Calling Out Your Name

by Ned White

SILVER MEDAL, Foreword Book of the Year Awards, YA fiction
SILVER MEDAL, Moonbeam Children's Book Awards, YA fiction
SEMIFINALIST, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, YA

For 16 year-old Woody Elmont, life in the sleepy town of Ogamesh, Georgia is a tolerable routine of caring for his aging Aunt Zee, hanging out with his friend Natalie, or minding his developmentally disabled younger brother, Tick, who was born "a few pickles short of a barrel" and has "a temperament more rambunctious than a ferret." It is Tick's uncontrollable kleptomania that lands him in a nearby home for troubled youth, from which he soon disappears, thereby propelling Woody on a grand and improbable cross-country adventure to learn the truth of his brother's fate.

Risking life and limb for duty's sake, Woody careens through events and characters both intriguing and menacing, through the South, the Plains, and deep into the West. Closing in on the truth, his quest becomes a journey of mounting hardship, tests of courage, and startling self-discovery.

"The unpretentious prose faultlessly captures Woody’s introspective nature, delivering some powerful moments with pragmatic bluntness (“'The thing is, having a father can be a big risk. Sometimes you’re lucky, you get a good one, but other times you get a father who walks out on you.’”) and even minor supporting characters feel authentic and finely rendered." - Publishers Weekly

"...an exciting and adventuresome tale of one boy’s journey toward adulthood... chock full of well developed, believable characters ... Mr. White writes with an authentic southern voice..." - Donna Nordmark Aviles, author, Beyond the Orphan Train

"...a wonderful story, and maintains its integrity from beginning to finish, taking readers on a journey from one American coast to the next, from youth to manhood in a single arching stroke against a canvas with several layers..." - Eric Jones, BookReview.com

"Woody Elmont is the one of the most likable and interesting characters I've come across in my reading as of late. If you're anything like me, you will feel a compulsive need to turn the pages..." - Chris Sabga, Smashwords.com

"Ned White has created a memorable hero...(and) a wonderful, adventurous coming-of-age story that takes the Georgia teenager on a daring journey from Macon to Malibu and from adolescence to maturity." - Don O'Briant, former book editor, Atlanta Journal Constitution

227 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2009

About the author

I've been writing steadily since college - novels, stories, plays, poetry, and teleplays (including several programs for PBS, HBO, and local TV). I also construct crossword puzzles for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

My first novel, THE VERY BAD THING, was published by Viking Penguin, sold modestly, earned some good reviews. Since then I've had several fine agencies representing new work, but ultimately (spring 2009) I chose to self publish three novels I've written over the last several years.

CALLING OUT YOUR NAME is an adventure story for young adults, set largely in the Deep South in the recent past: a rural Georgia teenager sets off on an improbable journey to find his developmentally disabled younger brother, who's apparently run away.

PLACE is adult literary fiction... about a woman who disappears, quite literally.

STRING THEORIES, to be republished in March 2016, is also adult literary fiction - a "physics love story" and adventuresome romp set in New Mexico.

BILLY BUCK is harder to described. Take a look at t.

All are available on Kindle, Amazon, and from me via ayPal (free shipping).