00 – What are ‘Momentary Days’?

Here, in the realm of decline, among momentary days,
be the crystal cup that shattered even as it rang.
- The Sonnets To Orpheus: Book 2: XIII, Rainer Maria Rilke

This is a collection of 13 short stories I wrote several years ago. I tried to get them published in magazines and as a whole, and came pretty close with a few of them. In retrospect, it’s probably for the best that I never got this collection published. It’s not very good. But here it is, warts and all.

The idea was that all 13 stories were very loosely linked. They all involve the tenants of an apartment building: some stories take place there, others involve the tenants but take place somewhere else. I wanted to have characters, events and things from stories reappear in the background of other stories. I just thought that would be cool.

It feels silly when I remember how seriously I took this project. I’m happy I completed it. I learned a lot about how I write, and how I think about writing. That said, I’m also a little embarrassed about it, and I’m eager to move on to new projects.

Anyway, thanks for taking some time to read them. I hope you like them. My main web site is www.OliverHo.ca, and you can reach me at [my first name].[my last name] [at] rogers.com.