Reid Baron

All But One Reid Baron

All But One includes The General, eight more short stories and a novella previously published as an e-book, Witches' Coffee, A Miracle Brew from Brazil. Eclectic in style, the stories run the gamut from a Runyon-like wrestling match in The Incredible Hunk, to the atmospheric Latin American suspense of The General, who spends a weekend with his wife and security detail at his country house. Miss Hap Goes to Paris is a whimsical riff on the gift trip taken by a confused young man who has won a radio contest, together with his sophisticated lady partner. Over Our Heads offers a glance back at the art world of the 1990's, and Soccer Zombies Coming Soon, exposes the lengths to which ambitious relatives will go to support their children's soccer squads. Witches' Coffee is the tale of Vanessa Saxe, an ambitious young Englishwoman who works in Human Resources at an international accounting firm in Rio de Janeiro. She becomes involved with a crime story and "black magic" (macumba) when a job applicant reports that his wife has recently died. Vanessa comes to question the possibility that Brazilian macumba might offer something more than candles on street corners and saints with -- to her -- unfamiliar names. Closing action takes place at Ipanema Beach on New Year's, where the goddess Iemanja floats in to shore to celebrate with her followers. Rastafarians and record players, Frankenstein and Arabian sheiks occupy these works of magic realism.