The Clocktower: And Other Short Stories
“If you go to the courtyard where the Clocktower once stood, you can still smell the smoke rising tremulously through the stones…”
In his new collection, The Clocktower: And Other Short Stories, #1 Amazon Bestselling author N. T. Laemmle alternates between the mythic and the real, between cynicism and hope, to weave a narrative thread as varied yet interconnected as the world around us. With settings ranging from a medieval kingdom to a college library, from a sailing vessel at open sea to the yellow shores of modern-day Ecuador, Laemmle demonstrates a unique penchant for finding meaning in the mundane, as well as the magnificent. Confronting themes of isolation, meaninglessness, polarization, and—ultimately—grace, The Clocktower rises to the present moment atop the mighty foundation of our cultural & collective mythos, revivifying age-old concepts for a world caught in transition.
Origin:
I wrote these stories throughout the last three years. One of them (“Abnormal Pyschology”) was a contest entry following specific prompts, while the three travel stories (“Eat The Snake Fruit,” “Montañita,” and “Everybody’s Somebody In Luckenbach”) were each written a day following the events recorded. The five remaining stories, each Jungian parables in some form, were largely drafted during the COVID-19 shutdown in August-November 2020, although the collection’s longest work, “The Boy Who Only Wanted To Make Things Better,” was half-drafted and given up in 2017 (a too-dark children’s book) before its recent completion. I had some conception of the other stories as early as 2017 too, but let them ferment in my head for years before putting them to paper. All I had to go on was the first sentence of “The Clocktower” as previewed above, which I wrote from a cafe counter in Amsterdam after a sleepless night on a bench in Rembrandtpark.
Short Story List:
The Clocktower — When a young boy escapes his open-air prison at the base of an ancient Clocktower, he must go back to try and warn the others of their futile rebellion without becoming the very force he had worked so hard to escape.
Abnormal Psychology — A college student is busy procrastinating on her upcoming psychology paper when a fellow student joins her to smoke marijuana on their university library’s fourth floor balcony.
The Brothers — A tale of two brothers whose diametrically-opposed aspirations drive their worlds apart, and a faithful servant who strives to bring them back together.
Eat The Snake Fruit — A semi-autobiographical tale about visiting a cave near Kampot, Cambodia.
The Boy Who Only Wanted To Make Things Better — A classic medieval tale about a boy who only wants to make things better, but first has to gain enough power and prestige to make it all happen.
Montañita — Hats are lost. Whales are watched. Drinks are had. A semi-autobiographical series of brief vignettes from the carefree shores of Montañita, Ecuador.
The Crow’s Nest — When a captain and his first mate enter into mutually-assured sabotage on the open seas, their feeble lookout can only watch from above as their ship devolves to madness.
Everybody’s Somebody In Luckenbach — A young couple goes to visit their friend’s father and grandparents at their cattle ranch outside Fredericksburg, Texas in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
No One Dropped The Boulder — When an exile from a faraway land comes upon two feuding societies, he struggles to convince their embittered citizens—and himself as well—that there exists a better path forward.
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