Until the Dawn

by Alec Clayton

Red Warner, a famous artist, vanishes at the height of his career. A childhood friend searches for him and tells the story of his family going back generations. Until the Dawn is a coming of age story, a coming out story, and a story that brings together two the New York art world of the 1980s and the racial strife of the Deep South in the 1960s.

178 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 2000

About the author

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1943, I grew up in the Deep South and later moved to New York and later still to Olympia, Washington. I am a painter as well as a writer and continue to show in galleries in the Seattle and Tacoma areas. I write regular art and theater reviews for area newspapers. I am also a gay rights activist.
Although not autobiographical, the settings settings for my novels are the places where I have lived, and my personal involvement in the arts and glbt issues play a large role. My novels are self-published. My first two novels, "Until the Dawn" and "Imprudent Zeal," are about artists. "The Wives of Marty Winters," a work in progress, is about a newspaper editor and gay rights activist. All three are family sagas covering many decades.

Reviews

[N. Sigafoos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an insider's view of 1950's life in the South, and a glimpse of the New York art scene when one of Mississippi's expatriots finds himself in the midst of critical acceptance as an artist du jour. Author Alec Clayton wraps class, race, sexuality and family in a tortillia of mystery, and serves up a colorful, satisfying meal for any smart reader.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read! Love the juxtaposition between mystery and art. The "Southern Voice" is one I respond to and enjoy in the works of other writers,
Zora Neal Hurston, Faulkner, Taylor Caldwell come to mind.