PATE MERWIN both uses his head and longs for magic in resolving his questions about how-to-live meaningfully (and simply how to survive). Like Huck Finn, he lights out for the territory—thumbs his way with a faithful friend from midAmerica to the prairie, to the mountains, across the deserts, to the sea, San Francisco & Haight-Ashbury, after its heyday. His and ours is a country scarred by its original sins of both the deep past and the present: the treatment of African Americans, Native Americans, women, children, and all those who would speak peace to unwarranted foreign wars. And, what's more: structurally, this book is a two-layer cake of past and present--just like the lives we live, right? This honest, funny, and heartbreaking novel delivers everything a reader could wish for in the way of action, characters who are convincing and engaging and ideas worth pondering. Journeyman could well join the ranks of classic, always-need, must-have literature.
Hotwalker (2021) is Rick Neumayer’s second published novel following the debut of Journeyman. Rick has also published short fiction in many literary magazines, and three of his full-length Broadway-style musical collaborations have been produced. He co-edited River City Review literary magazine and has reviewed books for the Louisville Courier Journal. The Louisville native, resident, and Male High graduate has had a wide variety of experiences, including early work as a newspaper reporter and a thirty-year teaching career. After retiring in 2004, he began writing full-time while earning an MFA in creative writing at Spalding University. He also holds degrees from the University of Louisville (MA) and Western Kentucky University (BA).
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