Chapter 1 – Bear’s First Dream - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 -
Chapter 4 – Chapter 5 – Bear’s Second Dream – Chapter 6 – Chapter 7 -
Chapter 8 – Chapter 9 – Chapter 10 – Epilogue
The 94th Psalm

For a while, my first novel, The Host, was all I thought about, It was going to be published, bought and enjoyed. It was going give me the opportunity to be a full-time fiction writer who makes a solid living on his craft. It wasn’t a dream I held alone. The world is full of writers with such hopes. But it never happened.

I love this story. And even though each time I read it, being more experienced now, I find more problems with the prose, I truly believe this story will be appreciated one day. But there is more work to do.

As of November 2009 I have decided to stop focusing on The Host. The truth is, I’m a better writer now then when I started this and no matter how hard I edit it, it won’t be up to my standards. I think there is a great story here, and a lot of raw material, but the way the story is told it loses momentum. I’d have to completely start from scratch if I really want to make this ready for publication. Meanwhile, Imaginary Bebop needs attention, and it’s much stronger. At the same time, new stories I’m writing are getting better and better. It’s time to move forward.

So I will paste The Host in its entirety here. If you would like, read it, but think of it more as my first attempt, the woodshed I sharpened my tools on. Maybe I’ll come back to it one day, I hope I do. But, for now, good-bye.

Here’s the synopsis of the work:

The Host is a first-person account of one day in the life of Benny “The Bear” Bouchard, a former college boxing star whose preoccupation with the past, his sense of guilt over abandoning the love of his life, and his many fears have kept him from greatness. Instead, he manages the local grocery store in the town he went to college in. But on this day Bear learns that he can hear people’s thoughts, a feat that quickly makes him feel like a superhero. Then Bear hears one man plotting a murder, but loses track of him. He spends the day trying to find the will-be murderer.

At the same time, Bear’s best friend Max has disappeared. Also, the mayor of the town is after Bear, as is the town drunk. But the most unsettling part is Bear keeps hearing a mysterious whisper in his head uttering a sentence he can’t understand. The day brings Bear face to face with all of his demons, and he must decide to live in the past or take one step into the future.

© 2009, Henry E. Powderly II. All rights reserved.