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"[I]t may be one of the most important books you ever read." Readers Favorite
“The Queue is absolutely brilliant.... Author Michael Hager pours out the truths of the human condition in an existentialist tone reminiscent of No Exit by John-Paul Sartre. The story is not just about aging, but of many aspects of the human condition.... The Queue will keep you thinking. Get it.” Christopher Meeks, Self Publishing Review.
A Short Novel & Three One-Act Plays Together in One Volume
The Queue, a novella
Why are those old people standing in line? Where are they heading?
What end awaits them?
And
Warriors, a trilogy of plays
People of advanced age off to war? ("Warriors")
A new script for living (and dying)? ("Paradise")
Grandfather takes over? ("Home")
By L. Michael Hager
Aging, generational conflict and mortality are the common themes of this volume.
Set in the not-too-distant future, The Queue describes the horrors faced by seniors of advanced age when forced by a planetary dictator into a seemingly endless line toward an unknown destination. Joining the queue to assist his aged parents, a middle-aged narrator describes in his diary the ordeals that he and his companions endure over a challenging 40 days. The diary raises questions about life, death and human suffering before revealing what lies at the head of the queue.
Here's how it all begins
We've been in the queue for more than a month now, my mother, my father
and I. We don't know where we’re going, only that the going is very slow.
We don't move more than a hundred meters a day. Then we stop to take
our meals and rest. The food is not very good, usually just soup and rice,
and not much of it. At least there's time to sleep under the stars. Sometimes
it's too cold and the blankets we brought with us are too thin. Sometimes it
rains and we have to walk in wet clothes. There is little privacy.
In a trilogy of absurdist drama, Warriors offers three humorous takes on aging. Each of them grapples with end-of-life scenarios that juxtapose denial and acceptance of death.
Currently residing in Washington, DC, Mike Hager is a retired lawyer, diplomat, co-founder and Director General of the International Development Law Organization in Rome, Executive Director of Conflict Management Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts and President of the Education For Employment Foundation in Washington, DC. Most of his professional career was spent abroad (in Liberia West Africa, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Egypt and Italy). The Queue is his first novel and Warriors his first published plays. He has a produced ten-minute play ("Waiting for Beckett") to his credit. Another short play ("The Fishing Trip") and some unpublished short stories are in the wings.
To order in soft cover or ebook visit: http://www.xlibris.com/OnAging
Also available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com
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Set in the not-too-distant future, The Queue describes the horrors faced by seniors of advanced age when forced by a planetary dictator into a seemingly endless line toward an unknown destination. Joining the queue to assist his aged parents, a middle-aged narrator describes in his diary the ordeals that he and his companions endure over a challenging 40 days. The diary raises questions about life, death and human suffering before revealing what lies at the head of the queue.
Here's how it all begins
We've been in the queue for more than a month now, my mother, my father
and I. We don't know where we’re going, only that the going is very slow.
We don't move more than a hundred meters a day. Then we stop to take
our meals and rest. The food is not very good, usually just soup and rice,
and not much of it. At least there's time to sleep under the stars. Sometimes
it's too cold and the blankets we brought with us are too thin. Sometimes it
rains and we have to walk in wet clothes. There is little privacy.
In a trilogy of absurdist drama, Warriors offers three humorous takes on aging. Each of them grapples with end-of-life scenarios that juxtapose denial and acceptance of death.
Currently residing in Washington, DC, Mike Hager is a retired lawyer, diplomat, co-founder and Director General of the International Development Law Organization in Rome, Executive Director of Conflict Management Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts and President of the Education For Employment Foundation in Washington, DC. Most of his professional career was spent abroad (in Liberia West Africa, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Egypt and Italy). The Queue is his first novel and Warriors his first published plays. He has a produced ten-minute play ("Waiting for Beckett") to his credit. Another short play ("The Fishing Trip") and some unpublished short stories are in the wings.
To order in soft cover or ebook visit: http://www.xlibris.com/OnAging
Also available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com
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font-family: georgia, serif;
padding: 18px 0; width:565px;
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