Lives Shaken, Stirred and Strained in Aftershock, 1989 San Francisco Earthquake Novel

    WATSONVILLE, CA, March 10, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The 1989 San Francisco earthquake changed--and ended--many Bay Area lives. There were heroes, there were villains, and there were many people shaken (at first, literally) to the core. A huge event like that can throw lives together in startling ways, and that's the subject of my new self-published novel, Aftershock.

Aftershock is the story of three earthquake survivors who must then survive each other. They are a scheming would-be novelist, his prim, closet-alcoholic boss and a discerning homeless veteran have their fates thrown together by the 1989 S.F. earthquake. The distinct first-person voice of the schemer, and that of the homeless veteran and the secret alcoholic make for an at times rollicking, at times sad collision of lives. Their interplay is disastrous, surprising, and richly human. Through the fragile fault lines of these rocky relationships runs humor, loss and longing for connection.

Please let me know if I can email a PDF copy of the novel to you for your review.

I wrote the story because I lived in San Francisco at the time of the quake, and had quake-related experiences with people who became models for certain aspects of the main characters. Of course, San Francisco itself is a rich setting for fiction. The disaster circumstances called out to be made into a coherent novel.

I'm a fiction writer, business writer and editor, essayist, and travel writer. I've published hundreds of freelance pieces--ranging from first-person essays to travel pieces to more journalistic subjects--in newspapers, magazines, and online. My book on finding and cultivating your writer's voice, Think Like a Writer: How to Write the Stories You See was published in 2015.

You can see some of my published work at http://www.tombentley.com/freelance.
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Tom Bentley is a business writer and editor, an essayist, and a fiction writer. (He does not play banjo.) He's had hundreds of freelance pieces published-ranging from first-person essays to travel pieces to more journalistic subjects-in newspapers, magazines, and online. His self-published book on finding and cultivating your writer's voice, Think Like a Writer: How to Write the Stories You See was published in June of 2015. He would like you to pour him a Manhattan right at five. You can see his lurid website confessions at http://www.tombentley.com

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