Trickster

In 1955, ten-year-old Josef explores the countryside around Marienbad, Czechoslovakia, where he enjoys many adventures.

After contracting a severe case of pneumonia, Josef ends up in a coma. While unconscious, he meets a being that is a mirror image of himself. However, this being can change into the form of a giant, and even other creatures or objects.

Josef calls the being Trickster. They spend time together in Trickster's world. The first occasion was while Josef was comatose, and later when he is dreaming. In Trickster's world, Josef and Trickster play together and have fun.

Trickster tells Josef that he will come to Joseph's waking world if he is ever needed. Josef doesn't believe that's possible, yet it happens. When Josef encounters danger while hunting for lost treasure in the woods, Trickster comes to his rescue in his giant's form.

Later, Josef and his friends are hiking to a hidden hot spring high in the wooded hills above Marienbad. It is there where Josef once again needs Trickster's help. Will Trickster: The Being from My Mind turn out to be real?

(About the Author)

Jiri Hubacek immigrated to Canada in 1968 after Russia invaded Czechoslovakia. Now retired after a career assaying in mines in Alaska and Canada, he lives in Victoria, British Columbia. "My childhood was both difficult and happy. I spent long hours doing exactly the same as Josef did in Trickster, exploring and playing with my friends outside. When I was ten years old, we lived in Marienbad, the city that is central to my story (established in about 1780). My mother actually worked in one of the resorts mentioned in the story." This is his first book.