Video Verite and Other Stories

In our media-saturated world, the line between reality and fiction has grown thinner and more confusing. With sharp, clear prose and an insider's view of the media, Petrick's stories take us into a hall of mirrors where men and women struggle to understand themselves and their relationships with one another. In a climate defined by images, does love stand a chance when no one is certain what is real? In the title story, an accomplished skydiver goes airborne with a video camera to capture the love of his life, but a small oversight upends his best intentions. In "Sins of the Father," a man arriving in Huntsville, Texas, to commute his son's death sentence clashes with a documentary producer intent on chasing the story to its bitter end. In "Telling Time," a corporate video producer, conflicted by his own immoral conduct, learns that sometimes the absolute truth is the most effective lie.