Navigating by the Stars, Mark Russell Gelade’s debut collection of strangely calming, sometimes risky short-short stories is reminiscent of the phenomenon of wayfinding among Polynesian navigators traversing the immense ocean. As those navigators learned to sail by the stars, sun, and planets, so too does the author reveal, through a cast of compelling characters, from lovers to loners, cheaters to gold diggers, artists to singers, how everyone, everywhere, moment by moment, is trying to find their way home again. Like the memories of our closest friends, these stories pass through our thoughts as ‘soft as a whisper, as intimate as a sigh.’ – Phil Cousineau, author of

The Book of Roads, and The Art of Pilgrimage