Boys In Exile

--Grand Prize Winner, BookLife/Publishers Weekly 2022 Fiction Contest

BOYS IN EXILE is the story of ten pre-adolescent boys housed together for eight weeks in Timber Wolf cabin at Camp Hemlock to "make new friends and learn life-long social skills." Physically weak and slight in stature, Elliott "Squeaker" Streett brings to camp his fear of bullies and his lack of confidence in his ability to protect himself from harm. Elliott's efforts to win the approval of the toughest boy in Wolf Cabin only results in humiliation and betrayal, until the erosion of his moral compass contributes to a tragedy for the one boy whose friendship and moral strength he had come to admire.

Richard Duggin is a teaching mentor in the BFA and MFA in Writing programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His published work includes four novels and a collection of short stories. His short fiction has been cited by Best American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize Anthology, and Playboy Magazine Best Fiction.