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The Root of Everything & Lightning
In this pair of novellas, award-winning author Scott Alexander Hess provides a richly textured portrait of the shifting landscape of the 20th century American Dream.
The Root of Everything is a multi-generational saga tracking fathers and sons from Germany’s Black Forest to Missouri as they experience tragedy, triumph, forbidden love, and hard-earned reckonings.In Lightning, a young man in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1918 is driven by his deep love for horses and his emerging feelings for another man. Offered a chance to move to New York City, he finds his true destiny.
Shot through with layers of grief, passion, dangerous landscapes, and old-world mysticism, these are journeys into love, loss, and twists of fate that define us. Hess tells stories as deep as the Missouri River and as wide-ranging as the Wild American West.
The Root of Everything is a multi-generational saga tracking fathers and sons from Germany’s Black Forest to Missouri as they experience tragedy, triumph, forbidden love, and hard-earned reckonings.In Lightning, a young man in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1918 is driven by his deep love for horses and his emerging feelings for another man. Offered a chance to move to New York City, he finds his true destiny.
Shot through with layers of grief, passion, dangerous landscapes, and old-world mysticism, these are journeys into love, loss, and twists of fate that define us. Hess tells stories as deep as the Missouri River and as wide-ranging as the Wild American West.
184 pages, Paperback
Published July 13, 2021
About the author
Scott Alexander Hess
10 books59 followersScott Alexander Hess is the author of five novels, including Skyscraper, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and The Butcher’s Sons, which was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2015. His writing has appeared in HuffPost, Genre Magazine, The Fix, Thema Literary Review, and elsewhere. Hess co-wrote "Tom in America," an award-winning short film, starring Sally Kirkland and Burt Young. He teaches fiction writing at Gotham Writers Workshop and curates Hot Lit, an LGBTQ+ themed monthly newsletter. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Hess lives in New York City with his husband.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 8, 2021
There is always plenty about the human spirit in a Scott Alexander Hess book. Our complexity. No matter the age of the character there is a lot to learn - the insular, the nuanced, the bold.
Review to come
Review to come
May 13, 2022
A beautifully written book. Two different stories set in completely different places, still connected on emotions that characters feel. When reading, you get on a journey that character is on and feel their life.
March 24, 2022
Beautifully written words reach your heart and conscience.
March 24, 2022
A really lovely collection of two novellas that are connected thematically. Very emotionally gripping, with beautiful prose, and characters that you'd love to learn more about.
April 22, 2022
I was awed by the beauty of these stories. They read like gorgeous poetry. I have often felt like I am inside a good book but I have not felt this way in a long time. The characters are complex and I felt as if I knew them. The settings were just as exquisite. I enjoyed this book immensely. I had to stop a number of times in order for it to last.
March 23, 2024
Rating this as the two novellas they are and not a novel. Not usually into self published but it was pretty addicting to read. If more editions are printed I hope they fix the typos but I appreciate the queer rep in my home state of Missouri.
The author writes like he’s afraid of the story, but maybe that’s just the vibe of novellas.
The author writes like he’s afraid of the story, but maybe that’s just the vibe of novellas.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews