Circling Toward Nightfall

"In the lyrical novel Circling Toward Nightfall Jeremiah Coombs, its narrator, may be the only man on earth who has two fathers. After being told by Billy Coombs, his father, that he had no mother, Jeremiah's paternal grandmother discloses that her name was Bernadette who died in childbirth even though Jeremiah vividly recalls her in his early life. A neighbor, "Ichabod" Ernest Tyner, begins to play an increasing role in his life. Ichabod reveals that Bernadette was a Sisters of Conscience nun who gave birth to the boy on the banks of the Ohio River and then drowned herself. When how he was conceived is revealed, a patricidal urge propels Jeremiah to seek vengeance. It is at this juncture that the novel's truth shows itself. With characters that flow in and out of it, the novel is an enigma"--

Dennis Must was the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press 2018), Hush Now, Don’t Explain (Coffeetown Press 2014), and The World’s Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press 2014); as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press 2016), Oh, Don’t Ask Why (Red Hen Press 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company 2000 and Red Hen Press 2019). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Don’t Explain; in addition, he was a finalist in the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Banjo Grease, the 2016 International Book Awards for Going Dark, and the 2014 USA Best Book Award in Literary Fiction for The World’s Smallest Bible. A member of the Authors Guild, his plays have been produced off-off-Broadway. He resided with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts.