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My next novel is due out in the fall of 2009

Driving to Vernonia

By George Byron Wright

Meet Edmund Joyce Kirby-Smith — you won't forget him

DRIVING TO VERNONIA will be different from any of my other novels in many ways. I mean really different. So I'm giving my readers a heads-up that when you meet Edmund Joyce Kirby-Smith you will be in for quite a ride.

But let's hear it from him:

Prologue or Disclaimer

<dri·ving-to-Ver·non·ia> v phrase: The act of locating
a person of significance in one's past.

Before we get into this story, you and I, it's probably best if I declare myself. I am the narrator and protagonist of this tale. And since I am asking you to ride along with me on an improbable journey I think I ought to give you a heads-up. After all, this is a story that at times will be trying; I mean it has been even for me, so you deserve some assurance that it goes somewhere. And as I get ready to spill the beans, the whole business jumps back in my head like it's happening right now; and that's the way I'm going to tell it to you—in the now. I wouldn't be inviting you to share a slice of my life if it weren't for the fact that it turns out to be sort of a metaphor this "Driving to Vernonia". Maybe you will relate to some of it, maybe most of it; then again maybe none of it, but whatever, I hope you'll stay with me because I think it may be important.

This is about a search. You like stories that look for something, right? Without revealing too much, I will tell you this. Once upon a time I tried to find someone I used to know. Ever done that? Bet you have, or at least thought about it. Anyway, back before the millennium, in late 1999, my life took a hard left and by the spring of 2000, I had this pressing need to relocate someone from way back and that's at the core of this tale.

As "Driving to Vernonia" unfolded for me, it gradually became a metaphor for revisiting an intense period of life experienced in a person's younger days. It is all about reconnecting with someone who thought I mattered and served as a model in my life. But this story, is not only about going back to find such a person, and expressing gratitude, or making amends, but to discover if remembered goodness can remedy a troubled time in a person's adulthood. I had no way of anticipating the rest of it, the part that…well you'll find out. Even now I can't believe what happened.

See you along the way. Buckle-up.

Thank you,
Edmund Joyce Kirby-Smith
December 2000

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So there's my teaser as told by Edmund himself. Look for my announcements about DRIVING TO VERNONIA. I'll tell you now that Edmund is the one telling this tale; I'm just along because I knew how to type.

Stay tuned,
George Byron Wright