Most nineteen-year-olds believe they are invincible. They wake up each day thinking they have all the time in the world to travel, to get an education, to fall in love.Ruby Sewell isn’t most nineteen year olds. She wakes up every morning unable to see a thing, her only goal to make it to the west coast before her time runs out. Most twenty-six year olds don’t live life in a self-destructive spiral. They don’t engage in bar fights, scrape by on low-end jobs, or embroil in years-long battles with their parents. Cole Dixon isn’t most twenty-six year olds. Still reeling from an unforeseen blast five years earlier, he is down to his last chance with nowhere to go and no inclination to get there. Against both their wills, they set off together on a journey that will define them both for the rest of their days.
Author
I originally hail from the midwest, growing up in the heart of farm country, and still consider it, along with West Tennessee, my co-home. Between the two, I have a firm belief that football is the greatest of all past-times, sweet tea is really the only acceptable beverage for any occasion, there is not an event on earth that either gym shorts or boots can't be worn to, and that Dairy Queen is the best restaurant on the planet. Further, southern accents are a highly likeable feature on most everybody, English bulldogs sit atop the critter hierarchy, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Saturday night spent catfishing at the lake. Since leaving the midwest I've been to college in New England, grad school in the Rockies, and lived in over a dozen different cities ranging from DC to Honolulu along the way. Each and every one of these experiences has shaped who I am at this point, a fact I hope is expressed in my writing. I have developed enormous affinity for locales and people of every size and shape, and even if I never figure out a way to properly convey them on paper, I am very much grateful for their presence in my life. To sum it up, I asked a very good friend recently how they would describe me for something like this. Their response: "Plagued by realism and trained by experiences/education to be a pessimist, you somehow remain above all else an active dreamer." While I can't say those are the exact words I would choose, I can't say they're wrong. I travel, live in different places, try new foods, meet all kinds of different people, and above all else stay curious to a fault. Here's hoping it continues to provide us all with some pretty good stories...
