In this fictionalized memoir, author (or is it narrator?) Jeremy J. Standifird celebrates the details and the exaggerations of youth that mark every successful-which is to say, harrowing, ridiculous, and beautiful-childhood.
A collection of memories that bubbles to the surface as Standifird watches a paunchy, balding man attempt to help a would-be diva in too much makeup, Of Knights and Lemon Fights presents a vision of childhood as lived and experienced by children. It's a vison extremely appealing to those of us ex-children who masquerade as adults.
Full of truth and plenty of stretching of the truth, the book follows the narrator from the ages of five to thirteen as he confronts the realities of love, loss, and the other wonderful and terrible parts of growing up.
As the narrator remembers his fear of leaving elementary school for the uncertain future of junior high, discussing why Barbie dolls should have skin with his cousin, and dealing with unexpected family tragedy, readers will recall the agony and the ecstasy of their own childhoods-and maybe spend a little time poking around the recesses of their own memories.
About the Author: Jeremy J. Standifird was born and raised in Southern California, in a neighborhood lined with lemon and lime trees and inhabited by the largest concentration of single mothers in the entire state.
Between Standifird and his brother, who could be either Satan or a saint depending on the day, Standifird's mom, a single mother herself, never had a relaxing moment.
Standifird met his wife while working at Santa's Village in the San Bernardino Mountains. He joined the navy at age twenty-one and retired from the service in 2014. He earned a BA in communications and writing from Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington, and immediately began working toward an MA in English and creative writing. He writes poetry and prose, and credits Jack Kerouac's Maggie Cassidy with saving his life when he was fifteen.
Standifird and his wife, Jaimi, live in Edmonds, Washington. They have three children.
