Just Say Mikey

by Clint Adams

Just Say Mikey…an incredible journey from the insidious grips of fear…to the elation of ultimate freedom. ***** In today's world, a climate dominated by technological advancements, it may be time to play spiritual "catch up." Upgrades provide infinite options, but now more than ever people are finding one, single enhancement to be the most important they will ever implement, the elimination of fear from their lives. Miguel, the central character in this mainstream novel for adults and young adults is unique, yet he shares a trait common to many children; a lifetime measured by days instead of years. Miguel happens to live with the skin-blistering disease Epidermolysis Bullosa, but he spends little time thinking about it. For Miguel, living with fear is far more deadly than this potentially fatal disease that encompasses his life. Miguel happens to command an extraordinary ability to view life as few others do, with razor-sharp insights and an unwavering spiritual conviction that all things are possible to those who believe. The action in this novel revolves around Miguel's many changes and transformations as he comes to realize that he was put on earth for a purpose, to teach others about the enormous power of belief and faith (in themselves)…just as ( Miguel believes) God intended. Just Say Mikey is told solely through Miguel's point of view, yet it is not a children's (juvenile or middle-grade) book. Opposing perspectives dominate the three main characters in this book. The protagonist, of course, is Miguel, a boy who is open to change, open to any new ways of keeping himself alive. Throughout the course of this story Miguel learns and applies these new ways taught to him by his Aunt Shirley (Kirkland), a woman who may be thought of as eccentric, revolutionary, and wise all at once. The antagonist is fear itself, personified in this story by Miguel's mother, Shirley's sister, Sharon Kirkland-Estes, a woman who loves her son dearly, but happens to be paralyzing him with her imposing fears and (dis)beliefs. The geographical setting is comprised of three radically different environments within the San Francisco Bay Area, all in present-day. First is the luxurious, opulent, thirtieth-floor Nob Hill (San Francisco) apartment in which Miguel and his mother live. Second is Aunt Shirley's serenely beautiful and sanctuary-like house in the Berkeley hills. Third is the hygienic and medicinal world of the Lucille Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University (Palo Alto/Menlo Park). Many other Bay Area locales are significantly Big Sur, Bodega Bay, Golden Gate Park, Marin County, and more.

204 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

Clint Adams, an advocate for those seeking purpose, is now marketing Live & Learn, A Retiree's Guide to Keep Going (spiritual self-help for seniors), written for ambitious and career-driven retirees and near-retirees who now ask, "What's Next?"

Prior to this book of non-fiction, Clint wrote, published and marketed his first historical novel, EVANGELINE The Seer of Wall St., a story about one of America’s first female entrepreneurs, astrologist Evangeline Adams. This is his second novel for adults; his first: The Seventh Ritual, a race for survival, a thriller, which he also adapted as a screenplay.

After having spent over a decade prior as a teen-fiction author, Clint leaves young adult publishing with a smile on his face…and lots of good memories. In 2005, he became a dual citizen of Italy and the United States. Since the publication of his first middle-grade novel, Just Say Mikey in 2002, Clint Adams, a recipient of Britain’s Millennium Trust Award, conducted dozens of his Stories About Facing Fear workshops throughout Europe in an effort to help teens everywhere maintain that “I can do anything” attitude.

In conjunction with these events, Clint actively marketed his three multicultural teen novels: Fear Ain’t All That (middle-grade) and its young adult sequels Don’t Be Afraid of Heaven and My Watch Doesn’t Tell Time. He has also authored numerous academic publications while at The Washington Post’s Kaplan Inc. and McGraw-Hill publishing, and has been a member of the Authors Guild for over twenty years.

Clint earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in drama from the University of California, Berkeley, studied creative writing at San Francisco State University and received his master's degree in marketing from San Francisco's Golden Gate University.

Having left acting long ago, Clint, still a Screen Actors Guild member, hopes to write additional screenplays while creating subsequent works of publishable full-length fiction.