Rick Pryll Livres

Prague is full of metaphors. They're not lost on Joseph. He's on a stone bridge between his old life and his future. He's building a castle of every architectural style around his heart. He needs to throw his obsession with an elusive Czech girl out the window, in order to crystallize his sense of self. He's a lump of clay waiting to be animated, and he's an alchemist in search of life's secret formulae, to be engraved on a shem and placed beneath his tongue.

This year, 1998, Joseph commits to Prague. He commits to the expat experience. He commits to his future. Alone on Christmas morning, he unwraps, ready for what comes next. Karina, his 10-month obsession, is back. Her career is taking off. She looks better than ever. Most importantly, she's finally ready for something more - is it too late?

Haunted by the mysterious death of his mermaid girlfriend, Joseph seeks answers from Naked Pete, who remains elusive. Struggling with his feelings for Karina, a waitress-turned-supermodel who briefly left for Italy, he grapples with obsession and timing. As he navigates complex relationships and the weight of loss, Joseph must confront whether he can rekindle his connection with Karina or if it's too late for them both. The narrative explores themes of love, loss, and the quest for closure.

Have you ever considered leaving everything behind to find yourself in Europe? WALLOW explores the journey of Steve, a self-absorbed romantic navigating the expat community in Prague. Recently divorced from both his partner and his former life in Manhattan, Steve finds himself broke and alone, deep in a quarter-life crisis. To move forward, he must confront and relinquish some of his cherished delusions, taking a moment to reflect in the cold sun of self-awareness. Rick Pryll's fiction serves as a thinly veiled reflection of his personal experiences, offering a dark exploration of the human condition. His work captures the emotional complexity of fleeting moments in life. Highlights include "Chris," which portrays life in Prague's American expatriate community at the turn of the century, and "Paper Plates," which poignantly expresses the pain of living in a transient place. "Eye of the Jackal" presents an ironic twist, revealing the true nature of theft. An Unsent Letter at the book's conclusion illustrates that the journey of self-discovery is often tumultuous, yet the essence of it may already reside within us. This collection of short stories, poems, unsent letters, and journal excerpts reflects a twenty-something man's struggle to reconcile his life post-divorce, set against the contrasting backdrops of New York City and Prague. The seven sections guide readers through a landscape of loss, self-pity, discovery, and ultim