Stephen Dixon – författare

"Mr. Dixon wields a stubbornly plain-spoken style; he loves all sorts of tricky narrative effects. And he loves even more the tribulations of the fantasizing mind, ticklish in their comedy, alarming in their immediacy".--"New York Times Book Review".

A collection of 18 short stories by a "very skillful storyteller (whose) grasp of the life of ordinary American city dwellers is such that he can shape it dramatically to meet the demands of his far from ordinary imagination" ("Times Literary Supplement").

In Time to Go, the author of the highly acclaimed 14 Stories, Long Made Short, and All Gone has written a dazzling book of eighteen interlocking pieces. Part short story collection, part novel, Time to Go moves from despair to hope, from the passing of things -- time, relationships, businesses, chances -- to the coming of marriage, stability, family, a new life. It is a book that can be in turn frightening and funny, touching and tough -- and one that is, on occasion, all these things at once.

Stephen Dixon's stories and novels have an original, immediately recognizable sound and feel -a weird blend of Franz Kafka and Frank Capra. Readers of his previous work will find in 14 Stories that same wry, inventive, knife-edged humor that has come to characterize his distinctive style. With an adroit use of language and a keen eye for the quirky, offbeat side of human nature, Dixon creates a world as viewed through a fish-eye lens-slightly distorted and off-center, yet recognizable and often familiar. 14 Stories is part comedy, part tragedy, part social comment and part spoof. But most of all it is a highly entertaining series of all-too-plausible vignettes that shows off Stephen Dixon's remarkable talent at its best.

Healthcare has suffered from a series of scandals where trust and patient confidence has been questioned. This timely book examines recent case studies involving every aspect of healthcare provision including the Shipman and Alder Hey cases. It shows how positive lessons can be learnt from these experiences to improve health and healthcare. The contributors offer practical advice based on their extensive and broad experience on how to regain trust between patient and practitioner following these difficulties. They demonstrate how doctors and other healthcare professionals can introduce ways to reduce error and mistrust and describe how to work better with press the public and patients. It is essential reading for all healthcare professionals policy makers shapers and commentators and those representing patient groups. 'The context of this volume is clear - the Bristol paediatric cardiac surgery debacle the Alder Hey scandal around retention and use of dead children's organs without consent and the Harold Shipman murders largely of elderly women in their own homes by their own GP. No surprise then that a first analysis suggests a breakdown of trust. But what the various authors argue for in this volume is both a more careful commentary and a series of complex responses. Real change is gradual a response to a narrative rather than to a single shock to the system. Professional leadership cross-disciplinary working with patients and the public is what will rebuild trust trust based on honesty on listening and on a strong sense of shared values. But it is possible and desirable. The authors have hit on what is 'essentially the 'way through this'!' Julia Neuberger in the Foreword

Short stories. "Dixon's people are intelligent, imaginative creations, humorous and long-suffering, somehow paralyzed or stagnating."--Publishers Weekly