The novelette form is necessarily demanding and unique; for it must accomplish many of the same goals of a wordier work (building setting, plot and characters) using a format greater than a short story and much less than a full-length novel. In this case, Jackie Mae has under fifty pages to accomplish her goal in If…Blurred Vision; and she does so with skill and style. 

In some ways the novelette format is the true test of a writer's skill. It's demanding and exacting: no words can be wasted, and no scene left incomplete. Such is the case with If…Blurred Vision, which introduces the character of Timothy S. Graves, a good man and worker who thinks about life a lot, has a rock-solid 12-year marriage, and is on course for retiring in 18 years with plenty of money. 

Everything is perfect …. Or is it? No sooner is the scene set than the undercurrents of trouble running under the surface of perfection emerge; because wife Shirley doesn't have her life mapped out quite firmly as Timothy, and has become increasingly critical of his vision of their set future. 

It seems inevitable that Shirley, in her growing disappointment, will encounter another man who will coax her dissatisfaction to the forefront: "For once, she just might do something outrageous, something just for her, something shocking. A million wars were raging in her mind and she didn’t know which side would win the day." 

While events that follow (wild sex) are very quickly presented with a feeling of inevitability, what is sparked from her chance encounter is a growing revelation: "Her mind was made up; she didn’t want to have an organized life plan anymore." 

The crux of the matter lies in what Shirley's going to do about her self-discovery: that's the heart of If…Blurred Vision, the heart of life itself, and the focal point of a solid novelette that develops its scenario well and follows it through to a conclusion which involves an unprecedented free fall through extraordinary possibilities for both husband and wife. 

"What if he had walked by his destiny every day but didn’t realize it?" If…Blurred Vision seems to set a predictable path, but its departures and insights make it an unpredictable delight for fans of the novelette form: an exploration of life's course from two very different perspectives.