Foamers

by Justin Kassab

  The sound of the other foamers feeding carried through the air to him. Something had happened that he didn’t understand. He had seen something that wasn’t in front of his eyes. It was a blink of an image; a girl, a gray-eyed girl. It was just as clear as Pepper’s hair in front of his face. The image faded and a sound echoed only for him.

  Family.

  * * *

  What a dysfunctional family they were, Kade thought as they sat around an empty dorm room. Kade was shoulder-to-shoulder with his brother and sister as they all passed boxes of junk food back and forth, catching up on the stories they had missed since the beginning of the Primal Age.

  Just because they shared the same blood didn’t mean they were the only family Kade had there. Jem was back, plus he still had Mick and X, who were also brothers to him. Even John, as much as he rode the kid, had become like a little brother. Grace had killed her own family to save his life, forever signing herself on to their cohort, and he felt personally responsible for her.

  And Tiny. She could kick his ass and save it in the same breath. He could love her and hate her in the same heartbeat. She would fight him as hard as she would fight their opponents. Without her, he would never have been able to find his way in the Primal Age.

  The only unknown was the new Stray: Number Five. Number Five was apparently Damian’s key to healing the foamers, so she was more than welcome.

  He still had questions about the foamers, and he hoped with Damian here, they could get some answers. What they couldn’t answer he needed to find out through observation. The foamers had spared him, and he needed to know why.

  One day soon, he had to assume, the Tribe would return. Winter was just settling in. The Flu was still out there. Foamers roamed the area. His group needed to find food. Their water had to stay sanitary. The list of obstacles they would have to face to survive in the Primal Age was long, and it would only get longer with each passing day.

  Kade smiled. He wasn’t worried about the challenges. The Primal Age had brought him confidence. This was what he had been born to do. His cohort was strong and capable, and he was ready to lead them against whatever challenges the days, weeks, months, and, hopefully, years, would hold.

  For the first time in his life, Kade looked forward to tomorrow.

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  ___________

  There are far more people who have helped bring me to this published point in my life than I can possibly thank. First I will start with the teachers over the years who led me down this path: Nancy Menapace, Mr. Hoffman, Tom Rechtin, Mark O’Connor, Cindy Lacom, Bonnie Culver, Dr. Lennon, Nancy McKinley, Ken Vose, Nick Mamatas, and Kaylie Jones.

  Ryan McAninch, Eric Diamond, and Ben Richmond, for being the first people who had to deal with my stories. Sean Casella, for never being afraid to tell me when I’m boring. Luke Lubich, for always providing great material. Mike McCormick, for being the best researcher I know.

  My letter writers: Dad, Mom, Alex Smith, Emily Kosenske, Amy Diamond, Brady McCormick, Jeremy Mortorff, Corey Pelow and, Jon Ritchie, the NFL player who went out of his way for me.

  My writing family, The Moby Dicks, without whom I would not be here. They are all doing great things and you should check them out.

  My family—without their constant support, feeding, and providing of roofs to write under, I would never have been able to chase my dream. My cousin, Rachel Wenrick, for being the first person to encourage me to be a writer, for better or worse.

  To everyone who played a part in this novel who I didn’t have space to call out by name, thank you.

  Lastly, thank you. Without readers there would be no need for writers. Hope you enjoyed.

  About the Author

  JUSTIN KASSAB graduated in 2009 to the worst job market since the Great Depression: the end of the world didn’t look so bad. To pass his time of being unemployed, he took an interest in survivalist skills. The hobby carried over into his writing and led to the crafting of The Primal Age Chronicles, a series of short stories and novels about the end of the world.

  About Kaylie Jones Books

  ___________

  The increasingly commercial nature of mainstream publishing has made it difficult for literary writers to find a home for their more serious, thought-provoking works. Kaylie Jones Books will create a cooperative of dedicated emerging and established writers who will play an integral part in the publishing process, from reading manuscripts, editing, offering advice, to advertising the upcoming publications. The list of brilliant novels unable to find homes within the mainstream is growing every day.

  It is our hope to publish books that bravely address serious issues—historical or contemporary—relevant to society today. Just because a book addresses serious topics and may include tragic events does not mean that the narrative cannot be amusing, fast-paced, plot-driven, and lyrical all at once. Our flagship publication, Unmentionables by Laurie Loewenstein, is exactly such a novel. The book takes place in 1917 Illinois, on the verge of US involvement in WWI. While the larger topics are race and women’s suffrage, the characters and their courageous stands against oppression and reactionary bigotry could not be more relevant today.

  Kaylie Jones Books launched in January 2014 with Unmentionables by Laurie Loewenstein. Forthcoming titles include Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night by Barbara J. Taylor (July, 2014), Starve the Vulture by Jason Carney (January, 2015), and The Love Book by Nina Solomon (January, 2015).

  Kaylie Jones

  New York, NY

  January 2014

  Also Available from Kaylie Jones Books

  Unmentionables by Laurie Loewenstein

  “Exceptionally readable and highly recommended.” —Library Journal (Starred review)

  “Engaging first work from a writer of evident ability.” —Kirkus Reviews

  “Marian Elliot Adams’ . . . tale is contagiously enthusiastic.” —Publishers Weekly

  “Unmentionables starts small and expands to touch Chicago and war-torn France as Laurie Loewenstein weaves multiple points of view together to create a narrative of social change and the stubbornness of the human heart.” —Black Heart Magazine

  “Unmentionables is a sweeping and memorable story of struggle and suffrage, love and redemption . . . Loewenstein has skillfuly woven a story and a cast of characters that will remain in the memory long after the book’s last page has been turned.” —New York Journal of Books

  Marian Elliot Adams, an outspoken advocate for sensible undergarments for women, sweeps onto the Chautauqua stage under a brown canvas tent on a sweltering August night in 1917, and shocks the gathered town of Emporia with her speech: How can women compete with men in the work place and in life if they are confined by their undergarments? The crowd is further appalled when Marian falls off the stage and sprains her ankle, and is forced to remain among them for a week. As the week passes, she throws into turmoil the town’s unspoken rules governing social order, women, and Negroes. The recently widowed newspaper editor Deuce Garland, his lapels glittering with fraternal pins, has always been a community booster, his desire to conform rooted in a legacy of shame–his great-grandfather married a black woman, and the town will never let Deuce forget it, especially not his father-in-law, the owner of the newspaper and Deuce’s boss. Deuce and his father-in-law are already at odds, since the old man refuses to allow Deuce’s stepdaughter, Helen, to go to Chicago to fight for women’s suffrage.

  But Marian’s arrival shatters Deuce’s notions of what is acceptable, versus what is right, and Deuce falls madly in love with the tall activist from New York. During Marian’s stay in Emporia, Marian pushes Deuce to become a greater, braver, and more dynamic man than he ever imagined was possible. H
e takes a stand against his father-in-law by helping Helen escape to Chicago; and he publishes an article exposing the county’s oldest farm family as the source of a recent typhoid outbreak, risking his livelihood and reputation. Marian’s journey takes her to the frozen mud of France’s Picardy region, just beyond the lines, to help destitute villagers as the Great War rages on. Helen, in Chicago, is hired as a streetcar conductor surrounded by bitter men who resent her taking a man’s job. Meanwhile, Deuce struggles to make a living and find his place in Emporia’s wider community after losing the newspaper.

  Marian is a powerful catalyst that forces nineteenth-century Emporia into the twentieth century; but while she agitates for enlightenment and justice, she has little time to consider her own motives and her extreme loneliness. Marian, in the end, must decide if she has the courage to face small-town life, and be known, or continue to be a stranger always passing through.

  LAURIE LOEWENSTEIN grew up in the flatlands of western Ohio and now resides in Rochester, NY, where Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting in 1872. Unmentionables is her first novel.

  Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night by Barbara J. Taylor

  “No one without a heart as big and warm as Barbara Taylor’s possibly could have written a story about a family tragedy that’s infused with so much hope and love, humor, mystery, and down-to-earth wisdom. This is a book I’ll want to give to people. I could not put it down and can’t wait to be captured again by the next book this wonderful human being writes.” —Beverly Donofrio, author of Astonished: A Story of Evil, Blessings, Grace, and Solace

  “Not since reading Richard Llewellyn’s How Green Was My Valley fifty years ago have I felt such empathy and love through fiction for a place, a time, and a people. Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night is a book of equal power and beauty, a bittersweet tale set in early-twentieth-century Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, the heart and soul of America’s anthracite coal-mining region, a place where Grace and Grief—now, as then—walk hand in hand.” —Sara Pritchard, author of Help Wanted: Female

  “The world of Christian miners—the hard core of the anthracite mining industry in northeast Pennsylvania—is beautifully evoked by Barbara J. Taylor in this remarkable novel. I found myself drawn back to its pages, living deeply in its world as I read. The sense of place—a place I know well, as I grew up there—is vividly realized. This is a lyrical, passionate novel that will hold readers in its thrall. A first-rate debut.” —Jay Parini, author of The Last Station

  Almost everyone in town blames eight-year-old Violet Morgan for the death of her nine-year-old sister, Daisy. Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night opens on September 4, 1913, two months after the Fourth of July tragedy. Owen, the girls’ father, “turns to drink” and abandons his family. Their mother Grace falls victim to the seductive powers of Grief, an imagined figure who has seduced her off-and-on since childhood. Violet forms an unlikely friendship with Stanley Adamski, a motherless outcast who works in the mines as a breaker boy. During an unexpected blizzard, Grace goes into premature labor at home and is forced to rely on Violet, while Owen is “off being saved” at a Billy Sunday Revival. Inspired by a haunting family story, Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night blends real life incidents with fiction to show how grace can be found in the midst of tragedy.

  BARBARA J. TAYLOR was born and raised in Scranton, PA, and teaches English in the Pocono Mountain School District. She has a master’s degree in creative writing from Wilkes University. She still resides in the “Electric City,” two blocks away from where she grew up. Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night is her first novel.

  About Akashic Books

  ___________

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  Akashic Books is an award-winning independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers. Akashic Books hosts additional imprints, including the Akashic Noir Series, the Akashic Drug Chronicles Series, the Akashic Urban Surreal Series, Punk Planet Books, Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery Series, Open Lens, Chris Abani's Black Goat Poetry Series, and AkashiClassics: Renegade Reprint Series.

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