"Where is the green sun?" "Catch a glimpse of it through a little boy's eyes under a chilly January Kentucky sky. Name it and claim it again from a ranch house rooftop in Texas summertime heat." Unthinkable confrontations and familiar deal breakers spotlight danger and opportunity through this literary mix in calendar format. Flash fiction bites bring emotion, humor, and surprise endings early in each chapter. A bride gets embarrassed; a teacher gets exposed. Marilyn Brandt Smith is not content with limits on perception, imagination, and experimentation. She aligns differing literary forms, allowing the sun, moons, months, and seasons to chart the year. In a true story from March, two vulnerable women are held at knifepoint in an elevator. In May, young men lose track of their coach at the cave they're exploring. April's grass moon matches poems and stories about a famous disaster; a not-so-famous boarding school prank; an unusual burglary; and a bunny on a Greyhound bus. December promises satire; a special tree in Brooklyn that isn't supposed to be there; and a glimpse of future technology. A counselor and teacher for people with disabilities, and a writer and editor for magazines, anthologies, and special formats, the author brings sensitivity, good humor, and creative variety to this collection. You'll want to be part of it all-help the desperate woman in the hospital at midnight; put a stop to the husband's game plan in Alaska. Stop and scratch their ears when you read about furry folk, and keep turning pages to see who's next.
About the Author: Marilyn Brandt Smith blossomed amid the blue bonnets and mesquites in south Texas. Her heroes are her parents who taught school, coached basketball, ran a ranch in their spare time, and most of all, believed in her. She reached for the educational hoops that qualified her to teach, counsel, and direct rehabilitation programs from Texas to the nation's capital and out to the Rockies. There was a stint with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, and a summer exploring Europe along the way. Blindness threatened some road blocks, but her determination and resourcefulness won out. Her Texas roots now flourish in Kentucky soil. She's part of a large extended family, and has opened her hundred-year-old home to critters as small as pinky mice, bred for the large boas and pythons her family bred and sold for a decade. Social networking and conferencing as well as old-fashioned letter writing and taping keep her in touch with fellow writers and friends she's known since she was six. Marilyn has written and edited for small-niche publications since college. She points with editorial pride to "Behind Our Eyes: Stories, Poems, and Essays by Writers with Disabilities" (published 2007) and "Magnets and Ladders," an online magazine which showcases strong, creative literary work. Lavender, leather, roses, and cedar make her smile. Water exercises and soaks keep her strong and sane. Family favorites like chicken and dumplings and peach cobbler will one day find themselves in a published collection of her specialties. Marilyn reads and writes about what makes her curious: drama that doesn't play out as expected; history that seems to have changed people's lives overnight; future technology or tragedy from all perspectives; and the storms and strategies in the lives of people who need a leg up on life. Her book, "Chasing the Green Sun," is a collection of plots, realities, and rhythms in a calendar format. Human interest, surprise endings, and thought provokers abound.