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Thomas Morgan
Author
Shotgun Preacher

Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)

" ... A family farm to raise his children away from the fragmented dying culture. Spousal affection toward him as dashing revolutionary turned cold seeing him as rigid traditionalist. Compounded polarization in church. Previous social justice issues turn dysphoric in the divorce epidemic. Auto collision; wife children and protagonist, thrown through windshield. Divorce papers and job termination notice served him in traction in hospital. Advised the only way a father in 1980's Indiana could win custody of his children was to be a Methodist Minister. He became one accordingly. The convergent chaos of characters and culture formations toward his ministry would be radically understated as "a disturbance in Church."

Reviews
Alan W. WaldProfessor of Literature and American Culture, University of Michigan

Morgan writes with prodigious fluidity. At one point, we are hurled into the midst of a riveting account of the sensational 1962 protest at Indiana University against the US blockade of Cuba, where Morgan and his Trotskyist comrades faced down an outraged mob of thousands…a calculating narrative with a sweep revealing a protagonist full of contradictions.’

RECOMMENDED by the US Review

Shotgun Preacher (an Epistolary Novel)by Thomas G. MorganMindStir Media reviewed by John E. Roper "The very idea of American Freedom has been reduced to; "No one interferes with my economic and sexual selfishness." Liberals wish to be as recklessly unregulated with sex as conservatives are with the economy."Tom's life is falling apart. His wife, who has been secretly cheating on him, demands a divorce and wins custody of their two kids. He gets fired from his job, and the resulting financial instability might also mean that he will lose his Indiana farm. Following the advice of a friend, he relocates to California and attempts to get a real estate license, but his heart is not in it. Eventually, he lands a job selling computerized feeding equipment to dairy farmers and also agrees to a low-paid position as a circuit-riding preacher with the Methodists that mainly feeds his soul. The latter seems an odd fit for a Communist-leaning Catholic, but it somehow works well for both the shepherd and his flocks. Yet there exists a longing in Tom's heart to be reunited with his children, a longing that leads him to a desperate plan.In an intriguing blend of human drama, religion, politics, opinion, and history, Morgan offers up a passionate story of a man determined to overcome his circumstances and live out his faith. Tom, as the narrator, bounces back and forth between his formative years and the present, revealing moments of his past that have influenced his current thinking, beliefs, and actions. Despite his leftist sensibilities, he is also staunchly Christian, disproving the common belief that these traits can never coexist in a person. As a protagonist he is sympathetic, at times heroic, and unafraid to stand up to the challenges that affect his family and his parishioners, even if that means following Christ's example of clearing out the temple by breaking out a shotgun in his church. Morgan's tale of his eponymous character is both entertaining and informative. And like all good stories, it leaves the reader wanting more. 

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