Robert Wexelblatt

"Other Places, Other Times is a collection of twenty-six historical fictions. Thirteen of the stories are about Chen Hsi-wei, an imaginary peasant/poet of the Sui period, circa 600 C.E. As a boy, Hsi-wei served the emperor on a perilous mission. He turned down the offer of material rewards in favor of an education which made him a poet. Hsi-wei travels the empire making straw sandals and verses. The narratives account for Hsi-wei's poems, which are...

The imaginary author/teacher/father Sidney Fein (1942-1984) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family's fortune came from the business of clothing women of modest means. He attended elementary school in Philadelphia. When he was twelve, his family moved to New York City. He earned a bachelors' degree from Columbia University, where he concentrated in the study of languages and literature. He went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania,...