Novel: From Here to Bridgetown

From Here to Bridgetown is J. Alan's first novel. It is the story about a final road trip for two lifelong friends. One knows how it will end; the other does not.

Not knowing that it will be the last time he sees his best friend, Joey takes a road trip with him from San Antonio, Texas to Portland, Oregon over a one-week period just before Christmas. Recently separated from his wife and kids, Joey struggles to find meaning in his life and to deal with the repressed resentment he’s always had for his best friend’s privileged life and with his phobias, some of which are aggravated by the many unavoidable public bathrooms along the way.

This novel was entered in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, and made it through the first two judging cuts to the 500 quarterfinal entries that remained in the competition from the original thousands of entries.

Following are some quotes about the book from the Amazon Vine Reviewers in the quarterfinals round:

Review #1:

"The author is obviously not a stranger to fiction writing. He writes with confidence and an accomplished and pleasant prose style. His use of fictional devices is also capable. In short, here is a piece of fiction with some promise."

Review #2:

"Just terrific. The dialogue is crisp, and spot on. The descriptions are fantastic, and I loved the flow of the story... I love this story, I love the characters, and the writing appears so natural and effortless. Bravo."