Perfect Execution: Short Stories (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781540373373)

British-born Michael Joll married his one and only in 1969 and together they arrived in Canada in 1973. They have lived in the Toronto area virtually ever since. In spite of being a lifelong atrocious speller, ("That's what editors are for," his father erroneously told him) he started writing at age five, and did not abandon it until his early twenties when his shortcomings became painfully apparent. During a lifetime spent investigating the greener grass on the other side, only to find each time that it grew over the septic tank, he has worked at Selfridges on Oxford Street, London as a retail seller of Continental Delicatessen, in the life and marine insurance business, a salesman of false teeth and cake mix (not for the same employer), a police officer and paralegal. After nearly ten years as Company President, his last job was as a part time temporary deck hand and purser on a car ferry. Convinced that he was the next Shakespeare, a return to writing came with retirement in 2004. Disillusionment followed quickly. "Learn to write small" became the mantra and the mission. His first published short story, "Officially Old" came in 2011, along with a cheque for $100. It was not originally intended to be a work of short fiction. It simply morphed from an idea for a mini-memoir (rejected for publication by a major newspaper) into its present form. Funny how things can turn out for the better. He continues to write short fiction, and uses spellcheck these days. Scattered among nearly forty short stories are three radio plays, produced and broadcast on Canadian Public Radio, four novels, and a memoir he is ghostwriting for a friend.