The book, Alice at Plum Island and Other Stories, Threads & Magic: From the Life of Dennis C. Merritt, arrived at an opportune moment. I was in need of something light-hearted but smart to read, and this book did the trick.
I know Dennis because we live in the same village and he attends a monthly writing group I host. He has read aloud several of the stories that appear in this book in a voice that seems amused at the world around him.
Let’s start with the book’s cover, which illustrates the time he and a woman named Alice were skinny-dipping at a beach. This activity, specifically by the woman, caught the attention of a man piloting a small plane. Dennis’s drawing shows the naked backsides of Alice and himself, plus the plane overhead. He wrote the pilot was only 10-20 feet above the dunes when he came out of his trance — “The hazards of skinny dipping.”
In the piece My Life, Dennis does a smart job listing the changes he’s undergone, personally and professionally as one of the oldest Baby Boomers, born in 1946. Some stories are from his childhood like the one about Chipper the Parakeet. He cleverly contends with a bully in middle school and thirteen years later, when he was working at a lab — or as he wrote, “Well, it was eighth grade all over again….” In college, he was engaged in a race to unload the mechanical dishwasher in the college’s dining hall as fast it was loaded. Then there are stunts like the time Dennis and his rock-climbing buddies scaled Sayles Hall at Brown University to place a wooden heart in the spire at its top. He shares stories about his work in computer programming and experiences later in life, like memories of his lifelong friend, Sid.
In the section, About the Author, Dennis wrote: “Is this really necessary in a book that’s about the author?” Yes, that’s his humor all right.
Dennis has also written other books including Jazz Chords for Bariton Ukulele, Understanding Jazz Chords on Guitar, and Adventure in Prolog.
Here’s a link: Alice at Plum Island and Other Stories, Threads & Magic: From the Life of Dennis C. Merritt. The book is available in hard cover, paperback, Kindle, and audiobook, in which you can hear Dennis tell you the stories himself.