PRO CONNECT
A Bio (of sorts)
Jerome Brown was born out of the American struggle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (His parents in their pursuit of happiness took liberty with each other and gave him life.)
He grew up on the bread that builds strong bodies 12 ways, Howdy Doody, hula hoops, Superman, slinkies, Gene Autry, Mickey Mantle and the New York Yankees, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22, Blow Up, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, truth, justice and the American way.
Brown served his country by going to college and learning how to produce and consume goods. He tried writing the great American novel but was unable to get past the great American first sentence, so he got into advertising and put his college education to work by imploring others to produce and consume goods. He thrived in Seattle and on Madison Avenue as a writer/producer with his work appearing in the One Show (Silver Medal), New York Art Directors, CA, and Clios, among others.
But...(there is always a but. As Degas said, “the real traveler is the man who never arrives.”
More in his element standing next to a camera than sitting in an office with a tie around his neck, Brown bit the hand that held the hoop and started directing tv commercials.
After filming a project for Investors Business Daily and reading William O’Neil’s How to Make Money In Stocks, he started trading stocks part time. (When the student is ready the teacher will appear).
When he’s not directing, trading stocks, or hiking with his dog, he shoots stills and still writes. “I write and take pictures because I cannot not. For me, they are a testament to, a celebration of, and a prayer for life.”
Calves in the Mud Room is his first novella.
Brown lives in Teton Valley, Idaho with his way cool wife and their collie, Max.
He often wonders that if it all started with The Big Bang, what was there before that? This he is sure of: he is a product of animated stardust; and still traveling.
“An elegant, exciting debut.”
– Kirkus Reviews
A brief glimpse into the life of a rural teenager.
In his debut novella, Brown introduces Wade Summers, a teenager who wants nothing more than to go to his school dance with Glory Schoonover, a beautiful, rich girl who has inexplicably asked him to be her date. Unfortunately, life gets in the way in the form of his dead grandfather’s cattle farm, his drunk and abusive stepfather, and his disengaged, alcoholic mother. Even the cows thwart him. They keep giving birth, further delaying Wade’s date. Wade greets the first newborn calf with “Yup, this is life. Welcome,” when he finds it frozen to the ground and pries it loose with a crowbar, and this brief exchange exemplifies the life Wade lives—brutal and harsh, but it contains flickers of kindness. Wade struggles with the conflicting demands from his stepfather, the girls at school, and his own dreams and desires. Brown’s deft prose is both richly descriptive and sparse, bringing to life Wade’s environment, where dead horses in the back of a pickup truck stand cheek by jowl with rare orchids and new life. There is the liberal use of texting jargon (characters often say LOL, YOLO, etc.), which highlights the distance and detachment Wade feels among his peers. While some plot points, especially toward the end of the story, passively rather than actively involve Wade, these neat turns of events work well within the world Brown has created, where his characters struggle to feel powerful against the overpowering forces of poverty, cruelty and ranch life. As a novella, it feels unfinished, and readers may regret being forced to leave Brown’s world and its hard luck protagonist so soon.
An elegant, exciting debut.
Pub Date:
Page count: 123pp
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2014
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