Patches of Grey
Author
Roy L. Pickering Jr.
Author Bio
A few years ago I took the opportunity to self publish my debut novel. Patches of Grey has been kindly reviewed and earned a B.R.A.G. Medallion award. Selling books led to becoming a blogger (I irregularly but steadily post entries at A Line A Day – http://lineaday.blogspot.com) and expanding my social media presence (always happy to interact on facebook https://www.facebook.com/PatchesOfGrey – at GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/mplwdscribe – or on Twitter where my handle is @authorofpatches). Recently I completed my second novel, Matters of Convenience. I am contemplating my publication options for it, but while I do so readers can check out a few passages at my blog – http://lineaday.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-teaser-passages-from-matters-of.html. In between novels I had a novella entitled Feeding the Squirrels published by SynergEbooks. Along with that my short stories have been placed in various print and online venues, including anthologies such as Proverbs for the People (Kensington Books), Role Call (Third World Press), The Game: Short Stories About the Life (Triple Crown Publications), Prose to be Read Aloud: Volume One, Ménage à 20: Tales with a Hook, Forever Travels, and IAI Short Story Compilation. Currently I am working on a children’s book in collaboration with my wife, inspired by our daughter to tell tales featuring an adventurous heroine of color.
Description
Tony Johnson is a studious young man planning to soon graduate from much more than high school. Although his zip code places him in a Bronx tenement pre-rise of Obama, his sights are set far beyond the trappings of a humble upbringing. Collegiate dreams combined with falling in love with a white classmate put him strongly at odds with his father. His brother C.J.’s rebellious ways place him in danger on gang ruled streets, and the virginal innocence of their sister Tanya is clearly approaching its demise, but it is Tony who incurs the majority of Lionel Johnson’s wrath for the sins of ambition, color blind daring to be with Janet Mitchell, and refusal to bend to his father’s iron will. Seeing unrealized goals reincarnated in the eyes of his eldest son harshly remind Lionel of what once could have been, and of what went wrong. His own childhood in a segregated southern town established a bitter, prejudiced outlook that is the only legacy he has to pass down to his children. When his job and role as primary breadwinner for the family are lost, Lionel’s authority quickly erodes and he drowns his disappointment one drink at a time. This affords Tony, who lacks the seemingly servile patience of his mother, an opportunity to assert independence rather than mirroring his father’s footsteps and allowing his own fate to also be set by chance and circumstance. Throughout the course of a tumultuous year, his choices of whom to love and who to reject lead him down paths that are difficult to navigate. As opposition comes from both expected and unanticipated sources, Tony discovers that he has inherited more from Lionel than realized, that when he is hurt, his instinct is to lash out and return the pain. Thus he learns that the world is not as black and white as he and his father’s opposing mindsets would suggest. Patches of Grey is the debut novel of author Roy L. Pickering Jr. and was named a 2012 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree. It is available in both print format and download to a Kindle at Amazon, and the ebook version can be borrowed for free from their Lending Library by Prime members.
Book excerpt
Tony jerked upright, his face bathed in a cold sweat, heart beating quicker than a drum solo on a jazz record. He looked at the clock beside his bed and saw that it was one o’clock in the morning. Having been wrenched from sleep’s grasp, he would not fall back easily. He was contemplating a trip to the refrigerator when the door to his room opened and a familiar silhouette floated in.
“About time you dragged your ass home.”
“I was at the hospital,” C.J. said, tossing his jacket onto his bed.
“You all right?”
“I’m fine, but I can’t say the same for Tyrone. We threw down with the Raw Dawgs and he got stuck.”
“Is he hurt bad?”
“Well he ain’t hurt good. He was bleeding like a mother fucker. Sounded like a little baby, rolling around on the ground crying for his mom. But he ain’t no baby, he’s as tough as they come. He’s gonna make it, just wait and see.”
Tony’s concern disintegrated. He could not understand C.J.’s determination to court death on a daily basis. Or maybe he did understand, and this was what caused his frustration. So many found the same solution his brother had. Selling death to their own people. The money was a difficult lure to resist. Additionally, the fear elicited from their hard core posturing proved nearly as addictive. They demanded to be heard, even though it didn’t seem they had much to say. Perhaps the futility and smallness that characterized their lives was too overwhelming to articulate in any manner other than a primitive, incoherent scream. Maybe it was inevitable that those who felt they had no stake in society would opt to destroy it.
Whether Tony understood or not, he had to do something. He couldn’t change the world, or even this one ghetto neighborhood. But perhaps it was still possible to get through to his brother.
“You’re better than this, can’t you see that? Why throw your life away over meaningless bullshit?”
C.J. flashed an infuriating smile. The one that said “I know everything worth knowing, so don’t bother trying to teach me”.
“That was a beautiful speech. Almost brought tears to my eyes.”
Tony lay back down and closed his eyes in surrender. C.J. was like the pilot of a small plane taking off without regard for riotous weather, hell bent not so much on reaching a particular destination as on riding the storm.
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