Book Description - Two Liner
An aging ex-prostitute returns to the small Midwestern town where she was forced to give up the child she gave birth to when she was just 16. But will her son accept her, and will his father, a minister who impregnated the girl, ever allow her to reveal the secret he buried 18 years before?
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Book Description - Long Form
Patsy Pringle, an aging, one-time prostitute who can still turn heads, returns to the small, Illinois town where she was forced to give up her baby when she was just 16. She comes back to make amends to her son 18 years later but ends up kidnapping him from a life wasted in an institution. They’re hunted by the boy’s father, a minister, who has an arrest warrant in one pocket and his brother, the town Sheriff, in the other.
Her son, Martin has led a sheltered life, well-versed in the Bible, at least the verses that promise an eye for an eye. Left mentally impaired by Patsy’s overdose during her pregnancy after his father wanted Patsy to have an abortion, Martin promises Patsy that he’ll do his mother in once he finds her. Will he really carry through? Patsy doesn’t know but must conceal her real identity until she can convince her son that a fallen woman like herself – a harlot in Martin’s eyes – could possibly be the mother that he wants, and that he really needs.
Take a ride on the back of Patsy’s Harley from heartland prairie to L.A.’s skid row in this coming-of-age road adventure where a sheltered young man must discover what life’s really like beyond the sheltered limits of his small town.
Author Biography - Long Form
Michael Just writes book-length and short fiction in the literary, mainstream/contemporary, mystery/suspense, science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. His short story collection, Canyon Calls, has been published by Zumaya Publications. He has published three additional novels, The Dirt, The Crippy, and The Mind Altar. In addition, several of his short stories have been published in print and online journals, and he has won awards for his short fiction. As an essayist, Michael has contributed major pieces to large-circulation, metropolitan newspapers as well as articles to online publications. He publishes inspirational and nature-related pieces on Substack and through his blogs, https://justmikejust.com and https://justnonfiction.com.
Fiction titles can be purchased in e-reader or soft cover formats through Amazon.com. Michael informs his writing with a wide range of professional and personal experience, including as an attorney, psychotherapist, professor, lecturer and actor in film and theatre. He has traveled extensively throughout the American West, with an emphasis on the canyon country of the Southwest. A Chicago native, he now resides in the Four Corners region of the Southwest, the setting for many of his novels.
Author Bio - Short Version
A former attorney, psychotherapist, actor, and lecturer, Michael Just writes book-length and short fiction and nonfiction. A former Chicago native, he makes his home in the Four Corners Region of the American Southwest. His work can be found on Substack, at https://justmikejust.com, https://justnonfiction.com and https://canyoncallsthebook.com and is available directly through Amazon.