The Art of Raising Hell

artofraisinghellfinalthumbcover200x300p72dpirgbBy Thomas Lopinski

“There are some people that walk around on two feet and others like me that run on all four.”

To most people, that’s a bold statement. I just wish I’d been the one to say it, but I wasn’t. In fact, until a few days ago, I wasn’t even sure what it meant.

You might say that, on the surface, it’s a very simple concept: Either you’re the type of person who lives within a set of boundaries or the type who knows none. But life is never that simple, is it? No, I’d say that the most important insights about who we are, what we say, and why we do things are not always the obvious ones. Instead, they’re discovered on the streets of your hometown, revealed late at night in a dark backroom, or sometimes forced upon you at knifepoint where your only choices for survival are between bad and worse.

In The Art of Raising Hell, Newbie Johnson has recently moved to Bunsen Creek, Illinois, when his mother is killed in a tragic car crash. His father does his best to maintain a normal household, but his broken heart is just not up to the task. Newbie finds solace by hanging out with his three buddies in their clandestine Backroom hideout. Getting into mischief becomes their favorite pastime as they try to follow in the footsteps of Lonny Nack, who has perfected the art of running on all four.

“Running on all four” takes on a new meaning for Newbie when he finds his inner voice and begins to understand the difference between chasing life and being chased by it.

The Art of Raising Hell is our generation’s Catcher In The Rye: a tender, yet compelling, coming-of-age tale that reminds its audience of the difference between life and living.” ~ Laura Valvasori, The San Francisco Book Review


Formats: eBook, Trade Paperback
198 pages
Imprint: Dark Alley Press
ISBN-13: 978-0692375730
ISBN-10: 0692375732
BISAC: Fiction / Coming of Age

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