RC Atchisson’s debut novel, the romantic comedy kick bACK, is being released in e-book format this Valentine’s Day and is currently available for pre-order through Amazon.

Set against the backdrop of the wine industry, the story is that of a broken and defeated man who develops a single-minded purpose to drown himself off the coast off Nantucket. Over the course of a summer, he finds love, acceptance, and peace while facing an unexpected question: What do you do when the bucket kicks back?

Atchisson, a St. Louis-based writer and performer took great pains to be faithful to the spirit of the island and its inhabitants. That required hours of research in addition to the usual pains of writing a novel. “It’s one thing to develop characters and their attendant stories, but it is another to try and place them in a real setting -- at least, as real a setting as you can imagine from the Midwest. Thanks to Google Earth I could literally walk the streets I had my characters travel or follow their trips from a bird’s eye view.  After a while it felt as if I was truly on the island. My wife would remind me ‘You do realize you’re not actually there, right? It’s only a computer image’. ”

The first-time author hopes that his attention to detail and affection for his setting brings an authenticity which resonates with island residents. “I hope both the natives and summer residents alike recognize the respect I have for the island community.”

kick bACK is the first in Atchisson’s planned “Thirty Miles Out” series set on Nantucket. The print version of the book will be available later this year. For information on how to purchase, readers are encouraged to visit rcatchisson.com.

10% of all proceeds will be donated to Living Water International, an organization dedicated to helping supply clean water to the nearly 783 million people without. For more information visit www.water.cc

Atchisson is one of the co-founders of Victory Theater whose debut show, Voices of Victory: Reagan, premieres in Kansas City February 20-21.