What happens when the narrator is removed from a story? When the author’s real life is fictionalized instead, so that creator and creation relate on the same existential ground with no middleman? Chameleon (Days) is such an experiment in storytelling, a literary novel that explores an author’s psychotic break as he prepares to write an idea he has apparently stolen, one prompted by the discovery of a secondary character in his walk-in closet. A fictional day-to-day narrative structured around the search for Kashif, a feared and hunted terrorist labeled the Chameleon for the many facial surgeries he has incurred to disguise his identity, Chameleon (Days) bridges its author’s life to the evolution of Kashif’s story creating a fiction “while life happens,” which often manifests itself in interference, inspiration, and the perils of letting your character know who his creator is.

Dean Serravalle is the acclaimed author of Reliving Charley. Twice nominated for the prestigious Journey Prize of Canada and The National Magazine Award, his short stories have appeared in such journals as The Fiddlehead, Versal, Event, and The Dalhousie Review. He currently teaches English Literature at the Secondary School level, poetry at the College Level, and he is the chief editor for Revel Magazine and Writers4Peace. He resides in Niagara Falls, Ontario with his family.

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