The Last Ride [SIGNED]

Mercer, Glen ("Pee Wee"); Smith, Patrick D.

Published by Sea Bird Publishing, Melbourne, Florida, 2000

About this Item

New condition glossy brown boards with gold spine lettering contained in a new condition non price-clipped color illustrated dust jacket. Includes Prelude; A Special Note to the Reader; and Epilogue. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Signed and inscribed by co-author Patrick D. Smith with black ink on the blank first front endpaper. (see photograph). "On November 11, 1995, at the age of 25, former bull-riding champion Glen "Pee Wee" Mercer suffered an accident while dismounting a bull at the Southeastern Circuit Final at Brighton, Florida, which resulted in a broken neck and severed spinal cord, thus changing his life forever. The Last Ride is the dramatic story of his life both before and after the accident. Although this book cover Pee Wee's rodeo career throughout Florida and many other parts of the United States, it is not just a book about rodeo. It is also the story of young love gone awry, of adventure, high humor, youthful exuberance during those years when young people think they are indestructible, of hopes and dreams of the future and how those hopes and dreams are shattered forever in just one split second of time. This is also a heartfelt story of courage, of the determination to endure in a world few others can even imagine. Sometimes it is a very lonely world indeed, one peopled only with memories. The Last Ride will grip the interest and emotions of all readers, young and old alike. It is much like taking a literary rafting trip down a turbulent mountain stream. You will become part of the action and will be there each step of the way. As co-author Patrick Smith says at the end of this book, Pee Wee Mercer is truly a "Profile in Courage." Pee Wee lives today with his mother and father, Helen and Howard, in their farm house out in the country from Williston, Florida. His spirit still remains intact. About the co-author Patrick D. Smith: Patrick D. Smith is a 1999 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, which is the highest and most prestigious cultural honor that can be bestowed upon an individual by the State of Florida. He is the author of six novels: The River is Home, The Beginning, Forever Island, Angel City, Allapattah, and A Land Remembered. Smith has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, in 1973 for Forever Island, which was a selection of the Reader's Digest Condensed Book Club and has been published in 46 countries, in 1978 for Angel City, which was produced as a "Movie of the Week" for the CBS television network and has aired worldwide; and in 1984 for A Land Remembered, which was an Editor's Choice selection of the New Your Times Book Review. His lifetime work was nominated fort he 1985 Nobel Prize for Literature, and since then he has received five additional nominations. In 1990, Florida PBS-TV released a documentary "Visions of Nature - Patrick Smith's Florida" which portrays his work as a writer. In October 1990 he received the University of Mississippi's Distinguished Alumni Award and was inducted into the University's Alumni Hall of Fame. In 1997, the Florida Historical Society created a new annual award, the Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Award, in his honor. The recipient of numerous state and national awards and the author of numerous short stories, essays and articles, Smith resides with his wife Iris on Merritt Island.".

Seller Inventory # 001644

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Last Ride [SIGNED]
• Publisher: Sea Bird Publishing, Melbourne, Florida
• Publication Date: 2000
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Rastelli, Mike (photographer)
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Signed Books/Autographs