To the reader who is about to step forth into these hallowed crypts of prose, I offer you a parting bit of advice: fear not! - for truth is the wildfire of humanity, destroying the aged pillars of hypocrisy and setting forth a fertile ground for the creation of a new and more vivid paradigm.

Hemmingway, Salinger, Vonnegut, Najarian… all American writers. And it is from the fabric of this intensely wrought culture of ours that these pioneers of authenticity craft their deadly yet nurturing lens, through which fellow countrymen (and fellow earthlings!) may gander upon the landscape of this reality, in all its majesty and splendor.

Can I vouch for the truth of what lies in these subsequent pages? I cannot know because I have read nothing of their contents. BUT, it is indubitable that this man, this Michael Najarian, this son, brother, “big” brother, musician, financial analyst, friend and now… author, carries with him no mitigation, no compromise in his fanatic obsession with relating the essence of all things, this “truth” we have discussed hitherto. I have witnessed it. And as the mind bears the refractory burden of this disambiguation, it perseveres and burns much like the haunting image of a cute, fluffy bunny being slaughtered on the kitchen linoleum; therefore, I have no doubts in the substance that lies ahead. Strange perspectives indeed fellow truthlings…

So once again I say, fear not! -- for the man who moments after our first meeting made fun of me for speaking on the phone with my girlfriend at the time bears you no ill will -- he wishes only to cascade upon you the wisdom that only the truly deranged enjoy. Good luck and godspeed.

Chuck Fay

Lebanon 1972