Introduction

There are two parts to this book: one of 13 short stories and one of 12 book commentaries. The stories are quick reads and leave some room for the reader to make their own imprint. If the essays have anything in common, it’s the distrust of entrenched power.

Fiction and nonfiction don't usually get anthologized together, but I think the two can sometimes complement one another.

A second reason for combining fiction and nonfiction is that it gives the book some bulk, but since each piece can be read independently of all the rest, there’s no binding commitment on the reader to heed the 50/50 reading rule.

Third, one part of the book may be of interest but not the other. History, politics and all that aren’t everyone’s thing. On the other hand, there are times when you prefer something that takes a bit more time to read, say, longer than it takes to have a smoke.

In closing, here are two websites where you can download/read from a much larger library than most of us have access to: Internet Archive and Anna’s Archive. Both are nonprofit operations that promote free and widespread access to digitized knowledge. All of my books are on the Internet Archive, and most are also currently available through the shadow libraries searchable from Anna’s Archive.

Peter McMillan

Oakville

April 2026