A Million And One Stories To Tell: Tales Of The City & The Soul #1 (HC) (2020)

"Out of 8 million stories, the saddest are the silenced and forgotten.

In the city that never sleeps

There are a million and one

stories to tell."

Set in New York City in the mid-late 1990s and early 2000s, A Million And One Stories To Tell paints a dark poetic picture of the human soul with New York City's urban environment as the backdrop. This book is meant to be read from cover to cover. Using individual poems that connect through episodic and non-linear storytelling, A Million And One Stories To Tell tackles the issues of society and plunges the reader into the underbelly of city life.

The reader is introduced to characters who are dealing with multilayered stressors stemming from the community that they live in and explores the dichotomous relationship of individuals of different socioeconomic statuses. Faced with mental and spiritual struggles, characters are shaped, and the reader is taken on an emotional journey with them.

Some characters carry through from poem to poem in a given chapter such as Mr. Willy, the lynchpin character reflecting the heart of the city, who along with the poet serve a narrative purpose. New York City itself becomes alive, reflecting the soul and becoming the voice for those who do not have a voice. Ultimately, that voice is the very thing that challenges the darkness.