I was hoping to have this out for Christmas but we ran into a few post-production snags with Create Space so it looks like this one is going to be a New Year’s baby. Probably for the best since the novel takes place in 2018 anyway. It’s about a former KGB agent who gets abducted by aliens… definitely not. Come on, it’s a Malcolm Ivey novel. You know what to expect: crack pipes, syringes, sex, violence and dialogue slathered with f-bombs… That’s actually not true either.

This one is not even about a prisoner. It’s about an ex-prisoner. And it’s PG-13! Or at least as PG-13 as I get. After spending two years writing On the Shoulders of Giants, I wanted to shift gears and do something outside my comfort zone. Something challenging. And believe me, writing about the free world when you haven’t experienced it since long before the advent of Facebook, Netflix, or the smartphone is definitely a challenge. In addition, I plan on posting a new chapter to this site every Tuesday and Friday and my devout senior relatives and sheltered Christian nieces don’t need the harsh reality of prison life shoved in their faces twice a week.

But the main reason for this stylistic pivot is my great-nephew Jude, a special needs child from Charlotte, NC, and one of fewer than 100 RHIZO kids worldwide (to learn more, click on the “Incredible Jude” tab on this site). I’ve been wanting to do something special for him since With Arms Unbound, but there is an element of darkness in each of my first three novels that felt incongruous to his innocence. Not so with Sticks & Stones. It’s full of love and light and laughter. At least I think so. Hopefully the perfect fit.

So all the profits from this one will go to Jude. Judging by the torrential success of my other novels, this means I will soon be sending him a check for a whopping $62.75! But that’s sixty-two dollars more than I’ve been able to send him during his first three-and-a-half years of life. I’m just happy to be contributing. And you never know… we live in a world of infinite possibilities, right? Happy New Year everyone.