Pensacola News Journal article: Pensacola criminal has written three books during his decades in prison (April 25, 2017)
Graffiti Bridge interpretive piece: On the Shoulders of Giants (April 30, 2017)
1st Place Winner of the 28th annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards, Mainstream/Literary Fiction category (2020)
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The last time Izzy saw his mother’s trailer was through the rear window of a Dodge Aires driven by a social worker with the Florida Division of Children and Families. He was four years old. He spent the remainder of his childhood bouncing around the state foster care system. Always the outsider, introverted and awkward, he assumed he was exempt from things like friendship and love … until he met Scarlett McGhee.
Pharaoh Sinclair was born in a women’s correctional facility. The illegitimate child of an unknown father and a crackhead mother. He grew up on the sidewalks of the Azalea Arms housing project, where gunshots and police sirens were as commonplace as the stench of the neighboring landfill. Molded by hustlers and pushers, with the dope game in his DNA, the lone soft spot in his concrete heart was reserved for his baby sister, Symphony. But could he protect her from the same streets that raised them?
From the sugar-white sand dunes of Pensacola Beach to the murderous Arthur G. Dozier reform school, from strip clubs to emergency rooms, from trap houses to courthouses to prison cells, On the Shoulders of Giants chronicles the intersecting journeys of a foster kid and a project kid as they battle and stumble their way through adolescence into adulthood.
An exploration of race, part memoir, part coming-of-age, part thriller, part love story, this transcendent novel defies genre. A book within a book. More than a story, a living organism. A legacy. The only child of Ezra “Izzy” James.
Praise for On the Shoulders of Giants from its judges:
25th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards
“The setting descriptions are poetic, devastating, and really well done. Your characters are vividly drawn. Your skill with dialect is excellent. The relationship with Pharaoh is real and touching. The ending is hugely moving and the epilogue is a welcome surprise. Excellent work. This is an enormously well done book.
With a keen eye for detail, for social commentary, and a principled stand on various issues, Ivey has presented a dramatic story that brings today’s headlines home. The dialogue here is particularly solid, aiding the characterization and adding layers of nuance… The chapters are nicely paced.”
28th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards
“On the Shoulders of Giants contains two distinct, equally-heartrending stories…
The writing is exceptional, with two well-defined voices written in first and third person. Izzy and Pharaoh are both flawed, yet brimming with potential. Victims of tragic beginnings and repeated tough breaks, they fight and stumble their way through life, yearning for something better. As a reader, I felt their pain, desire, grief and hope. The dialogue is authentic. The supporting characters are well drawn and multidimensional.
Foster homes and crack dens, strip clubs and emergency rooms, reform schools and prison cells: the setting for Izzy’s and Pharaoh’s stories are gritty, harrowing and raw. The author balances such darkness with likable, engaging characters and insightful prose to create a satisfying, thought-provoking read.”
Malcolm Ivey / Author 