Kirjahaku

Seven childhood buddies from L-town California set off on a trip around the globe that could cinch or crush their friendship.Johann Felmanstien and his crew have a bond that Russian criminals would be jealous of. Besides just being homies from the same hood, they have their own dialect crafted to conceal talk of their rank activities, their own pseudo-culture packed with mad rites, and their own way of life born of booze, drugs, sex, and travel to some of the sickest places on earth. They're about to embark on their biggest journey to date; an 85-day trek across three continents, designed to cement their bond for good. Will it go down like that? Or will the trip meant to make them blood-brothers bust them all apart?

The Heart That Beats is a collection of semiautobiographical poems based on Fellmann's life as a novice writer living in the Czech Republic and California from 2010 to 2016. All poems appear in chronological order, starting with those describing his move to Prague from California to begin his life as a writer, and ending with those describing a series of events, which sent him on a path to self-destruction. The collection touches on difficult themes Fellmann dealt with during this time, such as alcoholism, drug abuse, abortion, suicide, overdose, rejection, mockery, isolation, death, madness, and heartbreak. The narrative draws inspiration from traumatic moments in his past, and from the state of chaos we live in today as it attempts to understand the heart that beats beneath it all.

A Peace Corps volunteer in Central Asia finds purpose in helping a friend escape a life of servitude.