Strangers in Another Country – A Short Story

Moby is only one of the countless people originally from the Caribbean and countries from the African continent who have relocated to Sweden and become a part of the black diaspora there. His life in the Nordic region has given him reasonable contentment. Moby is fond of dating women but avoids protracted relationships, which might be a personality fault or from fear of commitment. He is passionate about a few different topics that are significant to him. One of these is his optimism for universal black solidarity, which is put to the test when he comes across a black American who has found himself in a difficult situation and needs his help. Themes include unattainable dreams, loneliness, alienation, disappointment and frustration. This story first appeared in my debut book (a collection of four stories) bearing the same title). Consumer Review 1: "...These are not sympathetic characters you cheer for. Even knowing their insecurities and difficult backgrounds, they seem selfish and narcissistic. Sometimes you want to reach inside the pages and slap them, yet despite it all you can't help turning the pages to follow their journey. … But the real magic of this book is its style. There is a particular and recognizable sound and shape to the fiction written by men in the 60's. The voice, tone, pacing are all quite different than today's stories, and in this collection Taylor manages to brilliantly capture that 1960's narrative style. Within the first 10 pages I was entirely enchanted by this unexpected time travel. I am impressed with the raw potential of these stories. I hope to see more of them." Consumer Review 2: "What a fantastic piece of literature! Honestly, I have not read anything like this since my university days. A collection of two short stories & two novellas, are as much intense social studies as they are stories. It's as though the author has held a mirror up to a lost piece of time and allowed us an indepth insight into a very specific social set up. Lawrence G Taylor has a wonderful ability to capture feelings and translate them on to paper. You do feel the characters loneliness and isolation at times, the desperate sense of wanting to understand, belong and be understood. You get a real sense of their camaraderie – how various characters are propelled together because they are similarly socially isolated. This is not a book that is about plots or storylines. It is about acute social observations, the exploration of themes. It deals with social and racial obstacles and prejudices, of traversing those complex boundaries and trying to find and assert your place in the world. Set in London and Sweden in the 1960s, I think the author has a wealth of autobiographical material he has drawn from to bring us this wonderful literary 'study'. I would fully expect to find this text on a university reading list."