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Len Joy

Goodreads Author

Born

in Wellsville, NY, The United States

Website

http://www.lenjoybooks.com

Twitter

len_joy

Genre

Fiction

Member Since

October 2012

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Len Joy had an idyllic childhood, growing up in the gem of the Finger Lakes, Canandaigua, New York. As a typical small-town boy, he had a wide range of interests, most involving sports. He lettered in four sports in high school and went off to the University of Rochester with dreams of becoming a football hero and world-famous novelist.

When he awoke from those dreams, he switched his major from English to Finance and quit the football team, but started dating one of the cheerleaders – Suzanne Sawada. Three years later they were married, and four decades later, they still are.

They moved to Chicago where Suzanne became a corporate lawyer and Len, with his MBA and CPA, became the auditing manager for U. S. Gypsum. Despite the thrill of audit Len Joy had an idyllic childhood, growing up in the gem of the Finger Lakes, Canandaigua, New York. As a typical small-town boy, he had a wide range of interests, most involving sports. He lettered in four sports in high school and went off to the University of Rochester with dreams of becoming a football hero and world-famous novelist.

When he awoke from those dreams, he switched his major from English to Finance and quit the football team, but started dating one of the cheerleaders – Suzanne Sawada. Three years later they were married, and four decades later, they still are.

They moved to Chicago where Suzanne became a corporate lawyer and Len, with his MBA and CPA, became the auditing manager for U. S. Gypsum. Despite the thrill of auditing gypsum plants, Len found himself wanting a different challenge.

He bought an engine remanufacturing company in Arizona and for fifteen years commuted to Phoenix. Despite the travel, he managed to stay married and have three kids. While flying, he read hundreds of novels, which renewed his dream of becoming a world-famous author.

In 2004 he wound down his engine business and started taking writing courses and participating in triathlons.

While world fame remains elusive, Len has made advances in his writing career.

His third novel, EVERYONE DIES FAMOUS, was published by BQB Publishing in August 2020. KIRKUS described it as a “…a striking depiction of small-town America at the dawn of the 21st century.” It won 1st Prize in the 2020 Top Shelf Book Awards for Southern Fiction and a Silver Medal in the IBPA Ben Franklin Awards for Midwest Region fiction. It was also a Book Excellence Award winner in the category of Aging.

Kevin Wilson, NY Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang had this to say: “Len Joy's Everyone Dies Famous is a clear-eyed examination of how we live in an uncertain world. By creating imminently understandable characters and skillfully linking them to a specific landscape, one that is so evocatively described, he shows us all the ways in which we're connected, how fragile those threads are. In clear prose, Joy does real work here. I'm grateful for it.”

Joy’s first novel, AMERICAN PAST TIME was published in 2014. KIRKUS praised it as a “darkly nostalgic study of an American family through good times and bad, engagingly set against major events from the ‘50s to the ‘70s as issues of race simmer in the background…expertly written and well-crafted.” It was the 2019 Readers’ Favorite gold medal award winner for Fiction – Sports and took 1st Prize in the Top Shelf Book Awards contest for Fiction – General.

His second novel, BETTER DAYS (2018) was described by FOREWORD Reviews as “a bighearted, wry, and tender novel that focuses on love and loyalty.” KIRKUS called it “a character-rich skillfully plotted Midwestern drama.” It was the 2019 Readers’ Favorite silver medal award winner for Fiction – Sports and was a finalist in the Indie Excellence Book Awards in the category of Fiction: Midwest.

Today, Len is a nationally ranked triathlete and competes internationally representing the United States as part of TEAM USA. His three kids (a son and two daughters) have grown up and moved away, although the daughters return frequently to Evanston to do their laundry and get legal advice from their mother. ...more

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Combine Editions
Len Joy’s books

Average rating: 4.13 · 1,357 ratings · 199 reviews · 12 distinct works • Similar authors

	Better Days 3.94 avg rating — 391 ratings — published 2018 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Freedom's Just Another Word... (The Freedom Chronicles, #1) 4.04 avg rating — 278 ratings — published 2023 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	American Past Time 4.34 avg rating — 211 ratings — published 2014 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Everyone Dies Famous (The Stonemason Trilogy Book 3) 4.14 avg rating — 169 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	American Jukebox (The Stonemason Trilogy Book 2) 4.21 avg rating — 115 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dry Heat 4.40 avg rating — 67 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dry Heat: A Novel 4.35 avg rating — 51 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nothing Left to Lose 4.53 avg rating — 36 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Casualties and Survivors: Stories 4.35 avg rating — 17 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letting Go: Stories 4.36 avg rating — 14 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Len Joy's Blog

Remembering Dad: Part 3 - The Last Good Day

In 2016 I was invited by my friend/poet Anja Koenig to contribute to an unusual poet anthology organized by Helen Klein Ross. The project involved having 67 poets write a poem from a prompt extracted from a 19th century guide for travelers called The Traveler’s Vade Mecum. Contributors included “some of the most celebrated poets working today,” including former poet laureate, Billy Collins and Pul Read more of this blog post »

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Series by Len Joy

The Freedom Chronicles (2 books)
by

Len Joy (Goodreads Author)

4.10 avg rating — 314 ratings

Len is Currently Reading

Len Joy is currently reading

Hope for the Best (Hope for the Best Series)

by Vanessa Lafleur (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Feb 12, 2021 08:11PM

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Attention!: The power of simple decisions in a distracted world

by Rob Hatch (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Oct 07, 2020 07:59PM

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Fly Like a Bird

by Jana Zinser (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 21, 2020 07:48PM

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Len’s Recent Updates

Len Joy liked Sheryl Smith's review of Freedom's Just Another Word... (The Freedom Chronicles, #1): "Hot button topics of abortion and gun control figure largely in this tale of a dad wrestling with these issues and more. He's a columnist who gets tossed around on the tide of public opinion and who tries to manage having loved ones with radically op" Read more of this review »
Sep 26, 2026 10:25AM · see review
Len Joy liked Gloria Manns's review of Freedom's Just Another Word... (The Freedom Chronicles, #1): "At once blisteringly honest and tenderly observant, this novel stitches together the American cultural zeitgeist with the raw intimacy of family dysfunction. Len Joy doesn’t just write characters, he builds people, flawed and luminous, struggling wit" Read more of this review »
Sep 26, 2026 10:25AM · see review
Len Joy finished reading Better Days by Len Joy (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 08, 2026 09:46PM · like
Len Joy rated a book it was amazing Perfectly Hugo by Barbara Monier (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Barbara Monier’s latest novel, “Perfectly.Hugo” is the most thought-provoking novel I have read in a long time. Set in the scarily, not-so-distant future, it is a love story. Enid and her husband Hugo, a long-time married couple, sign up for an exper ...more
Nov 18, 2025 07:51AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Len Joy liked Vivian Walsh's review of Better Days: "Better Days is a masterclass in understated intensity. Len Joy crafts a deeply human story about the weight of loyalty and the burden of living in the shadow of a past peak. Darwin Burr is not your typical hero he’s quiet, reluctant, and, in many way" Read more of this review »
Jun 02, 2025 05:02AM · see review
Len Joy is now following Vivian Walsh and Alice Dixon
May 31, 2025 06:20AM

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