Excerpts from the book:
"His busy hands were liquid smooth, effortless movements too quick for thought...brushing the leather like a jazz drummer until it sang, snapping the cotton cloth over the surfaces, a maestro conducting a symphony finale."- The Last Bootblack

"The boys looked to him as a surrogate parent, constantly seeking approval. Leonard, always a mentor but never a buddy, carefully maintained distance. Adolescents struggling with life's pass-fail tests needed discipline."- Coach Z

"Out on the flea market aisle, people of every age and shape shuffled by in slow-walk rhythm, tattooed young couples pushing baby strollers, seniors rolling spouses in wheelchairs, ethnic families conversing in foreign languages, somber folks down on their luck looking to stretch a few dollars."- Mike and the Psychic

"The railroad tracks ran diagonally through the south end of the business district, creating a triangle-shaped public park where a towering tree canopy shaded a small one-story library, a deserted train station, and a bronze memorial listing the town's war dead."
- 1963

"South Beach, with its iconic art deco buildings, luxury hotels and pool decks is no more, destroyed by permanent flooding of the barrier island. Waist-deep water at low tide has created an abandoned ghost town visited only by looters in small boats."
- Miami Beach, 2050

Jeff Boyle is the author of the award-winning novel Nam World (2015), the award-winning story collection Hidden Truths (Bold Venture Press, 2016), and the novel The Bookseller's Secret (Bold Venture Press, 2020). Jeff lives and writes in Ormond Beach, Florida.