18 Windows to the Center of the Universe

bill crossman's first book is one–man's approach to his third act of life. After retiring from a career in education, he wanted to spend his time chasing after shiny objects. What has emerged is a voice he's spent a lifetime chasing after to find. The collection of short stories, character sketches, and situational memoirs have produced a portrait of life in the twenty–first century in Seattle's Fremont District. Eighteen windows in his front door open to the world to the center of the universe in the Artist's Republic of Fremont. Now look in those windows to this Fremonster penning these tales of his experiences living among the denizens at the foot of Francis Avenue in the Artist's Republic of Fremont (ARF).

Crossman and his fellow Fremonsters, all with some connection to artists and peculiars, have embraced the neighborhood's motto "De Libertas Quirkas" or the "Freedom to be peculiar." Crossman's detailed and thoughtful descriptions of his fellow denizens leave judgment to the reader to decide the real character of these denizens.

From the guerrilla gardener to the Speed Queen Laundromat, the vibrant street scene, nighttime revelers, and the reveled in the booming city, Seattle, in the teen years of the twenty–first century.

-- bill crossman