"Nothing Short of Dying"

Erik Storey is a former ranch hand, wilderness guide, dogsled musher, and hunter. He spent his childhood summers on his great-grandfather’s homestead or in a remote cabin in Colorado’s Flat Tops wilderness.

He applied the Page 69 Test to Nothing Short of Dying, his first novel, and reported the following:

This is a good question. Is page 69 representative of the whole book?

Let’s see.

About the book:

Sixteen years. That’s how long Clyde Barr has been away from Colorado’s thick forests, alpine deserts, and craggy peaks, running from a past filled with haunting memories. But now he’s back, having roamed across three continents as a hunter, adventurer, soldier of fortune, and most recently, unjustly imprisoned convict. And once again, his past is reaching out to claim him.

By the light of a flickering campfire, Clyde receives a frantic phone call from his sister Jen. No sooner has she pleaded with him to come rescue her than the line goes dead. Clyde doesn’t know how much time he has, or where Jen is located, or even who has her. All he knows is that nothing short of dying will stop him from saving her.

Joining Clyde in his against-all-odds quest is a young woman named Allie whose motivations for running this gauntlet are fascinatingly complex. As the duo races against the clock, it is Allie who gets Clyde to see what he has become and what he can still be.

So, on page 69 we have these quotes:

“The barrel was warm and the car smelled of burnt powder. ‘What the hell just happened?’”

And--

“Somehow in a matter of days, I’d gotten involved with multiple drug-dealing gangs, Feds, and a girl who was starting to mean something. To me and everyone else. So much for the quiet life in the Yukon.”

The rest is conversation specific to the scene, so that part doesn’t pass the test.

But these two quotes do, I think, pass. The barrel of a gun is warm and shots have been fired. Clyde is in over his head again, and is giving up on his dreams of retiring in the quiet and cold. He is starting to like a girl. These are themes that play throughout the book, and so for the most part, page 69 is representative.

Visit Erik Storey's website.

My Book, The Movie: Nothing Short of Dying.

--Marshal Zeringue