Fetching Molly
“In his second collection of short fiction and memoir, Michael David Fels introduces us to new characters such as Sophie; an elderly woman staging her last battle against God; Jeannie, a young woman who has given up ever finding love and seeks refuge in an old-growth redwood tree; Dennis, always ‘so good with kids,’ now struggling to become a surrogate father to a child he doesn’t understand, and many more.”
Sample Text
From the story: Real Scouts
“The tortoise-shell glasses Adam thought had looked so handsome just days before when he had admired his reflection in Dr. Steinmetz’ eye-glass dispensary, now gripped his face like talons. They pulled and pinched at his ears. The lenses were covered with a film of dust and jiggled with every step, making the sage-dotted landscape through which he and his Tenderfoot Patrol were hiking bounce up and down in a blur of gray-green and brown. His vision had gone suddenly bad two-weeks before. One day he had been able to read Miss Myer’s neat blackboard script from his seat at the far end of row two. They had been studying the forty-eight states and Adam had pulled “Indiana” from the fishbowl into which Miss Myers had dropped small, folded squares of white paper; each hand-lettered with the name of a state. As she had moved down the aisles, cautious hands reached over and down into the bowl. He had never heard of Indiana, but it had sounded exotic and wild with woods teaming with sleek, brown natives.”
What Readers Say
“What a delight, to enjoy your writing. Short stories are difficult to write and often for me to read because just as I begin to understand the character, they leave me. You have wonderfully mastered the medium, although I must say that each tale left me wanting to meet these characters again. Especially you, who must figure in each of the tales beyond the one acknowledged. Thanks for the wonderful read(s). Congratulations on an extraordinary book.”
DW (Attorney, Sebastopol)
” Good short stories can give you a great mental vacation and they can fit into almost any schedule. For this summer I would pick Fetching Molly. Local author, Michael Fels, has a knack for creating fascinating characters. In Fetching Molly, his new book of short stories, his kaleidoscope of characters is marvelous by themselves and wondrous as they slide into their connected picture. From the High School Student dressed as a salad for Halloween, to the twenty-something DJ broadcasting her local radio show from inside the base of a burned out redwood tree–young, old, hilarious, beguiling, all of their voices are veracious. The bittersweet title story, Fetching Molly brings on a hard squeeze to the heart and an eloquent close to the book.”
SR (River Reader/Sonoma County Gazette)
” . . . those tales pack a punch at the end and a wallop that gets me where it hurts. I don’t know which story I like best. Goldie –terrific. Made me wince. No, much worse than wince. Redwoods Radio –did that really happen? Too wonderful.”
GB (Cazadero CA)
” . . . I loved your new book, as I did its predecessor! I read your writing with great pleasure, along with a sense of wonder at what you are able to accomplish.”
ANS (San Leandro, CA)
” . . . I read out loud many of the stories in Fetching Molly. David enjoyed hearing them while he was driving . . . the last chapter Fetching Molly was particularly poignant to me.”
AAO (Petaluma, CA)
” . . . just finished reading Fetching Molly. It drew us in. We were quite taken with it. I especially enjoyed the autobiography chapter, but found your personality (complex as that is) throughout. Well done. You write well, seduce the reader. Before one knows it, he has finished the last page.”
JF (Oregon)
“. . . Fetching Molly is a continuation of your determined march towards becoming a wonderful earthy and human writer. Your characters quickly, and with such ease, become a part of the people we’ve all known and lived with . . . Anxiously awaiting, next!”
LH & TH (Oakland, CA)
“I read your new book with pleasure. I thought the stories about boys coming to terms with the ever expanding world around them were especially evocative. Having been there myself I know how well you captured those moments. Far and away the most thought provoking and chilling was the shortest of the pieces: barely more than two pages, but what a story!”
RM (Berkeley, CA)
“For those who have lived in California and the Southwest since the decade of the 1950’s to the present; Michael Fels’ writings capture that period succinctly. His ability to retrieve and crystallize events and experiences and convey them to the reader allows one to re-live those times.”
CL (Whittier, CA)