The Fossil and Other Stories

The story of a mentally and emotionally challenged young man who becomes a suicidal sociopath. This is not a mystery, but the story has a somewhat mysterious ending. The story will challenge the imagination, and only reader will know, or not know, how the story ends.

A young man is born with a mysterious birthmark. The birthmark haunts his tortured soul 24/7. A day doesn't go by when this young man is not confronted by what, to him, is not only unfair, but is such a grotesque representation of what a human being should look like that he begins to harbor enough resentment, bitterness and hatred to kill those he deems normal, and/or those he considers abnormal. His obsession to kill others is superseded only by his overwhelming desire to kill himself. In fact, suicide soon becomes his reason for being, his raison d'etre. Things are moving along rather nicely. Some interesting and intriguing seques take place until he meets, Olivia, the librarian. Prior to meeting Olivia he spent most of his time living in his tree-house, a secluded domain, in the bowels of which, he spent most his time reading and writing. He'd always been enamored by writers, poets and the books they seemed mysteriously( muse-inspired) able to write. At a young age he'd already fallen in love with the English language, but now, in the world of his imagination, he'd become helplessly smitten, and he wanted nothing more than to become a writer, so long as he lived, of course. Olivia, who never acknowledged his birthmark, touched him in a place he'd previously thought untouchable. The hope she manifested in life, particularly in him and his potential, created an avoidance-approach manner of living that caused even a greater degree of confusion and angst. He wanted to live. He wanted to die. But he knew he couldn't have it both ways. After his last meeting with Olivia he begins to believe in something, and/or just maybe someone greater than himself. His determination to live runs headlong into a mystical confrontation with an evil force greater than himself, and he pays the ultimate price. Before reading this story people should be forewarned that others have read it and laughed so hard and so long that they died.

Richard Ilnicki is the author of three self-published books; two novels ( Hitting Bottom and The Bibliophile) and a book of short stories entitled "The Birthmark and Other Stories." he has also published six books of poetry. One of his books, "The Hatchet Man' is in the library of Yad Vashem located in Jerusalem, Israel. This book of poetry deals exclusively with The Holocaust. This new book of short stories, "The Fossil and Other Stories," covers a variety of subjects characterized by Ilnicki's unique voice and character development. Most of his characters suffer mentally, psychologically, emotionally and appear trapped with no obvious way of escape. While laughter isn't absent from his writing, he certainly is not a humorist. He is the father of two daughters, has two grandchildren, and is married to an artist, Mary Joyce, whose roots have been linked to James Joyce. He manages a health club in Tarpon Springs, Florida and is a personal trainer. He writes in his spare when not taking care of his beautiful bi-polar wife, dog and cat. The dog and cat are not bi-polar, although the cat is suspect.