Kirjahaku

"Most of us are living behind time: trapped in some phase of our past like an insect in amber." So says Frank Mason, protagonist of Living Behind Time, a pre-9/11 on the road story with a big twist. Evoking echoes of the 1950s Beats, Frank Mason, the protagonist, reverses the standard east-west American journey by going west to east. Leaving his home in San Diego, California, he makes a solo cross-country trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Along the way, he revisits friends and locations from the past. He encounters a cult in the California desert, acts as a decoy to get immigrants into Arizona, connects with old friends in Boulder, Colorado and Columbia, Missouri. There's a serio-comic meetup near Kansas City with a friend who's taken up cultivating cannabis. He then reengages with an old girlfriend in Memphis, but reluctantly goes on to the Gulf Coast and Pensacola where an older couple nearly adopts him to make up for the loss of their own son. After an eventful stop with friends near Raleigh, North Carolina, Frank's cross-country trek concludes in Myrtle Beach, where he tries to process the recent discoveries he has made about himself and the nation's recent past. In the end, as he prepares to retrace his steps yet again, he learns that no matter who we are individually or as a country, there is still hope in a shared future.

From Cuba to Maine, Korea to California, take a journey down a few of life's lesser-traveled roads.Set in locales ranging from the United States to the Caribbean and from Mexico to the Far East, Bar Harbor features unique tales of humor, military service, personal history and relationships, and the characters and moments that populate our everyday life, from the mid-twentieth century down to today. Whether writing ultra-realistic stories or speculative works of science fiction and time travel, prolific and award-winning author J.B. Hogan brings the human condition into high relief with every word he puts on the page... and Bar Harbor may well be his best effort yet.

Step back in time to the summer of 1940, when professional baseball in Fayetteville, Arkansas met its untimely demise, leaving a void that has never been filled in the decades since. In this enchanting tapestry of history, the remarkable story of a nearly forgotten Class-D minor league unfolds before your eyes-an organization that holds the title of the "smallest league that ever functioned in organized baseball." With every turn of the page, a bittersweet nostalgia permeates the air, drawing you into the world of the Arkansas-Missouri League and the faded glory of the Fayetteville Angels. The raucous symphony of wood meeting horsehide, the exhilaration of triumphant cheers, and the heartwrenching cries of defeat. Each of these once vibrant sounds now exist as mere whispers, floating in the ethereal realm of forgotten history. Angels in the Ozarks brings a bygone era back to life, where dreams soared and the spirit of baseball thrived, forever leaving an indelible mark on the hearts of those who still remember.

In the heart of the desert, sin and salvation collideDive into the the contemporary American Southwest with The Apostate and two additional short stories that walk the line between sin and redemption-or lack thereof.In the titular novella, a shocking carjacking in the parking lot of a bustling Tucson shopping mall sparks a frantic chase across the rugged landscape of Arizona and New Mexico. As a burnt-out college professor and his unwanted companions hurtle toward an unknown fate, their journey becomes a harrowing quest for salvation in the face of uncertainty and death."Panhandle" follows Buddy Harris's return to Seco, Texas, fresh out of prison and seeking solace in familiar streets. But home isn't what it used to be, and Buddy soon discovers that confronting the past means confronting hard truths, both about himself and those who put him in stir.Meanwhile, in "Cowboy," Johnny Dupree lives the life of a carefree cowboy until a chance encounter with a high-maintenance woman shatters his routine. Caught between his love for the open range and the complexities of human connection, Johnny grapples with his own demons in a tale of longing and reckoning.Riven with themes of personal salvation and the harsh realities of redemption, award-winning author J.B. Hogan delivers a poignant exploration of the complexities of human nature set against the backdrop of the rugged Southwestern landscape.