty Hornstein.