Lester Lies Down (Paperback or Softback)

Lester Gordon is an odd man, just like everybody else.

He's on the lower end of the spectrum, walking unnoticed in the world, just like so many others.

After he loses his wife and the mother of his young children to cancer, he decides to sell his family's car wash and become a hospice nurse. He wants to comfort the dying just as his wife's hospice nurse had comforted their family. All went according to plan until Lester's first day of attending patients by himself. He feels he's made a terrible mistake.

He soon learns one of his young sons is interested in drawing nude women and being a bookie for the neighborhood kids. An old friend shows up with a plea to hide out with his family to escape a couple of goons who are after her and the money she stole from an Oregon marijuana farm. And white dogs keep showing up with a curious interest in Lester.

He's odd, full of anxiety and fear, troubled, and making stuff up as he goes.

Just like everybody else.

Certainly humorous and a bit absurd, Lester Lies Down explores many economic and social issues, including cultural justice in the Deep South, mortality, the value of love in relationships, and the need for compassion for people who are different.

James Ladd Thomas was born and raised in Alabama where he lived the first 30 years of his life. After earning degrees from the University of Alabama and Auburn University, Thomas taught college English for 30 years, including 25 years of fiction workshops at Valencia College. Before teaching, James was a landscaper, a dump-truck driver, a dog track ticket seller, a girls softball umpire (a wonderful and horrible experience), a record store clerk, a configuration management analyst, and a house boy. He has published several short stories in literary journals, including RE:AL, Berkeley Fiction Review, Hawaii Review, Dead Mule, Southern Exposure, Snake Nation Review, First Class, and The Wax Paper. James has published two novels, ARDOR and LESTER LIES DOWN (published by Vine Leaves Press in 2022). He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the literary anthology Best New American Voices. After retiring from teaching in 2017, he now spends his days reading & writing fiction, playing golf, searching for peace, and jumping in the ocean. To read more of his work, visit jamesladdthomas.com.