A novel by R.M. Dolin
Book of Issac – TABLE OF CONTENTS
This outline is under development as I won’t start the novel until I get to Tangiers in April. As each chapter evolves, I will add links and likely all subsequent chapters outlined will change. . . it’s a process.
Chapter 1: Intrepid Charm – A Day in the ne’er-do-well laissez-faire life of Issac Olinski. After his unpaid shift at Murphy’s Northshore Bar, Issac and Gabriella go out for drinks where the shallowness of their relationship is explosively exposed.
Chapter 2: Cash Flow Crisis – Issac’s accountant, Anthony, has tried for months to warn Issac of his cash flow crisis but it’s not until Issac’s credit and ATM cards are frozen that Anthony gets his attention. The good new is there is a way out of the darkness, the bad news is Issac has to cut expenses and get a job.
Chapter 3: You Can Quit Tomorrow – Issac negotiates with Murphy for a paid position that evolves into a wager regarding the likelihood Gabriella leaves him once she recovers from the shock of learning he’s broke and has to work full time.
Chapter 4: Alien To My Life – Issac settles into his world of managed expenses and full time work uncertain about the multiple ways his life as an outsider looking in has turned inside out. His anxieties over Gabriella’s unrequited love expand as the boys at the bar remain confident in their wagered outcome.
Chapter 5: The Wager Within the Wager – Since he first woke up and sent Gabriella his message asking to meet, something’s been building inside Issac like a rushing wall of water that keeps getting closer. It’s only after an intense talk with Lenny that Issac’s able to get things into calibrated perspective.
Chapter 6: Segue To A Life – When Issac discover that the Northshore Bar faithful have once again wagered on his love life, he conspires with Sara to turn the tables, delighted to learn she shares his same sense of playfulness.
Chapter 7: The Peso Paradox – Issac replays key moments in his life through the filter of Lenny’s revelation. He recalls the time he was ten when Uncle Darwin took him on a Harley ride. When they stop to eat, essential life lessons from hard men who struggle through life get shared.
Chapter 8: Below Rock Bottom – After a struggle with honest evidence, Issac accepts Lenny’s versions of events concerning Uncle Darwin’s absence in his life and in that process comes to realize how much he loves Sara, which is why his world turns upside down when he finds out Sara’s being transferred to Paris, and Darwin is dead.
Chapter 9: C’est La Vie – With his finances in shambles, Sara leaving him for Paris, and Uncle Darwin dead, Issac attempts to deal with the aftermath. Overcome with feelings of abandonment, betrayal, loneliness, and self-pity, the only thing keeping Issac together is the burden of going to New Mexico.
Chapter 10: Into The Land of Mañana – Issac arrives in New Mexico with his Chicago life behind him, what remains unknown is did he also leave who he’s always been back in the Windy City as he enters a new chapter in the Land of Mañana.
Chapter 11: The Destiny of Purpose – Issac meets Camille, the one woman who could possibly teach him the power of love and how to live a purposeful life.
Chapter 12: The Art of Love – Be someone someone wants to love.
Chapter 13: Revelation – Change is hard, knowing you need to change even harder
Chapter 14: The Aftermath of a Life Well Lived – Issac unravels Darwin’s journals
Chapter 15: Marquez Mountain Redux – Darwin, Issac, and a mountain of history
Chapter 16: Mashings of a Mentor – The more Issac learns about Uncle Darwin the more he understands the deeply meaningful man he was.
Chapter 17: Sunshine in Winter – Survival is itself the lesson.
Chapter 18: In The Footsteps of Giants – Outliers tread lightly.
Chapter 19: Where Wild Mustangs Roam – Saving his wild mustangs from decimation is Issac’s purpose, his passion, his metaphor.
Chapter 20: The Singularity – It may be too late to save humanity from technology, but ya gotta try. . .
Chapter 21: Finish What You Start – The Outliers must persevere, or else. . .yikes!
Chapter 22: When Win-Win Looks Less Appealing Than Lose-Lose – Life’s replete with hard decisions.
Chapter 23: Transformation – The trans-human allure of AI and why it can’t be defeated.
Chapter 25: Walk in The Woods – Trans-humanity versus struggle. . .do you have what it takes to keep life real?
Chapter 25: Shadow Dancers – As foretold by the Outliers via Plato’s allegory of the cave.
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