Welcome to the blog for my debut novel, IT GIVES YOU STRENGTH (“STRENGTH”). The purpose of this blog is to introduce you to the characters and worlds of the mashup of science fiction, alternate history and fantasy. People have asked me how I would describe it and I say “Starman meets Boardwalk Empire”. Set in New York during prohibition, the fictional characters interact with actual historical figures, including mobster Jack “Legs” Diamond, heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey, and World War heroine Edith Cavell. By setting part of the plot in the Craig Colony, a little-known state institution in which patients with seizure disorders were essentially warehoused, the novel raises awareness of the human rights violations that occurred there.
The story follows an alien anthropologist, Tashan Zho, on a rescue mission to the distant planet Earth in 1926. Zho, is transported into the dying body of bootlegger Ryan Costello. Immediately following his death, Costello’s body is reanimated by the alien. Unfortunately, Zho’s new “host body” is so damaged from a decade of alcohol abuse that the alien’s memory and vital files are corrupted. All that remains of Zho’s mission plan is one phrase: “Find the one called Mike Kelly.” Complicating matters, the alien soon discovers that Kelly is, himself, the leader of a criminal gang of World War veterans, who are battling mobster Jack “Legs” Diamond for control of the lucrative Canada/New York rum-running market. Upon recognizing Costello’s enhanced abilities and physical strength, Kelly forces the alien into the mob. Since Kelly is his only chance of discovering and completing his mission, the alien agrees. Costello soon recalls his critical task - to free an alien child from the Craig Colony, which they interpret to be a prison camp, before his home world, Dagan, dispatches its “rescue armada.” A force so massive and clumsy that its mere entry into the Earth’s atmosphere would devastate the planet.
Please explore this website. You will find a sample Chapter one of STRENGTH. In the coming weeks, we will announce more about the launch date, release other sample chapters, blog about other characters and events, release a sample chapter of the audiobook, and have prize drawings for those of you who sign our email and newsletter list.
So, if you have any questions or comments for Philip Raymond Brown, please use the contact page and we will promptly get back to you.