book-reviews

New dedication for my novel

/ boz bozeman / Leave a comment

This is going to act as a forward for my novel Speak Again Bright Angel. I am adding it because many people have asked if a real event was the source of the opening scenes in the book.

Dedication  

For me, Speak Again Bright Angel will always be more than a novel. It is a way to tell the true story of the accident that begins this book, and to take a senseless tragedy and make something meaningful.  

I met Holly at a Halloween party during my senior year of college. We immediately connected. We both wrote poetry and loved the same music. Holly asked if I wanted to go to an after party at her place, and I happily said yes. 

As she drove, we came around a corner, and there was a pickup truck crossing the yellow lines into our lane. There was nothing Holly could do. She hit the brakes, but the pickup didn’t slow down. The impact was mostly on her side of the car, which was crushed. 

Her best friend was driving the car following us. My friend was with her. He came to my side of the car and got me out. Once he thought that I was OK, he sat me on a guardrail and then went to the driver’s side to see if he could help Holly. 

I fell to the ground and became overwhelmed by shock. In those moments, I had an out-of-body experience. My spirit rose out of the chaos of my body and looked down on it as I writhed on the ground. It distanced me from anguish and gave me time to find enough calm that I could return to my body. 

It’s impossible to encapsulate the horror of a 19-year-old being killed. Her best friend watched her die. The impact on her family and friends was awful. It was the worst night of so many people’s lives because it was Holly’s last. 

In the weeks that followed, I did not know what to do with my grief. I had just met her, so I had no memories to mourn. Every time I thought that I was a victim too, I felt guilty because I was alive.  

I began the book as a way to explore my grief. I turned my out-of-body experience into the spiritual link between Sarah and Jonathan throughout the novel. As Sarah experiences the agony of seeing her loved ones grieve, Jonathan shares her pain, and their connection becomes central as Sarah navigates the horrors of her death. 

I soon realized this book could be so much more than a way to deal with loss. It could be a tribute to Holly that helps her memory live on. Speak Again Bright Angel is an opportunity to give her a voice again, to add another chapter to a story that was cut tragically short. 

This is for you, Holly.

From Darkness to Bright Angel

/ boz bozeman / Leave a comment

I began Speak Again Bright Angel in 1992. It started as a short story titled “Keeping the Darkness Out with the Stars”. Although some of the same characters and ideas persist to this day, a lot has been changed.

After I wrote the story, I decided to make it a novel. I remember finishing the first draft, and reading through it. While I was proud of the accomplishment, I knew the story wasn’t right.

I worked on it on and off for the rest of the decade. Each version was an improvement, but I would end with the same combination of pride in the effort but frustration with the book.

It was when I went to Trinity College in Hartford, CT that the real story finally took shape. Professor Fred Phiel was my advisor, and he spent many hours with me working on the book.

There are two memories from this time that have stayed with me. The first was how many characters were shed from the book before he saw the new draft. Having someone with credentials reading it cast my story in a new light. I would think about the characters from his perspective, and I just knew certain ones could not live into the new version.

The second memory came after an editing session. We were walking to our cars when he turned and said, “Hey, what’s it called?” I replied, “Keeping the Darkness Out with the Stars.” He shouted “Too long!”

So there I was, already eliminating characters, and now I didn’t even have a title. Then fate stepped in. I was in my high school classroom. There was a traveling teacher reading from Romeo and Juliet. As I was doing work at my desk, the class was reading from the famous balcony scene. That’s when I heard the line from Romeo that he speaks before Juliet knew he was there. “Speak Again Bright Angel” he says, hoping to hear her voice again. I immediately knew that was the title.

Though the results were much the same with these drafts, the story as it stands now began to take shape. It took more decades to get it ready, but now it’s real, and it’s nearly time for you to have a chance to read it.