Product Description
by Andrew Harkless (Author), Debra L. Hartmann (Editor)
John Smith, a recently divorced man as average as his name implies, arrives home from his job at a rubber band factory to find a ticket for a cruise ship vacation in his mailbox. The mysterious note with the ticket simply says: "It's Time."
During seven days of various Caribbean destinations and sea days, John meets a diverse blend of passengers and crew who influence his life in monumental ways. Each new day brings new experiences, pleasures, challenges to overcome, and tantalizing clues about the source of the ticket. Ordinary and typical John Smith's life-changing vacation, where the average baggage is anything but, will challenge you to take stock of your own life.
Whether you are one of the 20 million people who cruise each year or someone who rarely even takes a vacation, this vivid work of fiction feels like the real thing.
Author Biography
Andrew Harkless was born in Orange, California in 1970, but raised in central Pennsylvania. He currently resides in coastal North Carolina. Many typical luxuries were put on hold in exchange for devoting unbridled time to writing with the ultimate goal of becoming a successful literary author along the caliber of his idol, John Irving-inarguably one of the greatest contemporary American storytellers. Andrew writes coming-of-age stories (regardless of the age) about Everyman characters who reach extraordinary crossroads where change is the only path. No matter how average a person may seem at first glance, everyone holds a remarkable story inside. His goal is to write stories for the Everyman, about the Everyman. Writing is an outlet for his innate passion-aka "inner dragon"-a love, and like any love, frustration accompanies. But, even love agitated by frustration seeks an audience.... "I wish to work for you in a way that you might discover how extraordinary you are in ways previously unrecognizable. And I want to write for you, to entertain you. Really think about it: the Everyman isn't inside the magazine at the grocery store check-out. Many of the people we idolize inside those magazines (in my opinion) would gladly exchange their fame for, at the very least, anonymity, and, if honest, a chance at the life of an Everyman."
