I Won’t Say a Word: The Healing Journey of Narrative
Tuesday, September 24, 2024 — 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Join author Joe Clifford at McGee Middle School as he talks about his life journey, as well as his latest novel.
September 24, 2024
Event Information
When
THIS EVENT HAS ENDED
Tuesday, September 24
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
2024
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Where
McGee Middle School
899 Norton Road
Berlin, CT
Ages 14+
Join author Joe Clifford as he talks about the formative years of a creative, the path that leads to “the (inevitable) fall,” and how imagination and hope fuels recovery.
Woven through his talk will be a discussion of his latest novel, I Won’t Say a Word, and his late brother (and BHS superstar) Josh.
About the Book
When his younger, construction worker brother (Josh) goes missing, a non-verbal communicator (Buddy) is summoned back east so authorities can scour his laptop and their most recent communications. Josh isn’t just any construction worker-he is married to Amy Fortman (yes, those Fortmans), whose uncle Ari works for the president of the United States. The family also owns Fortman Brothers Construction, where Josh and Buddy’s father Neil was working when he contracted the myelofibrosis that killed him from toxic soil, which Fortman may or may not have covered up.
When Josh is reported dead of a suspicious overdose, Buddy begins looking into his brother’s and father’s death, putting him in the direct line of fire with local authorities, federal agents, and malevolent psychiatrists, as each stone overturned reveals a conspiracy that only burrows deeper. Blending true-crime and mystery with eco-political thrillers, I Won’t Say a Word plays with genre and trope, mashing together the classic spy novel with a tale of modern domestic psychological suspense. The end result is a dizzying foray into the depths of madness and bonds of brotherly love.
About the Author
After spending the 1990s as a homeless heroin addict in San Francisco, Joe Clifford got off the streets and turned his life around. He earned his MFA from Florida International University in 2008, before returning to the Bay Area, where he currently lives with his wife and two sons. His memoir, Junkie Love, chronicles his battle with drugs and was first published in 2010 and re-released in 2018. He is the author of the award-winning Jay Porter Thriller Series, as well as several standalones including The One That Got Away, The Lakehouse, The Shadow People and Say My Name.
His bestselling Jay Porter Thriller Series (Oceanview Publishing) has received rave reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among many others. Joe is also editor of Trouble in the Heartland: Crime Stories Based on the Songs of Bruce Springsteen and Just to Watch Him Die: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash. Currently Joe teaches online writing courses for FIU, as well as around the country at various conferences and retreats (or frankly anywhere someone will pay him).
Learn more at joeclifford.com.
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