About the Author

Born at the end of the great depression, and having a Bostonian psychiatrist  father and a Utahan mother who put Blake in cowboy boots at age two, it was only natural that he usurp the genes for sense of humor, the love of the great outdoors, and a profound appreciation for the importance of the psyche.

Blake inherited a natural ability to draw, and  realizing that he charged less than anyone else, hired himself to illustrate this book. The book has 30 stories and each has accompanying illustration. The Story Tree, hosting the front book cover, hides a multitude of figures in it. The back of the cover is a self portrait.

After the usual adolescent diversions and misadventures, Blake graduated from college having been inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, an honor society. He then went on to the Faculty of Medicine, at McGill University, where he was president of Alpha Omega Alpha, the honor society there. After having been so fortuitously twice honored, he continued with post graduate training in general medicine and neuro-psychiatry – later to meld these disciplines as a family doctor. He taught for a half dozen medical schools, each awarding him with titles rather than money. He held board certifications and re-certifications which gave him unpronounceable initials to follow his name.

When in college, Blake wrote a story, The Brute. That story led to his taking further courses in creative writing. While the initial rendition was lost, it was re-written later and named, Apparition, and is included in this book. In between those years, he periodically sharpened his quill to write fiction and non-fiction covering a wide swath ranging from pirate stories for his grandchildren to medical articles for journals. Injecting humor and pathos with a dash of irony has given him special pleasure. Blake has previously published fiction in short story and novel form.