Redemption Song
A novel about friendship, redemption, and a drug-dealing rockabilly car club
"All I ever had, redemption songs"
--Bob Marley, Redemption Song
Redemption Song is a work of fiction. The characters are the creation of the author, and any resemblance these fictional characters and actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Second Edition
Text Copyright © 2005 by Jock Murphy, All rights reserved. Introduction Copyright © 2005-2009 by Jock Murphy.
For more information on this book, or the author, please visit: http://www.jockmurphy.com or email jock@jockmurphy.com
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How This eBook Came About:
Like so many people I know, I toyed with being a writer. It is only the natural conclusion for someone who loves to read. As a teen I quickly learned that is was much harder than it looked, and gave up such foolish thoughts. As the years passed, I may have revisited the idea once or twice, but never very seriously or successfully.
So then try to imagine my surprise when one day on the train to work I found myself writing a novel. More accurately, a story popped into my head, nearly fully formed, and unlike any time before I felt the burning need to get it out of my mind and onto the page. Four months later I had a first draft. After months more work, I had a draft that was ready for human consumption.
So I then did what every budding writer does with a manuscript: I decided to torture my friends and family with it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they didn't hate it. Then came more months of work and drafts. Eventually I ended up with something I felt was ready to submit for publication.
I was luckier than most, I got very close, but close does not count in the world of book publication. I was then faced with the question of what to do next. I wrote the book to be read, not to sit on my hard drive. I serialized the book on my website, and offered printed versions for purchase. And with the introduction of the iPhone, and the App Store, I can now offer the book on one of the best handheld devices ever made.
That, dear reader, is how this eBook came to be in the palm of your hand. If you enjoy what you have read so far, then I would like to encourage you to purchase a printed copy, or send me some feedback. If a market can be proved for the book, then who knows? I might just be possible to get a traditional publisher interested. Either way, people have the opportunity to read it, and that is all an author can ask.
-- Jock Murphy
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About the author:
Jock Murphy is a raconteur, photographer, and software engineer living in Portland, Oregon. He is married, cultivates carnivorous plants, and lives in a house with too many animals. He is also pretentious enough to use a word like raconteur. In an act of extreme hubris, he decided to self publish this book. You can learn more of him, and his follies, by visiting www.jockmurphy.com
There are too many people who should be thanked. My wife and better half Lani, Aimee (who knows why), my parents June and Pierce, and everyone else who read the drafts, provided feedback, and helped along the way: T.J., Elender, Halstead, Eric, Ken, Jeff, Rick, Linda, Ross, Homan, Mark, Ron, Paul, etc. Any omissions from that list are solely because of my fallibility, and not because they did not deserve the mention.
Special mention should also be made of two of the coolest bands that most people have never heard of: Seks Bomba (www.bomba.com) and The Dusty 45s (www.dusty45s.com). Listen to them. Love them.