A Writer Reads

An explanation of the genesis and evolution of An Adequate Vocabulary, and an clarification of biographical details you could not have known, and about which I may be the only one who cares. Send a text

In the final episode we suffer with Mick through the tedium of the DNA analysis, which in the end raises as many questions as it answers. We find the truth of Mick's parentage and birth, and experience the conflicted news of Meghan's pregnancy. And in a brief coda, Mick finally pays the price he knew had to come due. And so, we bid adieu...Send a text

Mick does a favor for Billy Baxter, that comes back to bite him. When Billy is arrested, he tries to cut a deal with the police by fingering Mick as a person of interest in a wrongful death: the death of Danny Boy Boyle, the old man in the alley. So, our hero is in trouble with the police, and with his blushing bride. Send a text

Mick still seems to have trouble not using violence (or a perceived threat thereof) to accomplish his desired ends. At least this one is on the down low. Despite occasional stumbles on the way to the promised land, Meghan and Mick take the leap, and go public through matrimony. Send a text

As their relationship deepens, Meghan and Mick start the process of discovery, some accidental, and some by design. But the process is neither smooth nor sure.Send a text

Meghan and Mick try to put some definition around there business and personal relationships. While spending Thanksgiving together presents it's own challenges, being alone together at Christmas is when questions arise, and even inadequate answers are, for the time, enough. Send a text

St. Patty's at the Pavilion, and Mick gets to use more than his low voice and menace. Stopping a robbery, and taking a bullet in the bargain, Mick emerges as the hero of the hour. So the owner of the Pavilion, Meghan LaPorte (yes, that Meghan), stops by to thank Mick personally, and hires him to work at her health club. Send a text

So, Guero agrees to the manner in which he will pay his debt to Don Mendez. In return he is provided transportation back to the States, a new identity, and a wad of cash to send him on his way. After a sojourn of several months in New Mexico, Guero hops on a bicycle and heads east. All the way back to Massachusetts, where he eventually comes to a stop in Worcester, the place he will once again try to find himself. Send a text

Guero and friends manage to escape the jungle, and make their way safely to Managua. But Managua is not safe, and Guero falls back into the abyss, only to be saved by an unexpected helping hand. Send a text

At long last, Meghan finds her way back home. She reunites with Triese, helps as she knows how to, and puts her money to work. Back in Nicaragua, Guero and his impromptu retinue make use of a curandera to help with their battle scars, before it is time to move on. Send a text

Meghan comes to rest in Boise freaking Idaho, where she renews her old friendship with Kat, and meets Kat's mother and daughter. Meghan gets to spend some time with Em, her namesake, before girlhood memories give way to the reality of Kat's mom's illness and passing. Send a text

After the assassination of Colonel Obando , Guero accompanies El Capitan on a vengeance tour to San Nicolas. But the tour does not end well, and Guero, wounded again, disappears into the jungle. Back in Big Sur Meghan communes with ghosts before selling out and moving back to San Francisco. But even in San Francisco, the past is an obstacle to the future, and Meghan once again takes to the road. Send a text

Then come the monsoons, and the tedium is interrupted by a visit from Don Mendez. Following his desires, Cantu and Guero undertake a mission in El Rama, a mission that goes irretrievably awry. Send a text

Kelleher, now become Guero, has begun his new life, stranger in a strange land, fighting someone else's war. Send a text

Meghan , with help from Ali, evolves from a rock and roll widow, into a businesswoman and philanthropist. Until their business relationship runs into an unexpected setback. Meanwhile Kelleher has evolved into something darker and more threatening. We travel with him to Beirut, South Africa and Venezuela, before returning to earth in the suffocating jungles of Nicaragua. Send a text

Tommy rocks, Meghan rolls, but fate has plans of its own.Send a text

Kelleher's life goes through a series of rapid changes, moving into an uncertain future.Send a text

Meghan gets married. Kelleher buries his mom, and begins a life of his own devising.Send a text

Music, love and home: Meghan hits the trifecta...Send a text

Kelleher faces his nemesis, and Meghan faces an uncertain future.Send a text

Kelleher gets some bad news, then a surpise he didn't know he'd been waiting for. Send a text

Meghan moves on, and Kelleher finds a new love.Send a text

Meghan finds her way in the city by the Bay, and eventually finds a friend - or two!Send a text

Francis deals with the aftermath of his savage attack; after meeting Will Wannamaker, Franny begins to reinvent himself as Kelleher. Send a text

Francis experiences young love, before his life changes irrevocably...Send a text

Francis finds a friend.Send a text

We move forward in time to 1971 on Cape Cod, where we meet Francis, our second protagonist. Growing up Catholic, a stranger and an orphan, we join Francis as he navigates some of the early challenges of his life as an adopted child. Send a text

Meghan makes her cross-country odyssey, dependent, as always, on the kindness of strangers.Send a text

After an ugly confrontation and heartrending loss, Meghan leaps bravely, and a little blindly, into her future.Send a text

Meghan makes the connection she had been hoping for, but things don't go as she had planned. Instead she has to rely once again on her friend Triese for shelter and comfort, as she plans her next steps. When we leave her, she is preparing for a difficult discussion with her da. Send a text

The inaugural episode of A Writer Reads, begins with a brief description of the project, a little biographical information about the author, and a sketch of the manuscript from which I will be reading. Then the reading begins with Meghan at her mother's gravesite, and ends with Meghan cold and alone, and wondering what comes next. Send a text