The Adventurist

In the anonymous office park of a modern software company, Henry Hurt is a man in the middle: of life, of career, of self-assessment. Mired in his corporate responsibilities, Henry's deathless office existence is torpedoed by the loss of his mother.

Haunted by her death, and by a strange angst he describes as "the pall," Henry seeks escape in a quest for love and heroic purpose occasioned by a crisis in his company's fortunes. Dodging an Iago-like rival, he finds love with a colleague in his department, endangers his bond with his family, and finally confronts the urgent question of his life.

The Adventurist is a story about relationships: Henry has complicated ones with his sister, his lover and a tantalizing potential girlfriend. But his relationship to his corporate and familial responsibilities ballast him, too.

A former programmer, J. BRADFORD HIPPS turned to fiction after a ten-year software career. He received his MFA from the University of Houston's Creative Writing Program, where he was awarded the program's top writing honor, the $10,000 Inprint/Michener Prize, as well as a nomination for HMH's Best New American Voices. He was born in Arizona, raised in Minnesota, and now lives with his wife and children in Houston, Texas.