We Are All Just Imperfect Believers
We Are All Just Imperfect Believers
New release from songwriter Buck Storm
described
as literary Americana fiction filled
with humor and heart
If world events are getting you down and you’re ready for an escape, take
a trip to Paradise, Arizona, via Buck
Storm’s new literary fiction release, The
Beautiful Ashes of Gomez Gomez (Kregel Publications/July 21, 2020/ISBN: 9780825446375/$15.99). Storm admits his new book isn’t your
typical faith-based novel. In fact, in his own words, he describes it as a bit
funky, sometimes over the top, and rarely going where you’re expecting it to go.
When
his wife, Angel, is killed in a head-on collision, Gomez Gomez feels he can’t
go on—so he doesn’t. He spends his days in the bushes next to the crash site
drinking Thunderbird wine, and his nights cradling a coffee can full of Angel’s
ashes. It’s a form of slow, sure suicide, with no one for company but the
snakes, Elvis’s ghost, and a strange kid named Bones. Gomez Gomez has always
been a little (or a lot) out there, but the endless flow of alcohol sure
doesn’t help.
“Gomez Gomez’s sad state of affairs is the result of
grief, pure and simple. At least as pure and simple as grief can be, I guess,”
Storm explains. “He’s heartbroken at the loss of Angel. For years he was a
black sheep, traveling the rodeo circuit and making trouble. When he met Angel
everything changed. Somehow—a miracle in his mind—she saw something good and
fine in him. She picked him out of a group of men he felt inferior to. She
loved him unconditionally. She showed him what love is, unconditionally. She
also introduced him to God. Not in an overhanded way, but by living love out
every minute of every day. When she dies, Gomez Gomez simply can no longer get
his arms around reality. For him, an Angel-less world is not a world worth
existing in.”
The world outside his makeshift shack doesn’t really
concern Gomez Gomez until Sonny Harmon, who owns the car dealership next door
to the vacant lot, wants the land to expand. Sonny wants Gomez Gomez gone
yesterday, and in Paradise, Sonny’s money speaks. Because Angel was special to
everyone, when Gomez Gomez won’t leave, the town squares up and takes sides.
Coming to Gomez Gomez’s aid is his once-close friend
Father
Jake Morales, who always seems to play it safe, haunted by memories of the
woman he left behind, hiding his guilt, loss, and love behind a thick wall of
cassock and ritual. When Sonny’s shady business dealings threaten both Gomez
Gomez and the town, Father Jake, can’t just stand by and watch. But what
happens when the rescuer is the one in need of saving?
“In books, the very best characters are the ones who
are the most human. As Gomez Gomez and Jake discuss, ‘We’re all just imperfect
believers,’” Storm muses. “In this novel, Father Jake has certainly run to the
priesthood more as a place to hide than as a true calling. We find that out
almost immediately. Not that he doesn’t do his best to honor the commitment,
but life presses no matter how high a person builds their spiritual wall.”
Storm
didn’t set out with a teaching theme or spiritual message in mind when he
started writing; instead he let the story take over. However, that doesn’t mean
readers won’t find God throughout the story. “As authors, artists, songwriters, etc., we all have soul-themes that will
insist on finding their way into our work. They won’t be quiet. I love God. I
love Jesus. I love His love. So, by nature (I hope) these things will
find their way into anything and everything I produce, whether it be prose or
song or even how I love my family and neighbors. If I’m honest in my work and
let things flow out of my personal relationship with God, then His relentless
pursuit will resonate in a reader’s heart in an authentic way.”
The
first release in the Ballads of Paradise series, The Beautiful Ashes of
Gomez Gomez is quirky, heartfelt, and deeply human. Lives and hopes collide
in the town of Paradise, stretching across decades and continents in this epic
story of forgiveness, redemption, and love.
The
next installment of the series, The Sound the Sun Makes, releases
in 2021 and tells the story of Early Pines, the big, loud, funny, long-haired,
plainclothes police detective. Readers are sure to be in for another wild ride.
Advance
Praise
“The Beautiful Ashes
of Gomez Gomez
solidifies Buck Storm’s place among the unique literary voices of our day.
Infused with humor, imagination, and poetic beauty, Buck’s writing is an
absolute delight. I’ve read all his books, and his characters have taken up
permanent residence in my memory. They come back to me at unexpected moments
and invariably leave me smiling. Anyone who travels into the wild, wacky,
wonderful world of Gomez Gomez is in for an unforgettable adventure.”
~ Ann
Tatlock, novelist, blogger, and children’s book author
“I’ve never read a phrase
from Buck Storm that wasn’t time well spent―and worth reading again. A
topflight storyteller, Storm pits his protagonist―an eccentric, homeless
widower―against a powerful and wealthy small-town businessman. The engaging
story has readers quickly joining the cast of funky supporting characters on
the streets of Paradise, Arizona, grooving on creative plot twists and
wondering if this hero-and-villain drama can ever be resolved.”
~ Randall
Murphree, editor of AFA Journal
“From a small Southwest
town to the island of Corfu, Storm’s quirky characters take us to a place where
love, compassion, and redemption may seem out of reach but are always within
our grasp. From a cameo from Elvis to a story within a story, The Beautiful Ashes
of Gomez Gomez
becomes more than a metaphor. Is Paradise, Arizona, real? We can only hope.”
~ Bill
Higgs, author of Eden Hill
About
the Author
Buck
Storm is a critically acclaimed author and musician whose stories have found
friends around the world. His nonfiction work includes Finding Jesus in Israel and Through
the Holy Land on the Road Less Traveled. Storm’s novels include The List, The Light, Truck Stop Jesus, and The Miracle Man. The latest, The Beautiful Ashes
of Gomez Gomez, launches his new series, Ballads of Paradise.
Storm and his wife, Michelle, make their home in
North Idaho and have two married children.
Learn more about Buck
Storm, as well as his writing and music, at buckstorm.com. He can also be
found on Facebook
(@buckstormauthor), Twitter (@buckstormauthor), and Instagram
(@buckstorm).
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