Sachem Alum Publishes Short Story Collection

Surrealist author Stephen O’Rourke has published a short story collection titled "Pieces & Stems" that is thought provoking, entertaining and disquieting, but most importantly it defines him as a ground breaking new artist who discards timeworn logic and reader expectations, in favor of beautiful chaos.

O’Rourke, who lives in Riverdale, N.Y. with his wife and son, graduated from Sachem in 1985. In addition to Pieces & Stems, O’Rourke has written four novels, a novella and a poetry collection and is the winner of the coveted Estragon Literary Award.

These 15 literary teasers call to mind giants like Fankz Kafka and Jorge Luis Borges, but also the suspenseful writings of Arch Oboler (now largely and sadly forgotten, Oboler created and produced some of the greatest radio plays ever conceived during radio’s golden age). Like his formidable predecessors, Stephen O’Rourke plays mind games with his audience, luring them into bizarre worlds where supposed realities collapse and there are no means for escape.

His characters are compelling: the detective hired to find a missing writer who then finds himself lost in a world of fiction, the stuffed human being that possesses a consciousness no one perceives, the Florida retiree who suspects his wife and friends to be products of his imagination, the director who realizes he is trapped in the nightmarish reality of his latest film, and the short story writer threatened by the characters that he has invented. In each instance, Stephen O’Rourke plays magician, conjuring the strangest characters and circumstances then hypnotizing readers so they won’t want to leave.

To read Pieces & Stems means to be an active participant in the magician’s act, for you cannot help but get caught up in it. Read one story by Stephen O’Rourke and it will turn into fifteen. It is a surrealistic escape from which your mind may never recover.

Pieces & Stems: Stories By Stephen O’Rourke is available in paperback, as well as in Kindle and Nook format at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.