There shouldn’t be a Citrus County. Teenage romance should be difficult, but not this difficult. Boys like Toby should cause trouble but not this much. The moon should glow gently over children safe in their beds. Uncles in their rockers should be kind. Teachers should guide and inspire. Manatees should laze and palm trees sway and snakes keep to their shady spots under the azalea thickets. The air shouldn’t smell like a swamp. The stars should twinkle. Shelby should be her own hero, the first hero of Citrus County. She should rescue her sister from underground, rescue Toby from his life. Her destiny should be a hero’s destiny.
John Brandon was raised on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and has worked at a lumber mill, a windshield warehouse, and a Coca-Cola distributor. Acclaim for his first novel, Arkansas, led to his appointment as John & Renee Grisham Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi.