A Wounded World

Winner of the fiction prize in the 2018 Legacy Book Fest."The Living should not haunt the dead." A bittersweet tale of healing Like a graveyard cat who lives and hunts in the shadows of the graves, Normal Steves has learned to live in the shadows of his life. A talented young artist, Normal lives with his grandmother in "River Gate, a community for the terminally ill" hiding from a world that hurt him and left him isolated and alone. Eventually he's forced out into the world, high school, where he learns the strategies that let him walk the shadows of the background, hidden from the attentions of the school bully, bored teachers and his fellow students who see his stutter as a weakness or a source of humor. Unfortunately, he also effectively hides himself from those, like Koren Shaw, who would make him realize that there can be life after death."Forgiveness leads to closure, closure leads to peace of mind."The story of Normal is a story of tragedy, forgiveness, and hope as he struggles to forgive the world for taking his family away, forgive his family for leaving him behind, and forgive himself for being left behind.A WOUNDED WORLD