William J. Palmer

The Uses of Money: (Softcover: $20: ISBN-978-1-68114-245-6, 188pp, 6X9”; Hardcover: $35: ISBN-13: 978-1-68114-246-3; EBSCO EBook: $2.99: ISBN-13: 978-1-68114-247-0; LCCN: 2016905065; Release: October 1, 2016; Purchase on Amazon or Barnes & Noble): In post-hurricanes, post-earthquake Haiti, a rich American on an impulsive mission trip meets and falls in love with a nurse practitioner who doctors for a whole area of the Haitian massif. When his love is kidnapped for ransom by a vuoduo-influenced dispossessed villager, he is drawn back to Haiti to pay the ransom and rescue her. At times a romance, at times a kidnap thriller, but always a work of global social consciousness, The Uses of Money explores the potential for humanitarian aid to the world’s poorest heart of darkness.

*Nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize

Two Cities: ($20, 256pp, 6X9”: Softcover: ISBN-13: 978-1-68114-364-4; $35: Hardcover: ISBN-13: 978-1-68114-365-1; $2.99: EBook: ISBN-13: 978-1-68114-366-8; LCCN: 2017946908; Ecological Thriller; Release: November 1, 2017; Purchase on Amazon or Barnes & Noble): A bi-coastal political eco-thriller, it is set in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles in the near present. Played out against the backdrop of a dysfunctional government and the lobbying power of Big Oil, two brothers, one a Washington political activist, the other a Los Angeles celebrity lawyer, fall under the spell of a charismatic eco-rock singer and activist who is organizing the biggest protest march in history. When that march careens out of control and into tragedy, the brothers must deal with a kidnapping, a daring rescue attempt, and an inspired act of brotherly heroism right out of the Dickensian precursor that this novel channels.

“The cities in William J. Palmer’s new thriller Two Cities are Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., not London and Paris, and the conflict is not the French Revolution but a battle between the government and oil lobbyists and a powerful lobby called OceanSave that wants to prevent drilling in the Pacific.” —Akron Beacon Journal, Lynne Sherwin

Eidetic Transubstantiation: A Novel: (Softcover: $20: ISBN: 978-1-68114-514-3; Hardcover: $35: ISBN: 978-1-68114-515-0; EBook: $2.99: ISBN: 978-1-68114-516-7; Amazon Soft Cover: ISBN: 979-8-595996-06-8; Kindle eBook: ASIN: B08T7VMS9F; LCCN: 2019914326; Fiction—Thrillers—Espionage; Release: March 15, 2020; Purchase on Amazon or Barnes & Noble): Drawn into the Cuban Missile Crisis, point man to President Kennedy’s motorcade in Dallas, undercover amongst the radicals at Berkeley, Michael Edwards is embedded as an active participant in the turmoil of 1960s and 70s America. Then, in the 1990s, he finds himself on the front lines in the war against cyberterrorism.

But he is no Forrest Gump, bumbling his way through history. He is blessed with an almost magical power that makes him indispensable to the American government. Unfortunately, his powers of memory and adaptability force him to change identities so often that he finds himself desperately in search of himself.

Eidetic Transubstantiation is certainly a historical novel, frequently an existential novel, often a romantic novel, but finally its decade-morphing narrator makes it a self-conscious metafiction.

“Michael Edwards has a photographic memory on steroids.  It’s called Eidetic Memory… Palmer’s (Two Cities) globe-hopping tale is written with a thirst for knowledge and a love of detail that make for an exciting read, especially because it’s about a character who is often on the forefront of new technology or fields. The overall point that people are not one thing but go through a variety of different incarnations is a strong one, especially because this sweeping story progresses through Michael’s retirement… Skillful storytelling. A smart, discerning but protracted tale about an extraordinary man’s unique layers of memory.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A category-spanning novel… Mike explains… the significance and challenges of having an eidetic memory.” —Barbara McIntyre, Akron Beacon Journal

William J. Palmer is Professor Emeritus of English at Purdue University. The Uses of Money is his eighth novel. The four novels in his “Mr. Dickens” series of Victorian murder mysteries have been chosen as selections by numerous national book clubs, and have been translated into Spanish and Japanese. The three novels of his The Wabash Trilogy include a sports novel, a crime novel and a comic novel, all set in the Wabash valley of Indiana in the late 20^th-Century. Website: wjpalmernovelist.wordpress.com

“Palmer maintains the fast-paced, high-stakes plot his thrill-seeking readers adore… Although the plot may be a work of fiction, the descriptions of Haitian life are very much based in reality. As research for the novel, Palmer interviewed several individuals who traveled to Haiti on mission trips.” –Purdue Exponent, Alyssa Fanara, “Author addresses Haitian living conditions, corruption in new thriller novel,” October 12, 2016

Notice on the novel, because Palmer is a ’65, ’69 graduate of the university, in The Notre Dame Magazine, Winter 16-17 quarterly issue

About William J. Palmer’s Fiction:

“Unbridled period adventure.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Atmospheric and cunningly plotted.” –Booklist

“Bravo, William Palmer, on a superb performance.” –St. Louis Post Dispatch

“Amazingly entertaining, suspenseful reading.” –Booklist

“The novel, with elegant literary flair, provides a satisfying blend of scholarship and imagination.” –Chicago Sun-Times

“A madcap chase… full of sudden turns… and the pace is breakneck. Read this one in front of a roaring fire, sipping sherry while the sinister fog fills the streets.” –Kansas City Star