Until the Son Rises

by Ellis Kross

Told as part memoir-part thriller, Until the Son Rises follows Henry throughout the rise and fall of his music career.

Skeptical about continuing the basketball season while in his sophomore year at Haddon University, Henry decides to take a step back from college after a devastating loss against one of his rival teams. During the break, he drives back to his hometown in Lansford where he stumbles upon a flyer about an upcoming "Open Mic Night," which rekindles his unfettered passion for music despite his ailing mother's dire warnings of the evils that could be unleashed if he should repeat the same mistakes which cursed his father. Determined to follow his heart, Henry encounters a series of chance run-ins with several old faces, which result in Henry reuniting with his childhood friend, T.J., who has the connections to start up a band, which would later become Mona's Arch, one of the most popular rock bands in the world.

During the height of its success, Mona's Arch loses one of its key bandmates after he is beaten within a inch of his life. Hell-bent on seeking justice for his fellow bandmate, Henry will make a decision that will forever change the course of his life. And like all rock stars who were born to live on the edge, the price of fame will have Henry questioning not only his faith, but also his sanity.

422 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2013

About the author

Ellis “Izzy” Kross is a multi-genre author and graphic designer who has written numerous novels, screenplays, and short stories over the span of his career.

Kross’s writing career began in the spring of 2013 when he published his debut novel, The Shadow Player. The inception of The Shadow Player originated in the fall of 2011 after he discovered one of his mother’s old vinyl records that had been stashed away in storage. The record was ‘Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)’ by The Delfonics. Kross, having been known to sit on many stories, wanted to write a story about the relationship between a young aspiring musician and his enigmatic father who was left victim to his family’s dark and disturbing past. A former musician himself, Kross knew this was the first story he wanted to publish. He dedicated the following two years writing the trilogy which would later be known as The Fifth, a story which essentially put into question the existence of the American Dream and how far a young man would go in order to achieve It. The story mirrored Kross’s own misfortunes during his brief stint as an audio engineer and stagehand working under several headliners in the music industry and helped shine a ray of light on a greater opus to come.

After the first volume of The Fifth was published in 2013, Kross showed no signs of slowing down. Soon following The Fifth, Kross took a step in a different direction and created a two-part series called Freeze. The first book, A Week With Mr. Hopkins, was a modern spin on the infamous Greek mythological figure, the legendary Medusa. Freeze was adapted into the screenplay, Hard Copy, and received positive reviews on Black List.

Kross later went on to create his follow-up to Freeze, The Hate Train, a riveting coming-of-age story based around the dangers of virtual reality, as well as the hardships of losing a loved one; and then, later that same year, the Hitchcockian crime drama, The March to Sundown, was released. Kross has also written other works including Fictional Reality: A Nuclear Kid in Embryo Or A Procrastinatory Approach To End A Conversation, a blockbuster-type thriller which was inspired by his childhood obsession with Japanese anime, as well as the phantasmagorical Spell of the Eye, which reads like a lost chapter from the feverish Reagan-era culture.