Allegory

Allegory follows the surrealistic tale of a one Clifford C. Chase who could be best described as a, "drop out, cop-out, and a loser." One day in a chance encounter he meets the internationally acclaimed Physic Fantaso who intrigues Chase with stories about the great and all powerful Wizard Zolar. With no ambition, meaning or purpose in his life Chase becomes determined to track the Wizard down so that he might finally be able to see the world through Rose-tinted glasses.

Allegory should be compared to a tour through the mind of a one Clifford C. Chase a confused, "drop out, cop out and a loser." It is a trip through a surrealistic world of fantasy colliding with touches of reality. After reading the second page of a letter to a commissioner the reader is introduced to a man with no past to speak of. His present life is in shambles and his future only seems to lead to a dead end to the point that he feels that suicide is the only way out. That is until he meets the internationally acclaimed physic Fantaso. The brief conversation which follows puts Chase on a search for the Almighty wizard Zolar who is guaranteed to have the "loser" looking at the world through,"Rose-tinted glasses." During the ensuing odyssey he comes into contact with many other outcasts, misfits, and dregs of society all searching for truth, meaning and their place in the world in the wildest of ways including; attending a rock concert, a Wheelchair Race, and witnessing the utter desolation of Bangor, IN.

James Frank Marek was born on November 2nd, 1940. As a boy he was entertained by Classic Comics and fishing with his father. At about age 10 he started reading classic literature and it was around this same time that he started writing seriously as well. At age 17 he decided to drop out of High School and started traveling and hitch-hiking across the United States. In 1966 at the height of the Vietnam War he was drafted to the U.S. Army were he served two years. It wasn't till about 10 years after his service that he finished his first novel. In the September of 1978 he married Carolyn May Higgins and they adopted three children. James has written three complete novels, one novella, and a collection of short stories. Allegory is his first published novel.