JOHN BENJAMIN BURNETT

As a professor of English at Wayne County Community College in Detroit, I've enjoyed introducing hundreds of students to the wonder of great fiction specifically, and to the joy of reading generally. It's hard to describe the feeling I get when a class, or even individual students, "get it", and find themselves turned on to the stories of Dickens, Poe, Bradbury and any other great author they're exposed to -- often for the first time. Just the thought that I've put even one student on a life-long journey of discovery through reading is, well, priceless.

 

After several years of lecturing about other writers' stories, I finally took the plunge and decided to tell stories of my own. After much trial-and-error, publisher rejection (LOTS of that, which is apparently a rite of passage if you want to write), and questioning whether or not I had what it takes, I think I'm at least starting to get it right and find my voice as a novelist.

 

Each of my first two novels are set in my home town, Detroit. The Motor City has been beaten, bowed and much-maligned over the years, but still remains a vibrant, exciting -- great -- American city. HALF OFF is my homage to a city that, no matter what is thrown at it, always finds a way to bounce back.

 

Enjoy!