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The
Labyrinth
by M. Stefan
Strozier
ISBN: 978-0-9788086-6-2
The Labyrinth is
the memoir of M. Stefan Strozier. Strozier
is a modern-day, global Huck Finn.
2nd Edition! Revised, expanded, updated, edited by Kyle David Torke; and with a new cover; preface by Lee Stringer. © 2008
"Make no mistake about it. You are about to be walked down the darkest corridors of one man’s unrelenting Hell. Author Michael Stozier, who lived to tell the tale has managed to recount in real time, with moment to moment precision, his struggle to fend off various precipitous mental disorders and ultimately reconnect with what the majority of us walking the earth regard as reality.
"And yet, all though this harrowing journey, even when immersing us in the bleakest depths of paranoia and delusion, through his prose, which has the profound discipline of relying on the workhorse of narrative--the declarative sentence--Stozier manages to remain strangely aloof and objective, deciphering the source of his agonies with cool and cunning while the HIM he is looking back upon writhes and exalts in poetic pentameter.
"Much has been said about the razor thin distance between genius and madness. And for all the pain and turmoil of his psychotic episodes, what’s undeniable is that while under the influence of them Stozier saw things in ways that rises to art; a unique, vivid and profound view of what for the rest of us passes by as so much minutia. You find yourself rooting for this genius, even at the ungodly expense of the madness out of which it is forged.
"Needless to say, this all makes for an arresting read. As you step into this alien and elusive world, you turn the pages with ever increasing eagerness and foreboding yet are hard-pressed to look away. In the end his book will upset any pat assumptions you may have about mental illness and those who suffer from it.
There are two parameters by which I evaluate anything I read. Was it worth the writer’s time to write it and is it worth the readers time to read it. To both questions I rank the Labyrinth a definite yes."
--Lee Stringer
"I am enjoying my reading of The Labyrinth. For me the hard work of writing is to stay out of your own way. From what I have read so far of your manuscript, you have managed to master this quite well. I am involved and engaged without the hand of the writer on my back urging me toward present conclusions."
-- Lee Stringer http://www.leestringer.net/
"The Labyrinth is AWESOME!"
--Dave Scotese
Editor of http://www.litmocracy.com
"Dear Mike,
You have an interesting story, and you approach your story with intelligence, sincerity and verve. What's more, you're able to make your sentences effective "weapons," as you call them. [Con't.]"
--Dan Simon
Publisher
Seven Stories Press
"Stephen Strozier's great quality is his immediacy, his ability to
wham it to you emotionally. Like in his The Tragedy of Abraham Lincoln
that brings Lincoln (and John Wilkes Booth) more alive than I've ever
seen them before. The same holds true for Guns, Shackles and Winter
Coats about an Iraq veteran who has flipped out after his war experiences.
Strozier's energy is limitless. I've known lots of super-energy types over
the years like Richard Morris (poet and head of COSMEP, the International
Organization of Independent Publishers), Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges,
NY publisher-poet Harry Smith, but Strozier make them all look like one-
dimensional stand-stills. His autobiography, The Labyrinth gets inside the
why's behind the energy that has made Strozier not only a playwright, play-
producer but one of the most vital and powerful publishers (World Audience)
on the publishing scene today. He isn't like one person at all, but more like
three (or four) people inside one body."
--Hugh Fox
Professor, critic, poet and playwright, much more
"Very much to the point, the entire book. Not one word wasted. The story of Strozier’s battle to get normal, get through school, get through the army, get sober, become a writer/publisher/theatre-manager. Strozier is one of the most vigorous genius-types I’ve ever known. Five times anyone else’s energy. Perceptive beyond perception. And whatever comes along there are forces inside him that activate to beat down the Evil and foster the Good. A playwright, creator and head of a theatre-company (La Muse Venale Acting Troupe), author of a number of top-run plays himself. Check him out at www.mstefanstrozier.org. His publishing house, World Audience, is the single most powerful, inspiring publishing house on the contemporary scene."
--Hugh Fox
Professor, critic, poet and playwright, much more
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