Young Adult / New Adult Dystopian
Date Published: July 2014
As the current age thunders to a close, five kids are playing together in a river that runs through a forest to the sea. All the while, the society they are soon to inherit is disintegrating. The story follows the diverse predispositions of the kids from the river into adulthood as they define their evolving personalities, amidst the chaos of their decaying world.
Marauding insurgents continually sweep down upon a teetering world government from autonomous northern frontiers, causing human suffering and misery.
As adults, the kids from the river take separate paths to finding love and losing it, to ascending on meteoric careers and plunging into the depths of self-destruction.
The desperate times open the way for Senator Aaron Mire, a charismatic charlatan, whose campaign is awash in conspiracies which polarize the kids from the river.
Amy Ramsey, a kid from the river, becomes the beautiful standard bearer for the Senator’s Genesis Party. Her position clashes with her father, John Ramsey, renowned as the “last great man.” Chairman of the world’s most successful company and the inventor of the mysterious Moon Glow project, John Ramsey is Mire’s most feared adversary.
Ramsey’s personal life is haunted by the memory of a fire-fight while on active duty patrol in the northern frontier, when he discovers his estranged son, born of an affair more than twenty years before, is among the insurgents he has killed.
James, a cheat and a liar when he was a kid in the river, maintains a twisted erotic passion for Amy, but her love since childhood has always been Max Morgan. With his powerful position in Mire’s New Order, James has Max imprisoned, using criminal connections and manufactured evidence to falsely link Max to terrorist activities.
Max’s claustrophobic isolation in prison is made painfully real by the prison experiences I witnessed as a prison corrections officer, while working my way through college, and years later, through interaction with my daughter’s murderer. While sequestered in isolation, Max battles ever encroaching madness to find liberation in a state of mind.
With Max locked away, James uses Amy to exact his erotic victory. Soon thereafter, his company is involved in an air traffic tragedy in which hundreds of lives are lost. James is indicted and is facing a lengthy prison term. At the same time, evidence surfaces to exonerate Max, resulting in his release.
As Senator Mire’s mystique grows, John Ramsey becomes infected with the dreaded Tezca virus, a pandemic plaguing the world’s population. Ramsey is able to self-analyze his dying experience during intermittent bolts of awareness that rifle through the black night of his coma. When next the kids from the river reconvene, it is at John Ramsey’s funeral.
James is already a withered, broken man facing years of incarceration. Max and Amy are, at long last, reunited. Together, they set the past is adrift downriver, around the bend and out of sight forever.
In these desperate times to come, the duration of life and memory diminish.
Young Adult / New Adult Dystopian
Date Published: July 2014
As the current age thunders to a close, five kids are playing together in a river that runs through a forest to the sea. All the while, the society they are soon to inherit is disintegrating. The story follows the diverse predispositions of the kids from the river into adulthood as they define their evolving personalities, amidst the chaos of their decaying world.
Marauding insurgents continually sweep down upon a teetering world government from autonomous northern frontiers, causing human suffering and misery.
As adults, the kids from the river take separate paths to finding love and losing it, to ascending on meteoric careers and plunging into the depths of self-destruction.
The desperate times open the way for Senator Aaron Mire, a charismatic charlatan, whose campaign is awash in conspiracies which polarize the kids from the river.
Amy Ramsey, a kid from the river, becomes the beautiful standard bearer for the Senator’s Genesis Party. Her position clashes with her father, John Ramsey, renowned as the “last great man.” Chairman of the world’s most successful company and the inventor of the mysterious Moon Glow project, John Ramsey is Mire’s most feared adversary.
Ramsey’s personal life is haunted by the memory of a fire-fight while on active duty patrol in the northern frontier, when he discovers his estranged son, born of an affair more than twenty years before, is among the insurgents he has killed.
James, a cheat and a liar when he was a kid in the river, maintains a twisted erotic passion for Amy, but her love since childhood has always been Max Morgan. With his powerful position in Mire’s New Order, James has Max imprisoned, using criminal connections and manufactured evidence to falsely link Max to terrorist activities.
Max’s claustrophobic isolation in prison is made painfully real by the prison experiences I witnessed as a prison corrections officer, while working my way through college, and years later, through interaction with my daughter’s murderer. While sequestered in isolation, Max battles ever encroaching madness to find liberation in a state of mind.
With Max locked away, James uses Amy to exact his erotic victory. Soon thereafter, his company is involved in an air traffic tragedy in which hundreds of lives are lost. James is indicted and is facing a lengthy prison term. At the same time, evidence surfaces to exonerate Max, resulting in his release.
As Senator Mire’s mystique grows, John Ramsey becomes infected with the dreaded Tezca virus, a pandemic plaguing the world’s population. Ramsey is able to self-analyze his dying experience during intermittent bolts of awareness that rifle through the black night of his coma. When next the kids from the river reconvene, it is at John Ramsey’s funeral.
James is already a withered, broken man facing years of incarceration. Max and Amy are, at long last, reunited. Together, they set the past is adrift downriver, around the bend and out of sight forever.
In these desperate times to come, the duration of life and memory diminish.
#1 – Do You See Writing as a Career?
I have a long standing career as CEO of an international development
company. Writing, on the other hand, is much more personal. I see it as a pilgrimage
of imagination. It occurred to me that to make writing a career might confine
imagination and bend its natural course into a successful formula.
#2 – What was the Hardest Part of Your Writing Process?
The most difficult part of writing, for me, comes when the
book is finished. It is when I have to enter a completely different, mundane
mindset to sell what I have written.
#3 – Did you have any One Person Who Helped You Out with
Your Writing Outside of Your Family?
I guess my daughter, Berlyn, could now be considered outside
the family. My greatest writing stimulus came when she was murdered following
her high school prom. After her death, I had an insatiable need to know where
she went and what she became, if anything at all, when she died. What is death?
Who is this thing sitting here thinking about her? Berlyn’s murder was the
single most terrifying and yet motivating force that led me to write my first
book “A Flower in the Snow” and later “The Kids from the River.”.
#4 – What is next for your writing?
I want what I write next to change the way we think.
#5 – Do you have an addiction to reading as well as writing?
If so, what are you currently reading?
I read from the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras each
day. I am also currently reading “The Upanashads,” “Mahabarata,”“Egypt Light of
the World” and “Living With the Himalayan Masters.” I find the writing of ancient
sages form a foundation from which one’s imagination can safely extrapolate.
DESCRIBE Your Book in 1 Tweet:
“The Kids from the
River” tells what is and what will be.
This or That?
#1 - iPd or Mp3?
ipd
#2 – Chocolate or Vanilla?
Always chocolate
#3 – Mashed Potatoes or French Fries?
Mashed
#4 – Comedy or Drama?
Drama, as it often
leaves more meaningful emotions behind.
#5 – Danielle Steel or Nicholas Sparks?
I do not read either.
#6 – Fantasy or Reality?
I prefer Fantastic
Reality.
#7 – Call or Text?
I like to hear tone
of voice, so I rather call.
#8 – Public School or Home
School
Public – I need the balance
of others.
#9 – Coffee or Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate with
marshmallows
#10 – eBook or Paperback?
Paperback – it doesn’t
need batteries.
Mark Cosman’s writing began when his daughter, Berlyn, was murdered following her high school prom. It was when he left the rubble of his beliefs and assumptions to go in search of answers to the most profound questions we humans ask ourselves. His first book, “A Flower in the Snow” and later, “The Kids from the River” are the result of that odyssey.
#1 – Do You See Writing as a Career?
I have a long standing career as CEO of an international development
company. Writing, on the other hand, is much more personal. I see it as a pilgrimage
of imagination. It occurred to me that to make writing a career might confine
imagination and bend its natural course into a successful formula.
#2 – What was the Hardest Part of Your Writing Process?
The most difficult part of writing, for me, comes when the
book is finished. It is when I have to enter a completely different, mundane
mindset to sell what I have written.
#3 – Did you have any One Person Who Helped You Out with
Your Writing Outside of Your Family?
I guess my daughter, Berlyn, could now be considered outside
the family. My greatest writing stimulus came when she was murdered following
her high school prom. After her death, I had an insatiable need to know where
she went and what she became, if anything at all, when she died. What is death?
Who is this thing sitting here thinking about her? Berlyn’s murder was the
single most terrifying and yet motivating force that led me to write my first
book “A Flower in the Snow” and later “The Kids from the River.”.
#4 – What is next for your writing?
I want what I write next to change the way we think.
#5 – Do you have an addiction to reading as well as writing?
If so, what are you currently reading?
I read from the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras each
day. I am also currently reading “The Upanashads,” “Mahabarata,”“Egypt Light of
the World” and “Living With the Himalayan Masters.” I find the writing of ancient
sages form a foundation from which one’s imagination can safely extrapolate.
DESCRIBE Your Book in 1 Tweet:
“The Kids from the
River” tells what is and what will be.
This or That?
#1 - iPd or Mp3?
ipd
#2 – Chocolate or Vanilla?
Always chocolate
#3 – Mashed Potatoes or French Fries?
Mashed
#4 – Comedy or Drama?
Drama, as it often
leaves more meaningful emotions behind.
#5 – Danielle Steel or Nicholas Sparks?
I do not read either.
#6 – Fantasy or Reality?
I prefer Fantastic
Reality.
#7 – Call or Text?
I like to hear tone
of voice, so I rather call.
#8 – Public School or Home
School
Public – I need the balance
of others.
#9 – Coffee or Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate with
marshmallows
#10 – eBook or Paperback?
Paperback – it doesn’t
need batteries.
Mark Cosman’s writing began when his daughter, Berlyn, was murdered following her high school prom. It was when he left the rubble of his beliefs and assumptions to go in search of answers to the most profound questions we humans ask ourselves. His first book, “A Flower in the Snow” and later, “The Kids from the River” are the result of that odyssey.
December 16 - Texas Book Nook
December 17 - A Life Through Books
December 18 - My Reading Addiction
December 19 - The Indie Express
December 22 - Coffee Bean Zone
December 23 - Coffee Hobby
December 28 - Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock
December 29 - Books Are Love
December 30 - Steamy Side
