Synopsis:
A family saga spanning Vietnam to Iraq, Billy Bowling exposes the destructive path one individual cuts through a small, football rabid village . . . and how an innocent man’s life is radically changed because of it. The Fort Harrison High School Rams were the envy of athletic programs throughout the state. Twenty-three state championship trophies were housed within the walls of the tiny rural school in West-Central Ohio. Yet of this total, two individuals were the driving force behind twenty of them—the often bellicose football coach, Sam Giovanazzo, and the beautiful Gwen Putnam, who now promised to shed the brightest light yet upon the small village—having just landed a spot on the 1996 United States Olympic team. As in any town, there were also the disenfranchised—and perhaps none more so than Billy Bowling, a nebulous FHHS grad who could be found, both living at and managing, Bowling’s Bowling Center on the south side of town. Billy’s brother, Jimmy, though the most celebrated jock in the annals of Fort Harrison football, had long suffered from an unrequited love for Gwen Putnam—but Billy’s life was far less glamorous. Confined to run the family business for his alcoholic father, Billy soon finds himself innocently caught up in a web of depravity and murder that would bring the small, arrogant parish to its knees. The story of a shameless town, a horrific crime, and a dysfunctional family; it is also a heart-warming coming-of-age saga that will keep you guessing to the very end.
About the Author:
Steve Stitzel is a retired teacher/coach who now shares his time between Ohio and Northern Michigan. Having traveled extensively, he eventually settled with his dog in a remote lake cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he penned several novels. With an extensive background as both an athlete and coach, he has drawn upon this past to fashion his novels. He was also a realtor for a number of years in both Ohio and Michigan and prior to that a farrier (horse-shoer) in West-Central Ohio for many years. Other life experiences included a stint as a bartender at an exclusive Northern Michigan club, a ski-lift operator and ticket-cop at Nub’s Nob ski resort, and a counselor for troubled boys at an Upper Peninsula group home. He has a graduate degree from Bowling Green State University, Ohio and an undergraduate degree from Bluffton College in Bluffton. He also attended (and played basketball at) Miami University in Oxford and studied European History at Exeter College in Oxford (England.)
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