The Legend of Step To

Marvin "Step To" Baker is crushed by two untimely personal tragedies. A drunk driver kills his beloved cousin Tim. The chance and glory of Tim and Step To winning an Olympic gold medal, a long-held dream of theirs, is destroyed forever. Step To (an inner-city term which meant to boldly assert one's self, be courageous, go forth and face challenges with direct action and disregard the risks and results) is left an angry, broken-hearted, ornery and rebellious black man without hope and purpose in his life. He later becomes encouraged and enlightened to help the black community by Elaine, a militant community activist who falls in love with him. In a fit of dispair, however, Step To ends up joining a drug trafficking gang. But when the gang abducts Elaine and holds her and some of her allies hostage, Step To becomes a crusader, hellbent on saving the woman he loves and the black/brown community amidst both violent crime and racial turmoil in 1980 Compton, California.

A Los Angeles, California native, McCormick began his writing career while a student at Foshay Junior High School (now the Foshay Learning Center) in 1971. He was a writer for the Los Angeles Sentinel, the Compton Bulletin and several other publications. He was editor of the now-defunct Los Angeles Balance News newspaper in the late 1980s. McCormick received his Associate of Arts degree in journalism from Los Angeles City College May 22, 1986. He is the author of eleven other novels and has written commentaries for his Facebook page.