Outskirts Press, INC.

Michael-Edward Skocik is, and remains, the product of immigrants to the United States from what was once Czechoslovakia. From birth he became aware of the nuances of language. He inherited what is called the Slavic or the ethnic ear. He always heard things that his American buddies didn’t hear. He possesses an advanced degree from L’École Française of Middlebury College in Vermont and taught courses in advanced French in a major secondary school in southwestern Pennsylvania. He has lived for an extended period of time in Toulouse, France. He has had the pleasure of spending time with family and newly acquired friends in Europe, Canada, Tunisia, Turkey and Morocco. The Caribbean is also on his list of travels. He currently shares a modest but gracious home with his Siamese cat named Beau. His ex-wife, his probably forever girlfriend, makes him a radically good Bloody Mary, if he is a good boy. His elder son Collin lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida with his high school sweetheart Amy Galway Skocik who happens to be a quite gifted pastry chef. Collin is a prolific published author of an entire series of novels in the science fiction genre. He also does closed captioning for the hearing impaired for nationwide TV. Michael-Edward’s younger son has written, produced, directed and acted in independent films after having obtained a certificate from Pittsburgh Film Makers. Jon, as he prefers to be called, lives with his wife Alyssa Bethancourt and they manage tending to a beautiful husky named Hento. Mr. Skocik, or as his former students called him, “Monsieur,” was one of six male siblings who gathered every year to drink and dine together on their parents’ wedding anniversary on October 2nd. We never missed the date. We are John, Raymond, Joseph, Andrew, Michael and Jerome. We raise our glasses to any family who still knows how to say, “I love you!” Michael-Edward sincerely hopes that you will savor every moment with his written words as he has savored writing them.