Bøger af Kevin Callahan

The theme of the novel is the sanctity of life from womb to tomb and once something is done, it is done, it can't be brought back.

The Black Rose examines the lives of three seemingly different people - a white father and his daughter and a black male - during summer basketball games and their drinking together afterwards. These seemingly meaningless pick-up games and their bellying-up to the bar while still dripping in sweat are filled with racial tension, personal discovery and inter-generational friction that spark spiritual growth. The idiosyncratic characters - Byrd, Pete and Andie - share a sad combination of disappointment in their current circumstances and resignation of a future that falls short of their dreams and aspirations. They are what America has become. The theme of the novel is about acceptance and non-acceptance of race, religion and sexuality in America over the last five decades. The story is set in real-life places around Sea Isle City and Avalon, NJ under the backdrop of 50-year-old childhood friends still playing pick-up basketball games down "at the courts" and how they are now joined by their 18-year-old sons - and the main character's daughter - who are turning out just like them. The fictional characters are from the Philadelphia suburbs and attended Ursinus College, where their kids are going. Real life former players at Aronimink swim club like Eddie Hastings and Tom Ingelsby along with their great Villanova team are used as reference characters. The Black Rose offers how to better understand race differences in America by simple one-on-one interaction. By portraying seemingly different characters - just like black and white people in America - it shows how a black young man, Nate, and an old white man, Pete, can not only coexist, but grow to love each other and that better days can be ahead through hope and a Christian connection to the cross.

The Chess Game takes place in the battered, and high crime rate city of Camden, New Jersey. The young mother to be is mistaken about the time of her doctor's appointment which is at 8 PM and not 8 AM. She and the father of the unborn child (named Jude, the Patron Saint of Hopeless Cases and Impossible Tasks, is the narrator of the book) decide to stay in Camden and take in the "Ways" until the evening's appointment. They meet two men on a porch playing chess, or The Chess Game. A king piece is missing. Throughout the story, the chess players, Ruby and Cliff, give them hints as to where the king or Wizard may be hidden on this bloomy day of the 16th of June. A popular expression today is, "there are a lot of Moving Parts." Well, The Chess Game has a lot of "Moving Parts" on the chess board and, more importantly, on the decayed streets of once proud, prosperous, Victor RCA Phonograph, Nipper Dog, Camden. In contrast, across the Delaware River and in view is the high rising sparkling architecture of the downtown business district of Philadelphia, separated from Camden by a few minutes ride on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Callahan deftly captures- using Callahanisms magical language, parables, poems, prose and yes, song - the hopelessness of the poor, unemployed, maltreated, and mentally ill of the real people of the street. The downtrodden sometimes dressing and playing acting roles, waiting for the king, I mean The Wizard to make "Ways" right again. They wander the city streets all day and night without shoes, and in their costumes, funny hats, just trying to survive in the dead city of Camden. There is a lack of food but plenty of drugs and alcohol are the bread of life. They are just trying to find their ways. "Your Father, He made the world uneven. Is it the same in Heaven?" Some brave souls, often the spiritual caring, and fearless Clergy, have moved into the bowels of the inner City to help show The Way. The Chess Game will illuminate the minds of people on both sides of our Culture Divide to better understand that no one has a monopoly on righteous thought on Social Justice in our Country. I believe, however, that most readers will agree with Mr. Callahan that much more must be done to solve the social injustice that exists for many people living side by side with prosperity.