A Problematic Prophecy & Other Stories

Storytelling That Highlights The Importance of Connection

A Problematic Prophecy, Tennessee author Stephen Newton’s sparkling short story collection, engages the reader in potential treatments of life’s common crises, both self-wrought and stumbled into. An informal tone removes anxiety as down-to-earth yet vivid scenes elicit one’s innate empathy and understanding for the need to feel heard, noticed, and significant amidst frustrations in a fast-paced society. A guilt-presuming police investigation, an unrequited sexual attraction, the trauma of a daughter’s death, an unexpected pregnancy, and the unforeseen insights in dreams furnish the author’s fertile field. More than a mere fine read, “A Problematic Prophecy & Other Stories” illustrates the commonalities that, while forgotten in fraught times, are the mortar that can put social bricks together.

—by Michael McQuillan, a writer and social activist whose work appears in numerous literary publications. He was a former US Senate legislative aide and Peace Corps Volunteer honored by the ADL's "A World of Difference" diversity program and by the Brooklyn Council of Churches for ecumenical service, chaired the NYPD Training Advisory Council's Race Subcommittee after Eric Garner's death, coordinated the Crown Heights and Howard Beach coalitions after hate crimes there, and had an award-winning 19 years teaching history.