After the Fall: A Novel

How Do You Reach for the Stars When You've Fallen so Far All You Can See is Darkness?

Abigail Walker and Jarvis Daniels, longtime sweethearts, are beginning to find themselves worlds apart. Abby, an aspiring cellist, wants out of her humble Detroit surroundings and is more than willing to shed blood, sweat, and tears to make it happen. Jarvis, on the other hand, is perfectly content with his life. He's got everything a man could want, including the love of a good woman.

A twist of fate turns their worlds upside down when the couple is involved in a near-fatal car accident. Broken, stripped, and broken again, they stumble through a journey of healing and self-discovery while struggling to accept the merciful hand of the only One who can help them after a fall.

After the Fall is the story of two people- one fleeing the world into which she was born, the other embracing it- bound together by the threads of fate. Will they discover the dreams awaiting them, or will they tear each another apart in a desperate bid to find fulfillment on their own terms?

I, Ryan Michele Phillips, was born in Chicago, IL on May 27, 1981 to a workaholic mother and an alcoholic father. (Can you spell: TRAUMA?) Thankfully they had enough sense between the two of them, not to procreate a second time. Thus, I am an only child.

I spent my formative years bouncing from one ritzy, pseudo-Christian school to another in cities including, but not limited to: Miami, FL, Greer, SC, Southfield, MI and Memphis, TN.

Notoriously indecisive, I’ve changed majors (Secondary Education, French, Journalism, English …) and transferred colleges (Hope College, Michigan State, U of Memphis …) more times than I care to remember.

Bedridden in the middle of my junior year due to complications from juvenile onset diabetes, I pilfered my mother’s company laptop and began to type away my frustrations. At 21, it was the most cathartic experience of my short-lived life. Who knew that what started out as a form of self-therapy would, a mere five months later, turn into my first novel?

Fully recovered, with a second novel in the works and bored of Memphis’ somewhat limited charms, I made the executive decision to spread my wings and leave the nest. New York, of course, was my first pick, but after four days of viewing coffin-sized real estate, I reassessed my plan and my budget and moved to Chicago. Best decision I ever made!

In January 2004, my first novel, Saving Grace, was released, and was followed shortly after, by the July 2005 release of my second novel After the Fall. My third novel – the highly anticipated sequel to Saving Grace – Fall From Grace, is scheduled for a mid-2006 release. And I am currently hard at work on my fourth novel, Ciao, Bella.

When I’m not roving the deep recesses of my imagination or responding to my readers’ emails, I’ve got my nose in a textbook, studying toward my M..F.A in Creative Writing.