The Mind   Spins  is an exploration of the creative process, of the mind as it plots a narrative and builds characters. The thirteen stories included in the collection are divided into two parts,  Awake  and  Dreaming.  The six that make up the Part I,  Awake , explore how the human mind creates a story in its waking state. Several of the tales in this section take off from the author's own experiences—walking in the woods in Vermont, a phone message from his brother, a stray item of lingerie—while others are based on critical social issues—the plight of refugees in the US, human trafficking, the plight of homeless veterans. The stories in Part II,  Dreaming,  are based on dreams the author had and managed to capture upon waking. These fully reflect the zany manner in which dreams can spin off in strange directions, often bringing in new seemingly unrelated characters, some of which are sometimes non-human, others clearly from a non-contemporaneous past or future. Yet it is also evident that these stories, too, the first "draft" of which were "spun" by the mind in its dreaming state, are based on the author's experiences. Is it possible to spin a mystery around a bra that ends up where it is not supposed to be? How about turn bizarre dreams into a tumble down a rabbit hole or a toddle through a looking glass in an Alice in Wonderland world? I had the pleasure to read Geza Tatrallyay's book, The Mind Spins: A Collection of Short Stories. The book is cleverly divided into two parts, Part 1: Awake and Part 2: Dream. The short stories in Part 1 will have you biting your nails ("The Purple School Bus"), chuckling over unforeseen circumstances and the crazy things people do ("The Abandoned Bra"), and seething over issues of social injustice ("The Teddy Bears" and "The Phone Number"). In Part 2, Tatrallyay skillfully wove his bizarre dreams into what-if tales: "The Crossing," "The King of Knaves, "The Vacation," and more. Tatrallyay has a gift of hooking the readers with the first two lines. Reading The Mind Spins gives the reader an opportunity to delve into the mind of a masterful writer and learn what makes him tick. Kathleen Kaska author of the Sydney Lockhart and Kate Caraway Mystery Series This book brings together short stories based on dreams with some stories that tackle social and / or personal issues, In combining them, I was interested in exploring how the mind works to create tales in a sleeping or subconscious mode, with how it creates in a fully conscious state. The resulting stories show how differently the mind works in these two states, yet still spinning out fascinating and fun stories. I hope the reader enjoys this volume as much as I did putting it together. Born in Budapest, Geza Tatrallyay escaped with his family from Communist Hungary in 1956 during the Revolution, immigrating to Canada. After attending the University of Toronto Schools and serving as School Captain in his last year, he graduated with a B.A. in Human Ecology from Harvard College in 1972, and, as a Rhodes Scholar from Ontario, obtained a B.A. / M.A. in Human Sciences from Oxford University in 1974. He completed his studies with a M.Sc. from London School of Economics and Politics in 1975. Geza worked as a host in the Ontario Pavilion at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan, and represented Canada in epée fencing at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. His professional experience has included stints in government, international finance and environmental entrepreneurship. Geza is a citizen of Canada and Hungary, and as a green card holder, currently divides his time between Barnard, Vermont and San Francisco. He is married to Marcia and their daughter, Alexandra, lives in San Francisco with husband David, and two sons, Sebastian, and Orlando, while their son, Nicholas, lives in Nairobi with his Hungarian wife, Fanni, and his granddaughters, Sophia and Lara. Geza is also the author of five novels, three memoirs, four poetry collections and a children's picture storybook. His poems, stories, essays and articles have been published in journals in Canada and the USA.