A Fistful of Grass

In his debut novel, “Casino Hopping Through the Lower 48” Chuck Stevenson worked for IBM until his untimely encounter with an HR Reduction In Force lollapalooza. In order to come to terms with life he embarked on a 6,000-mile odyssey to “find himself.” His estranged wife Bernie said he’d be better off trying to “find a job!” This book takes place three years later. Chuck and Bernie’s kids, Tracy and Brandon, are twenty-six and twenty respectively although you’ll seldom find the terms “Brandon” and “respect” in any manner, shape or form lurking in the same sentence. Chuck and Bernie are still on the civilized fringe of divorce. Chuck springs for a Labor Day weekend flight that takes him and the kids to Seattle in the great state of Washington where the rain falls daily and grass is everywhere. Yup. Grass. The smoking kind. The novel is all about stupid laws (marijuana and others), unconventional behavior (sexual as well as social), licit and illicit relationships (both private and professional) and how we as adults trapped within the system are compelled to cope. There are a great many bent and twisted characters in the book, some of whom get their comeuppance in the end and others who breeze through life unscathed by the random demands of Karma.