Phil Lloyd

49 Decisions in the Wilderness Phil Lloyd

These 50 very short stories are in two of the most popular storytelling formats we remember from our childhood no matter what community and literary tradition we come from: fables (where human nature is illustrated by using non-human examples) or parables (where human nature is illustrated by using all-too-human examples). Devoid of all cultural and societal descriptions, depicting humans as animals and animals as humans, they help us explore the multiple layers of human nature unadorned and in the raw. As in my previous collection of short stories, 49 unmarked graves, no character is identified by name, politics, religion, race or colour. Also, there are no references to any actual geographical locations or to any particular periods in history. This is in an attempt to separate each situation from conscious and subconscious prejudice so as to better identify any fundamental underlying motives.