Book Title: Stefan’s Promise by Sam Rennick

Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 546 pages

Genre: Literary Fiction

Publisher: Hugo House Publishers

Release date: September 3, 2019

Synopsis

The Vietnam War Changed America. Two Best Friends Weren’t Spared. Only One Was Drafted.

It’s 1968. America is rocked by assassinations, war protests and political upheaval. Alan Young, 21, is brooding over having been dumped by his girlfriend. This won’t last long. His draft notice is in the mail. Stefan Kopinski isn’t about to let the war get in his way. He spends his days at the mercy of his reckless ambition. When fate steps in, will he finally understand what has been right in front of him for 30 years? “Stefan’s Promise” is the story of Alan and Stefan. Circumstances part them and sharply diverging temperaments further erode their bond. Yet, Alan and Stefan are wrong in supposing their friendship has ended. It’s just getting started.

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Praise

“We were at war in Vietnam and my fiancé was drafted the day after he proposed to me. I hadn’t thought of that September day for so long, and then I began “Stefan’s Promise.” Soon I was recalling that day and others, events and circumstances shared by those of us who lived through the “tumultuous year of 1968” and the following 35 years. In the Preface, Sam Rennick states his intention to deliver a completely absorbing tale. He does!”  —D.W.G.Artist

The author brings great sensitivity to one powerful scene after another. There is Mike Huxtable, victim of an unprovoked blow, aimlessly wandering the aisles of a drug store, day after day. There is Stefan Kopinski, half-pondering his friend’s illness, half-observing the Midwestern city in which he finds himself. These scenes but two among many in this compelling novel.”  —Silvia Lorente-Murphy, PhD Professor Emerita Purdue University

Interview

Today we welcome author Sam Rennick to StoreyBook Reviews where he answers a few questions about his writing and his books.

How did you research my novel?

Not a great deal of research was necessary, in truth, since the story takes place entirely within my lifetime. No need to go back to the 12^th century to check what so-and-so did! My story opens in 1968, a chaotic and profound year in our nation’s history. I am careful to identify the key events, up to and including the politics of an election year.

What was the hardest character to write?

Alan Young, one of my two main characters. It is easy to dismiss Alan as a selfish ne’er-do-well, but there is a great deal more to him than this. Alan is a carefree college senior when the story begins, but he is drafted upon graduation. He is badly overmatched by his circumstances, and how he comes to deal with them is his story. I leave to the reader to decide for himself if Alan ultimately prevails, or not.

Have you been to the places in which your story is set?

Montreal, Pasadena CA and St. Louis are the primary venues for my story. I lived briefly in St. Louis long ago and acquired some knowledge of the city. I have visited Pasadena and Montreal. Of course, it isn’t necessary to go to a place to learn something about it. I am confident my readers will find my depiction of each of these places entirely persuasive.

Do you have another profession besides writing?

Yes. I am a lawyer. One of my two main characters, Stefan Kopinski, is a lawyer, and my novel describes his law practice and includes, near the end, an advocacy. I do not permit this, or, for that matter, anything else, get in the way of the narrative, but the reader who elects to give some thought to the advocacy will definitely get more from the novel.

In what genre do you write?

I realize books are shoved into all manner of pigeonholes. I am not talking about genres like Westerns and Science Fiction, which have been around a long time. I am referencing a whole new set of genres, like Women’s Fiction and Upmarket Adult Fiction. I don’t even know what these labels mean. When I was in school, I was taught a novel is transcendent. That’s the only kind of book I know how to write, and that’s the book “Stefan’s Promise” is.

About the Author

Sam Rennick began writing Stefan’s Promise forty years ago, but it wasn’t until fairly recently, when he retired from his law practice that he was able to take his manuscript from its drawer and finish it. He admits he wishes he could say he planned this all along, since the two books comprising the novel, though written many years apart, combine perfectly into a compelling narrative.

While many authors have influenced him, he singles out Somerset Maugham as his muse, observing that Maugham always starts with a good story, but often finds a way to insert that “something extra” separating merely a nice tale from literature. Sam’s interest in books is only exceeded by his love for baseball, which began when he was nine years old.

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Giveaway

Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card or one of three ebooks of STEFAN’S PROMISE (4 winners) (open internationally) (ends Feb 14)

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