Larry Lefkowitz

Allen Ginsberg, while in the New York State Psychiatric Institute, met Carl Solomon. Their first exchange: Solomon: "Who are you?" Ginsberg: "I'm Myshkin." Solomon: "I'm Kirilov." From that moment their friendship started. Myshkin is the idiot in Dostoyevsky's 'The Idiot" (he ends his life in a Swiss asylum) while Kirilov is one of the possessed characters in Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed". Sometimes diverse cultures meet. The heroic samurai Benkei, according to Japanese legend, killed a giant carp which had swallowed his mother when she fell into a waterfall. It is not recorded if Benkei lost his taste for gefilte fish or sushi. The Japanese legendary monster, the Nu, was slain by a samurai no less brave than Benkei. Benkei, disappointedly, is apparently not Japanese affectionate for Benjamin. A Yiddish version would have substituted "mother-in-law" for "mother" and worked in the Yiddish for "Adam was fortunate - he didn't have a mother-in-law." The ultimate "Nu?" Gertrude Stein, dying, asked "What is the question?"

Enigmatic Tales is a collection of twenty-seven Jewish stories whose characters live in the world but strive to understand it, faithful to the saying that if Jews don't know the answer, they answer with a question.

Welcome to the Campfire. Did you ever go camping as a kid and sit around the fire at night listening to scary stories? Creepy Campfire Quarterly features horror and science fiction from some of the most talented writers across the globe. Dark, disturbing, extreme, dramatic, literary, speculative, or just down right creepy, these stories will entertain you. And perhaps the next time you are around a campfire, you'll find yourself recounting a few of these haunting tales... Featuring works from the latest crop of modern horror and science fiction writers: Jenean McBrearty, Larry Lefkowitz, Ellen Denton, Richard W. Black, Michael Shimek, Ken Goldman, Jeffrey B. Burton, B. C. Nance, Liam Hogan, Craig Faustus Buck, Calvin Demmer, Florence Ann Marlowe, Robert Hart, Luke Walker, Randy D. Rubin, Matthew Weber, and Jamie Wahls

The assistant to a well-known literary critic suffers from the dominance of the critic. Wfter the critic's sudden death, the assistant believes that he has been freed from the critic's dominance. However, when the critic's beautiful wife asks him to complete an unfinished novel written by her late husband, the assistant finds himself still under the influence of the critic, as well as his wife.

The Critic, the Assistant Critic, and Victoria tells the story of the assistant to a well-known literary critic who suffers from the dominance of the critic and from the critic's practice to "borrow" abundantly from the assistant's work and publish it under his own name. After the critic's sudden death, the assistant believes he has been freed, finally, from the critic's dominance. However, when the critic's widow -- the beautiful Victoria -- asks him to complete an unfinished novel written by her late husband, the assistant finds himself still under the influence of the critic, as well as his wife. Although set in Israel, the novel is appealing to the international reader because of its universality of plot, literary background, sharp and witty dialogue, and humor. Philip Roth meets Woody Allen. A book worthy of the New York Times' recommended reading list.