Gareth Young's Books
Most days I spend an hour at my desk working on this passion right after I have finished my morning meditation and exercise. I work in many formats including occassional blogs, business articles and presentations, spiritual contributions and books, but best of all is fiction. Novels give me the greatest pleasure, for it is when I can lose myself in this world that characters come alive and reveal completely unexpected existences in a wonderful creative dance. So far I have published two books, both available on Kindle ("The Grace of Guilt" is also available in paperback).
- The Grace of Guilt follows the destruction of three families and their quests for redemption, and examines the old prejudice of the new South. When fifteen-year-old Jessica Jackson’s crush on her pastor's son leads to rape, she finds herself pregnant and alone, rejected by both family and church as an unrepentant sinner. And when fellow-church member, Simon Cassell’s homosexual relationship with his high school friend is discovered, he is beaten by his father and ostracized. Meanwhile, middle-aged Dwight Cook is struggling with the economic failure of his business, the town hardware store, with estrangement from his wife and oldest son, and with uncontrollable lust for a female employee half his age. The outcasts’ struggles with underserved guilt intensify when a lynching brings the FBI to the rural North Carolina town and both church and family members are implicated, and when a tormented loved one commits suicide. Read it on your Kindle.
- An Unexamined Life spices up echoes of Kafka’s The Trial and Nabakov’s Lolita with a pinch of erotica in a compelling tale of the relentless and inevitable decline of a modern day Don Giovanni. Joe Kay is released from a career that had long since lost its meaning by inheritance and seeks solace in his marriage, but when he discovers that a decade of neglect had allowed his vows to drain away he allows his libido to lead him astray. He accumulates an online roster of virtual mistresses, starts sleeping with a stripper and plays strip-Twister with a neighbor. Eventually a high school girl who frequents his favorite coffee shop and his daily fantasies exploits his clumsy infatuation and seduces Joe. Has he finally found a home for his faithless heart or would his newfound loyalty falter and lead Joe and his lovers deeper into disaster? Read it on your Kindle.
