Before You Were a Prophet
by Todd Heldt

Join pudgy Mark Miller as he moves into his room, the Mouth of Hell, in the house, the White Cone of Pleasure, with roommates Drew, Frank and Matt in the deep south of Atlanta. Mark has plans of going to graduate school, but instead spends much of the novel struggling with the animal within him, working construction, and doing dishes at the local steakhouse where Matt works (who looks like him except that Matt is muscular and he is not) and trying to understand the world and his place within it. The story is reminiscent of Bill Cosby's old album “Why is there Air?” and is written with a combination of introspection and sarcasm both from the point of view of Mark Miller and the narrator that is a refreshing read. This is definitely a guy's book.

Author Heldt creates believable characters with whom we can readily identify and he spices the story with dialogue that is genuine bible-thumping redneck. Whether it is Tramp and his pipe bomb, the stripper Jennifer, being at the Monster Truck Races with dimwitted Tracy, attending the fundamentalist church service, or sitting in on the open microphone poetry reading contest in which the judges are rigged, the characters are marvelous and Heldt has the ability to put the reader right in the middle of the action. Jeff Foxworthy could get a wealth of new material from this book.

There are a few issues with the formatting, most notably the indentation of the paragraphs being too large and the chapter headings being placed haphazardly on the page. Also, the story meanders in places, somewhat following the “stream of consciousness” school of writing. It is a character-driven story rather than following a tight plot. This does not detract from an enjoyable story, however, and in this reviewer's opinion there is series potential here.

Mark Miller decides not to pursue grad school in the end but rather returns home to Texas. He says in his letter to his folks, “I think I want to do something I have never done before. Maybe just drive around and take odd jobs. Or I could do mission work in Ethiopia. I don't know yet. Don't know anything about it. I just want to get closer to everything…”

Todd Heldt writes an intriguing story.

Gloomwing Review by Steven M. Ulmen

Pages: 225
Softcover ISBN:1-4116-6514-7
Softcover ($14.99) available at http://www.lulu.com/content/200415

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