Welcome to Fred

by Brad Whittington

Overview

Mark Cloud has his doubts. He's not sure if he'll ever feel at home in Fred, Texas. He's not sure that he can work up the nerve to declare his love to the girl of his dreams. He's not sure he will survive another ride with Darnell Ray, Terror of the Back Roads. And he's not really sure he buys the whole God thing. Which is an uncomfortable position for the son of a Baptist preacher.

This award-winning novel is a moving and hilarious tale set against the vibrant backdrop of the 1960s and rural America. It is the timeless and classic story of Everyteen in the hands of a master storyteller.

eBook extras: Reader's Guide, 900+ SAT words, Preview of Living with Fred

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012754639
Publisher:	Wunderfool Press
Publication date:	07/19/2011
Series:	The Fred Books , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	246
Sales rank:	715,845
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Brad Whittington was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on James Taylor's eighth birthday and Jack Kerouac's thirty-fourth birthday and is old enough to know better. He lives in Austin, Texas with The Woman. Previously he has been known to inhabit Hawaii, Ohio, South Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado, annoying people as a janitor, math teacher, field hand, computer programmer, brickyard worker, editor, resident Gentile in a Conservative synagogue, IT director, weed-cutter, and in a number of influential positions in other less notable professions. He is greatly loved and admired by all right-thinking citizens and enjoys a complete absence of cats and dogs at home.

Editorial Reviews

Welcome to Fred is first-time novelist Brad Whittington's appealing story of a preacher's kid (PK) growing up in a tiny, isolated East Texas town. Whittington's publisher compares his style to that of Jan Karon and Phillip Gulley, but his writing is a bit edgier and more contemporary. A funny and honest account of the pains of adolescence and the search for faith. Welcome to Fred should win fans for this new author.

Book Page

The heartwarming journey of a smalltown preacher's adolescent son in the late '60s and early '70s appeals to every age. Readers will smile, chortle, and roar with laughter as they read the misadventures of young Mark Cloud, who fit into rural Texas life "like a Vegas cocktail waitress at an Amish house-raising."
Whittington's gift with words is reason enough to enjoy Fred. Mark's self-image "a few points above plant life" makes for huge laughs as he navigates through adolescence among peers.

CBA Marketplace - John Bernstein

The coming-of-age story is a perennially attractive offering for the CBA market, and this debut from a promising novelist is an agreeable contribution to the genre. There's no melodrama here, no particular tension, just the slow unfolding of a slice of one boy's adolescence. Whittington has a nice command of vocabulary (refreshing for CBA fiction). There are lovely details, generous portions of humor and plenty of nostalgia (when was the last time the protagonist of a novel sold Grit magazine?).

Publishers Weekly