Outskirts Press, INC.

The James Conrad Scott Chronicles: Volume One

Welcome to the Troubadour Poets Cafe and Bistro, where a sad, lonely boy (James Conrad Scott) plays writer with the "imaginary friends" who accept him as he is: Jack Kerouac, Stephen Crane, Rupert Brooke and the literary immortals.

Now thirty, Conrad confronts "A Crucible of Innocence" in the boxing match exorcism of his toughest trial. As always, his best friend, John Keats, is there to comfort and inspire.

Facing spiritual, financial, and health crises, Conrad imagines himself surviving the "Titanic," pioneering the American Eden, and fighting the Civil War Armageddon.

May Angels walk among us? May reincarnation be possible? May the loss of Innocence be prevented? Composed in the style of New Beat Romanticism, Roger W. Forsythe's debut "Poetic Novel" answers "Yes!" to all three.

Through the Myth of Being, a Theory of Aural Compassion, Positive Capability, and "P=bs2" (Poetry=body/soul x 2), the fiction of Conrad's world may offer clues into the reality of our own.

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TWO-TIME NATIONAL AWARD WINNER!

"Best First Novel," Gold Medal Finalist: The 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

"Best Series," Honorable Mention: The 2009 Reader Views Reviewers' Choice Award

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ENTER CONRAD'S WORLD--ON SALE NOW THROUGH AMAZON KINDLE:

"A Crucible of Innocence" ($7.99) for Amazon Kindle

"Like" this work on Facebook at "'A Crucible of Innocence' by Roger W. Forsythe":

The Facebook Home of James Conrad Scott

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THE HOLLYWOOD PITCH: Think "A Beautiful Mind" and replace literature for mathematics and manic depression for schizophrenia; then add "Quantum Leap."

Because angels and reincarnation are primary themes, this novel is being marketed in both the spiritual and literary genres. Like the main character, under whose pseudonym much of the work is written, the structure of the novel is bipolar; it has two halves.

"Enough," he cried.

The fearsome reprisal he heard in his voice spurred him to action. For years he had struggled, squeezing hope from the countless jobs comprising his work-a-day existence. When success never came, his failures compounded as cause to an early death. He was beyond beat. He was horsewhipped, too often inflicting the pain himself when inadequacies left him with no other recourse. That, too, had to stop.

He rose from the overstuffed couch on which he had lain all morning, restless and tired. He felt his mind steel itself into position and lock the decision into place, like a wrestler conquering the pin in a match which has gone into illegal overtime. There were no more questions of honor or dishonor. All there was, or was meant to be, was pain.

Today would be his last. Tomorrow's page two obituaries would cut clear to the end of James Conrad Scott.

"Yeah!" he shouted, imagining himself the quarterback hero in a home stadium game, down-slamming the football in the end zone and dancing in celebration. His voice filled the empty house sinking him in debt.

He pictured an emerald casket, a tiny pile of wilting crocuses tossed to the ground, and--lowered down deep--his blue-suited corpse perfected at last for eternal rot.

He was ready.

He knew what he was doing.

Energetic and with a sense of purpose he had found missing for several months, Conrad stripped from the dark paisley robe he wore. He threw on a pair of tennis shorts, white sneakers, and a tank top bearing the words "His Pain, Your Gain" on the chest. Christ gritted push-ups with the cross strapped across His back. The caption read, "Bench press this!"

He grabbed his wallet and car keys at the door, stepping into the close, hazy stillness of a hot afternoon. June's second Friday sunned bright upon him as he blinked, wide-eyed, beneath the sight.

He was glad to feel the weather warm his bones so much for the better; so had his spirit. That he would no longer toil, gazing with wonder at a sunset backlit in shades as beautiful as J. M. W. Turner's richest oils, inspired him to hustle faster down the front walk.



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"A Crucible of Innocence" Named Gold Medal Finalist

First Novel Wins Second Award, Critical Acclaim

Professor Forsythe's Novel Wins 'Reviewers Choice Award'

Book Expands Former Resident's SEMO Graduate Project.