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COMING SOON(ish):

JACKALBERRY BROOK:

THE LEGEND OF THE PRODIGAL CRICKET

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The Legend of the Prodigal Cricket is the first book in a series of loosely related stories that centers around Jackalberry Brook, a bustling metropolis for insect folk fair and foul alike.

Wist had lost everything. The Tyrant orb-web spider queen rules absolutely over Jackalberry Brook, Wist’s once beloved home.

In the wake of this tragedy, he can find no solace in the local insect folk—not even in the beautiful—and oh so patronizing— she-cricket Crina.

No, the winds of change are blowing him far away from here.

Still, change is not void of problems, like crossing the Borderlands, where all manner of predators hunt. And how to keep cowardice—his faithful protector and confidant—intact on such an adventurous

journey. How would he keep to himself while seeking asylum in the vast communities of insect folk?

Oh, but it is unlikely that he would befriend an insufferably adventurous little beetle, who would guide him from one peril to the next. Or worse yet, that he would encounter some giant formic-

acid-blasting predacious beetle. He was certainly not going to engage some evil centipede or Sunspider. 

No, he could—at the very least—avoid all that, surely?

Of course he could, therefore Wist says good-bye to Jackalberry Brook, and vows to never, ever return.  Because—at the very least—he could avoid that, surely?

But they're not the blindly mechanical, robotic slaves that we once thought they were. Indeed, we now know that every insect society is full of conflict, power struggles, and mutinies.

David Attenborough - Life in the Undergrowth

Who is this man, this myth, this scarred swashbuckler?

First and foremost a devoted husband and father. All else are secondory to those roles, in Willem's life.

He is also an English teacher at Jimei University, in Xiamen, China. Though his occupation has changed many times over the last fifteen years, from IT specialist to factory laborer to clergyman, he has never changed in his faith in Jesus, his love for family, and his fascination with all things literary.

After many years of writing purely for the love of the story, he has finally devoted the next chapter of his life to pursuing a career as a writer.

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