Exit Velocity

Finalist for the Midland Authors 2025 Adult Fiction Award! Finalist for 2025 Social Justice Category, Next Generation Indie Awards! Finalist for 2025 Readers' Favorite Award, Social Issues Category!

Fast-paced action and conflict, friendship and family, a touch of humor, and an even greater touch of the extraordinary - a parrot from another planet. A parrot on a Duty-to-the-Universe mission.

Exit Velocity is a thought-provoking novel set in the heart of Bridgeport, Chicago's historic South Side working class area. There Rowan Pickett is desperate for a job. Rowan's world has gone to hell, her sister murdered in a high school shooting, her mother leaving, and Rowan sitting home and mourning.

But Rowan is determined to survive, and getting a job is the first step in that direction. In seeking the job, she unwittingly sends a signal to Deeply, the parrot. This simple action results in injury to Rowan's sworn enemy, neofascist Zeb Snoddy. In a series of twists and turns it raises the suspicions of podcaster Jake Terranova, who jumps to the conclusion that Rowan and the parrot are a political assassination team.

When Rowan does get a job, thanks to the help of long-time friend and political leader Titus Longshaw, she starts to rebuild her life while working at Package Nova, a global shipping firm. But Rowan has some surprises in store, not all of them good.

In this fast-paced, realistic, and heartening story of a woman fighting back against violence, Rowan's enemies meet resistance they never expected, and working class struggle is brought to life in exciting and powerful ways.