Soulmates and Other Stories

“Don’t start a Simpson story at bedtime. You’ll lose sleep that night. This guy grabs readers with his first sentences, gives just enough to compel them to read on and finishes with an O. Henry twist. Along the way you’ll meet characters you’ll never forget. Simpson writes with such drive that he must wear out his keyboards. And you’re the beneficiary.”
- Mike Feinsilber, co-author of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions

“The author explores brotherhood renewed, international intrigue and mysterious shenanigans in Soulmates. His characters have irresistible connections to the past, and the keenly observed stories transport the reader.”
- Margaret T. Buchholz, author of Josephine: From Washington Working Girl to Fisherman’s Wife and the award-winning New Jersey Shipwrecks

For those of you who read Webley .45, Simpson’s first collection of short stories, and have been waiting for more, Soulmates has arrived and does not disappoint. Simpson’s plots are devious, his characters real because they are struggling with their own good and evil intentions. His language is intimately descriptive, even poetic in places. The paternal grandfather: “a shriveled jackal of a man, regnant but warm, reached his mottled hands up, up to Arthur’s face, pulled him down, and kissed him on both cheeks;” The father: “his opinions crystalized instantly in the chill of his brain and rained down on Arthur in jagged pieces.” And the maternal grandfather: “musing over his relationship with his grandson, he saw a delicate symmetry to it, life’s beginning and end, beneficial to both, but fragile and fleeting.” Fleeting the book is not, however. Soulmates will stay with you for some time.

R.K. Simpson lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife Patty. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and a veteran of the Marine Corps and the war in Vietnam. He served as a diplomat in several of our embassies in Europe and Africa for over twenty years. Upon retiring from the government, he worked as a pediatric nurse for fifteen years. He has three adult children.