La Triviata: The Tree of Us is a satiric, poetic allegory of sorts, portraying the present-day situation of civilization, a quest for love, riches and fame, politics, man and his world, and where it is all going. The characters are very "real," even the "choruses of trees" carrying on as they do. The interplay of the characters, each with a driving need and a plan, a desire, a quest, playing off each other, trying to use each other to their own desired ends, all the time spouting pompous, often ridiculous rhetoric. The "message" is relevant in every way as the characters converge on and around and under the archaic iconic monument, a towering monolith, "The Tree of Us," overshadowing everything.
La Triviata is unique in about every way possible. Read it. Slowly, out loud. Take away what you will from the quotable lines spilling off every page, easily taken out of context, changing their meanings, to the overall story and the concept(s) not only implied but expressed at every turn and shattering out with the climax, an end foretold, an end to be expected by any and all, and yet an indescribable end.
About the Author
F. Stephen Jones is a curious character, absolutely normal in every way, yet idiosyncratically unique in his own quaint way. He is better known in his circles as "F." F. wrote his first novel, an adventure story, when he was seven years old. He went on to write short stories, poetry, and songs, and worked with bands in the seminal 60s when not involved with helping organize peaceful protests or graduating from the University of Texas with a triple major in English Literature, Classical Greek, and Philosophy (having eschewed advanced theoretical mathematics for its limitations). The author is not what he has done, his "day job." but what he sees: a world that is a big crazy circus on the island of misfit toys, with sideshow freaks and center ring spectacle performers and clowns continually trading place with the audience, and the animals (oh, the animals), and it is all us. We are the misfit toys. The author is you, the author is me, the author is whoever you reach out to be.
