Title: Justin's Season
Author: S. M. Sawyer
Publisher: Ninestar Press
Release
Date: August 6, 2016 (print),
February 29, 2016 (e-book)
Heat
Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 101,300 words
Genre: New Adult, historical fiction, redemption, destiny,
acceptance, sports, coming out, interconnected, small town, flashback, AIDS
Synopsis
The year is 1988, and Justin Davis, a
former nationally recruited football prep star, awakens from twelve years of
masking his shame with drugs and alcohol to find he has been returned to his
former self through what can only be described as a miracle.
Triggered by the confirmation of his
closely guarded sexual orientation, his fall from grace of over a decade before
sets the stage for his redemption. The fulfillment of his destiny is prompted
by Providence and the serendipitous deeds of those who are a part of his new
life, as their intertwined lives are likewise impacted. Though his rapid evolvement
and acceptance of his homosexuality is countered by setbacks, Justin perseveres
and eventually triumphs as fate, he believes, has led him back to the sports
arena to recapture past glories.
In a stunning finale, however, he learns
his destiny is not what he had envisioned. His calling has been thrust upon him
by circumstances beyond his control. Can Justin embrace it and become the man
he was always meant to be?
Excerpt
A sliver of light from the early morning
sun came through an exposed slit of the basement window blind, creeping its way
against the wall until it came to rest upon Justin’s eyes. He lay sleeping in a
jumbled mass of musty blankets on an old steel-framed bed. After a few moments
of the sun’s focused rays beckoning him to awaken, he flinched and turned his
head away, and then rolled onto his left side toward a dark corner in a vain
attempt to deny the day’s arrival.
For Justin, it had been another long
night, and the reminder of a new day came with a reluctant anticipation akin to
that of a prisoner serving a life sentence without a chance for parole. He lay
there motionless, holding the sheets close to his chin as he gazed upon an
iconic black-and-white poster of James Dean. The actor walked down a puddled
street with a cigarette between his lips, hands in his coat pockets, and his
collar turned up to keep the cold and drizzle at bay. Marching down the
Boulevard of Broken Dreams and into immortality.
Though it had been hanging on the wall
for fifteen years, Justin, enjoying a rare and lucid moment of circumspection,
studied the poster in silence as if he were looking at it for the first time.
You did it right, Mr. Dean, he thought. You died early…frozen in time. Leaving
everyone wanting more. Never having to answer for life’s failings.
The unwelcome light from the sun
continued to fill the room, exposing the remnants of Justin’s life before the
troubles. Dusty citations, press clippings, photographs, scholarship offer
letters, and trophies from his high school years. Collected over a decade
before, they now served as the remaining threads that connected to past
glories.
This is what happens, isn’t it? You peak
early and get a little cocky that you’re in control, and instead of leaving on
top, you live long enough to mutate into some bad apple that people use to warn
their kids. “Don’t get too full of yourself or you’ll turn out like Justin
Davis.” That’s right…I’m not remembered for what I was and what I should have
been. It’s easier for voyeurs to whisper among themselves about the broken,
washed-up, slow-motion train wreck I’ve become—how I let my charmed life slip
away.
Justin sat up and swung his legs over as
if getting out of bed, but stayed sitting there to give his head time to clear
from another all-night bender and to gain a semblance of balance before
stepping onto the cold cement floor. His still imposing six-foot-four-inch
body, an inch taller than in his high school days, was out of shape and
bloated. It served as a metaphor for everything else his life had become, contrary
to the Greek god physique he’d had when he was seemingly in total charge of his
life and circumstances.
His blond hair was long and greasy, and
his face contorted by the miseries of daily self-flagellation through alcohol,
drugs, and slovenly habits. His tongue felt thick and dry, and his eyes
appeared as if seared on an iron skillet. He did his best to gather whatever
strength remained to get up and to live what had become his own recurring
Groundhog Day. He wanted water to quench his alcohol-induced thirst and to be
bathed by a sympathetic and nonjudgmental geisha, washing away impurities and
regret. But again he thought of sleep and of beckoning the dreams to reacquaint
him with his previous life. He eased his head onto the pillow with hopes that
sleep would allow him to wander back to his senior year in high school—to a
time when he was admired by all and treated as the town’s favorite son.
Justin Davis was the class hero and the
most likely to succeed. He had excelled at everything—sports, scholastics,
popularity—and as the top quarterback recruit in the nation he received offers
from scores of college football powerhouses representing the Big Ten and other
major conferences. Why then, he continually asked himself, had he let his guard
down—putting everything on the line and seeking confirmation from strangers?
Throughout his life he had felt that
guardian angels were with him, but they’d abandoned him when he needed them
most, so they could steward over someone more deserving…someone who wouldn’t
risk all for a taste of what he had been brought up to consider the forbidden
fruit. He couldn’t explain it, but life’s confusions made him feel that he no
longer fit the role his angels had paved for him. That maybe he’d had a hand in
sabotaging it before it went too far; a secret he kept hidden from himself and
others with the aid of any mind-numbing substance he could get his hands on.
With his room in the basement of his
brother’s home now bathed in full light, Justin drifted back to sleep, and from
his sleep he could hear the marching band and cheers from the packed stadium as
he led his team, charging onto the field through the gauntlet of cheerleaders.
In reliving the moment, he managed a slight smile as his dreams took him back
twelve years to the fall of 1976 and the sound of the PA system announcing the
starting teams for the state of Ohio’s high school football championship game.
And as the dreams continued and the
light of the sun streamed through the basement’s walk-out French door and remaining
windows, Justin subconsciously felt a strange and unique sensation upon his
dormant soul. The feeling of his angels returning to envelop his body like
fresh snow on a blemished landscape—lovingly transforming his unkempt and
damaged being. They had come to caress and heal his body and spirit, and renew
his faith to trust what lay ahead.
Purchase
Links
NineStar Press: http://ninestarpress.com/product/justins-season/
Meet the
Author
S. M. Sawyer is a retired military
officer. He has also served as a defense contractor and as President for a
nationally accredited charity whose mission is to recognize exceptional
maritime rescues and assist voluntary search and rescue organizations
worldwide. He lives in Virginia with his wife, Natalie. They have five grown
children. Justin’s Season is his debut literary effort.
Author
Links
eMail: justins.season@gmail.com
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