A.J. Caliendo

A. J. Caliendo (pronouns: “Yinz”) grew up in Pittsburgh and attended a school not unlike the fictional one portrayed here. In midlife he began working as a freelance journalist, humor writer, and community theater reviewer for regional publications, receiving a Golden Quill Award in 1997. His one-act play, This Meeting will Now Come to Disorder, was staged in 2010 by the Pittsburgh New Works Festival.

At age 49, A. J. was, thankfully, revived from sudden cardiac death. Musing on the experience afterward, he wondered why he had not seen the white light and tunnel others experience in near-death. “That’s only for people going to heaven,” a loved one explained. Implanted defibrillators prevented further such tests of God’s plan for a long while. This book is his first work of fiction, a labor of love that he very much wanted to see through. His original voice is inimitable. But what he wanted to say was never in doubt, and in that spirit, his unforgettable world is offered to readers who may recognize a bit of their own histories through his unique prism.