Calif. is the sequel to Miles From Nowhere, now available on Amazon and for your Kindle. Here's the teaser from the novel's cover:
"It's 50 years since Woodstock. If you were there, they say you won't remember. I remember..."
Miles From Nowhere is a hippie pilgrimage, the journey of a young man in poor health hoping to join the half-million strong. Recovering from kidney failure, Miles is hell-bent on Woodstock. After his father, Miles' transplant donor, succumbs to complications, Miles takes that long trek across the country, from California to New York, but the country gets in the way. In it, he finds love and lust, forgiveness, acceptance, communists, saints and sinners. Spoiler, Miles makes it to Woodstock, but only in time for Hendrix. Like all of us, you know, it's all about the journey.
But what would the journey be without music? The rock 'n' roll of 50 years ago, from Hendrix to the Who to Otis Redding, is like a character in the novel, a soundtrack in words. Travel across the country with Miles and his hippie entourage, all the while singing about the rain and love and peace.
Calif. continues Miles' story. Now an adult and truly on his own, Miles finally settles in, sets aside his nomadic ways, and finds himself working in a rock club in Santa Cruz. Away from his family, away from youth and his illness, Miles creates a new world for himself, but all the crazies from his past still mess with him and the reader gets to tag along as a friend.
https://www.amazon.com/Miles-Nowhere-Woodstock-R-Stowell/dp/173079372X
Geoff and Naomi are dead, and they're depressed, but when Geoff's cat Bernie dies as well, they embark on a wild journey to find it in the underworld.
*****
When Geoff dies, alongside his girlfriend Naomi, they end up sharing an apartment in the Underworld as skeletons. But after a few years, Geoff starts suffering a mid-death crisis. What's the purpose of going through the motions as a skeleton if you can't really live? Then he gets word that his cat, Bernie, just died and he can collect him and bring him home! Geoff and Naomi hurry to get Bernie only to discover that, due to a clerical error, their cat has been lost. With the hunt for Bernie giving new purpose to Geoff's un-life, he and Naomi begin a quest to get back their cat. Battling skeleton pirates, climbing the sky ladder and facing off against the villain who took Bernie, Geoff is determined to find his purpose - or die a second time trying!
[[2018 Wattys Winner - The Originals]]
[[word count: 30,000-40,000 words]]