The Strata of Silence
Julian DeCroix approaches adolescence in a deafening silence with chronic thoughts of suicide. Julian is intersex. Everyone knows...but not out in the open. It's 1969, and no one talks about intersex. Especially Julian's single mother, Dorothea. All wrapped up in her high-flying job tied to Air Force aerospace contracts, Dorothea works on top-secret alien aircraft crash research. And she has a secret affair with an Air Force major. Although never having much time for motherhood, Dorothea has ostensibly raised Julian as a boy. Julian dutifully tries to pull off the role while keeping his girl-side (Julia) as subterranean as he can. He tries to block out of his mind what people likely catch of his reality despite all best efforts to lay low. Julian is an only child and almost a loner. He has one best friend, Rodney-pretty much an outcast himself.
Rodney is skinny, geeky, and sporadically shakes from oncoming multiple sclerosis. If not for Rodney and baseball-which Julian and Rodney share an interest in, Julian could well go over the edge. But when Rodney commits suicide first-after a middle school gym teacher mockingly refuses to let them try out for the baseball team, Julian arrives at the crossroads. Will he follow Rodney into the depths of silent despair? Or will he rise above the hate to another kind of silence? -where authentic life soars high above the land of blind ignorance.
Dan Y. Johnson is from Ohio. He's been a schoolteacher, social worker, and antiques dealer. He has two novels: The Bread House and Date of Birth Unknown. And he's published short stories in The Write Launch, Literary Yard, and Northwest Indiana Literary Journal. Dan Yonah's author site is at https: //dan-yonah-johnson-writer.jimdosite.com/ The Strata of Silence is part of The Shortish Project, celebrating the short novel at theshortishproject.com.Customer Reviews
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