Postcards of the Hanging
Book Breakdown:
10 chapters, no titles
On the back cover:
Suppose you weren't like other kids growing up? What if you had certain talents?
Then imagine you met another like you. And then you both discovered that in your hands rested the linchpin of innumerable destinies. Your smallest act could have ramifications you couldn’t begin to see. Would you feel unworthy? Afraid? Ask why you?
Jessica Gorving and Peter Knowles are two youths who come to face this paradox when Peter’s father begins to exhibit unusual behavior during a flamboyant rogue‘s campaign for Missouri governor. A search for answers leads to surprising revelations...about themselves and the dual forces that drive Man forth.
Postcards presents relatable characters placed in a momentous struggle which is Vonnegutian in its scope, simultaneously multifaceted and minimal.
Reviews:
Powerful story! ...[The] characters were so likable and convincing...wonderful job with historical information. ..flowed so smoothly...didn't bore me a single bit through the entire story. I became so drawn into [the author's] world...[Sweet] described teenage behavior like someone younger. The way you mentioned the war and referred to old movie legends like Sophia Loren and John Wayne made you seem much older. Whatever [his] age, [he is] very versatile and knowledgeable on any plain. --fan letter from Sherry L Bretz
Awards/Honors:
 "One day I sat down and wrote a line of dialogue: a mother yelling at her daughter, who was leaving the house. Unlike my other stories I had no sense of an outline or an ending going into it, so I was actually surprised when the narrative shifted to the boy, Peter.
I was even more shocked when I realized he was a younger version of The Iconoclast in "Dark Hunger". Did he end up with Rocky, or is he with another woman at the end? I leave it up to the reader to decide that.
The nonlinear structure of the plot was influenced heavily by Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and the title is the first line from a Bob Dylan song --my favorite, in fact. It started, actually, as a Dylan-esque joke --no meaning, and nothing to do with the piece, like "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" or "I Shall Be Free #10": a phrase that isn't anywhere in the lyrics. The postcards with a perpetually-continuing Hangman game was a last-minute inspiration I had in the last chapter, and I thought it tied the book's beginning and end perfectly together."
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