Publisher's Synopsis
All the works gathered in this volume were written in response to the following call for submissions:
Henry David Thoreau says in Walden that "the cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life, which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." These are some examples: the musician who sells his soul for amazing talent; the parent who misses a child's event to excel at work; the child who throws over a friendship in exchange for popularity.
When I told a friend that I had acquired a free cat, my friend quickly replied, "No such thing as a free cat." When my late grandfather's leather chair became a wildly expensive scratching post, I remembered my friend's sage wisdom.
Your Publications Committee requests member original submissions, fiction or non-fiction, that explore What It Cost. Feel free to interpret cost beyond financial.
It's easy to wax effusive about the chosen pieces, some profound, all personal reflections. But such pomp is unnecessary as the works stand on their own merits, just like the papers written and delivered from the podium at every meeting. Enjoy.
