Wildman

"How can a complete stranger know you better than the people you've known your entire life?"

Lance Hendricks is homeward bound, four hundred highway miles from the best night of his life. There's an epic graduation party brewing, his girlfriend will be there, and they've got a private bedroom with their names on it. When his '93 Buick breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Lance is sure he'll be back on the road in no time. After all, he's the high school valedictorian. First chair trumpet player. Scholarship winner. Nothing can stop Lance Hendricks.

But afternoon turns to night, and Lance ends up stranded at the Trainsong Motel. The place feels ominous, even before there's a terrible car wreck outside his room. When Lance rushes out to help, the townies take notice. They call him Wildman, and an intriguing local girl asks him to join in their nighttime adventures. He begins to live up to his new name. As one day blurs into the next, Lance finds himself in a bar fight, jumping a train, avoiding the police. Drifting farther from home and closer to a girl who makes him feel a way he's never felt before-like himself.

This debut novel by a remarkable new talent explores the relationship between identity and place, the power of being seen, and the speed at which a well-planned life can change forever.

J. C. Geiger (www.jcgeiger.com) has eaten the beating heart of a snake, been deported from a full-moon party, and spent a short time locked in a Bolivian prison. He also writes fiction. His short works have appeared in the pages of Murky Depths and Horror Garage, and on stage at The Second City in Chicago. J. C. now writes, teaches, directs, and performs in the Pacific Northwest, where he can often be spotted behind the wheel of a 1993 Buick Century. It still runs like a dream.