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Valley of the Spun
Zeke is a man on the edge.
Once a devoted father, he’s traded lullabies for late nights.
In the neon-lit underbelly of Arizona’s rave scene, ecstasy and meth offer a fleeting
escape from the pain.
But how long can the illusion last?
As he stumbles deeper into addiction, the neon lights give way to a dangerous web of
dealers, users, and losers.
Every decision pulls him further from the man he used to be.
When tragedy strikes and the law closes in, Zeke must decide: will he fight for
redemption, or let the devil take control?
Valley of the Spun is a story of addiction, love, and the brutal cost of chasing happiness.
Once a devoted father, he’s traded lullabies for late nights.
In the neon-lit underbelly of Arizona’s rave scene, ecstasy and meth offer a fleeting
escape from the pain.
But how long can the illusion last?
As he stumbles deeper into addiction, the neon lights give way to a dangerous web of
dealers, users, and losers.
Every decision pulls him further from the man he used to be.
When tragedy strikes and the law closes in, Zeke must decide: will he fight for
redemption, or let the devil take control?
Valley of the Spun is a story of addiction, love, and the brutal cost of chasing happiness.
254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 23, 2023
6 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Jonathon T. Cross
6 books14 followersJonathon T. Cross is a writer of dark and unsettling fiction, whose stories delve into the mysteries of the universe and the fragility of the human mind. With a degree in psychology, Cross brings a unique perspective to his explorations of fear, madness, and the unknown.
When not crafting nightmares, he can be found in the quiet solitude of the desert, wearing novelty pajama pants. Though his writing tends toward the serious, Cross is known for his playful sense of humor and ability to find light in the darkest corners.
He invites you on a journey into the pages of the unknown, where the boundaries of fantasy and reality blur and the mysteries of the cosmos await. But heed his warning: once you look too closely, you will never be the same!
When not crafting nightmares, he can be found in the quiet solitude of the desert, wearing novelty pajama pants. Though his writing tends toward the serious, Cross is known for his playful sense of humor and ability to find light in the darkest corners.
He invites you on a journey into the pages of the unknown, where the boundaries of fantasy and reality blur and the mysteries of the cosmos await. But heed his warning: once you look too closely, you will never be the same!
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 27, 2024
Here's an interesting book from a new Arizona author that I picked up at Phoenix Fan Fusion early last month. It's a novel, but I get the impression that it's not entirely fictional. I have no idea how much of Jonathan T. Cross's life is between these pages, but the bio in the back highlights that he went through something in this vein as a former addict who's got clean. Kudos to him for finding a way out of that and for finding a way to channel that experience into words.
Cross may or may not be Zeke, our lead character, but Zeke isn't Zeke for long. He starts out young and naïve. He has a daughter, Sadie, who's in a stroller as the book begins. He loves her very much, even though his relationship with her mother, Eva, ended pretty much as soon as she was born. It's pretty clear that they hooked up, had some fun and Sadie's the result. And, as is so often the case, the mother gets the say in most things. He doesn't get custody of Sadie. He doesn't get a fair deal in organising visitation rights. And he's screwed when he plays what cards he believes that he has poorly and is promptly served for nonexistent abuse.
So, he makes a change. He moves out of his brother Levi's place and into a house with Jay, a work friend who needs a roommate. The catch is that Levi cares about Zeke but Jay only cares about the parties that he throws. He cares so much that he throws one for Jay when he moves in and that's a turning point because it's where Zeke takes his first ecstasy tablet. And, for the first time in a long while, he's happy, blissfully happy in fact, which ought to point the way forward to where this novel is going to go. Take a wild stab in the dark how long before he finds himself doing something more than ecstasy and something more than that.
The best aspect to this book is how effortless it seems. I don't mean the prose, because, as much as I enjoyed it, it's not too much of a surprise, especially early on, to know that this is Cross's debut. I mean the downward spiral that Zeke consistently takes, driven by bad decisions, constantly trying to get out of his hole by digging deeper. There are ways out that show up every once in a while, but he manages to avoid every one of them and believably too. He even recognises some of them but a word here or an action there is enough to skew him into a different course.
Another strong aspect is how realistic it all feels. I'm English and of an age that remembers how a large proportion of social activities happened down at the pub. At times, I certainly drank more than I should have done, not enough to be a problem but enough to know that it could have been. Drugs to me are a distant thing, something I see in movies or read about in books like this one. However, this plays out so honestly that I feel like it's about as realistic as it gets. Even though he really had no interest in taking that first ecstasy tablet, it works a charm for Zeke. He has a lot of good times on drugs. Until he doesn't.
And, by that point, he's not Zeke any more. He's X. He's lost his crappy job so starts dealing to find a way to pay for his own habit. He finds a girl, who gets him onto hard stuff. And harder stuff. And a little while later, he screws up, very possibly because he's meant to, and has to start doing a whole bunch of stuff that he might not have chosen to do because he owes people. And so it goes.
Cross is honest about how good drugs can be, especially at a tough time in a young person's life, as he's at his lowest, but also how bad they can be too when they start to own him. The highs aren't as high and they don't last as long. He's honest about how good the drug life can be as well, how easy some things can feel, such as women and money, but also how bad they can be when they get their hooks in and the options vanish. It all feels acutely realistic and it gives me even more respect for Cross who was able to find a way out.
This honesty extends to the characters. There are certainly some bad dudes in this book, don't get me wrong, but most of them are people like Zeke who have found their way into the scene and are now doing what they can to survive. Some are starting out, while others are established, dealing a few drugs here and there or running an operation. However, they're all victims of the system, even if they don't know it yet and even if they're doing well out of it. There are sympathetic characters I had absolutely no expectation of feeling sympathy for and unsympathetic characters who I felt for initially. Our perception of anyone starts with an introduction and introductions need context that we don't necessarily have because Zeke or whoever else doesn't necessarily have it.
If there's a worst aspect to the book, it might be how relentlessly chronological it is. I certainly felt that early on, before I got sucked into the story the way that Zeke got sucked into the scene, but it changes. Partway through, I realised that it had to be chronological because that's the honest way to do it. Cross isn't trying to glamourise anything and he's not wallowing in the slime for effect. He introduces his lead character and sets him in motion. When Zeke needs to make a decision, he does so and, a hundred and eighty pages later, he ends up where he ends up. Different perspectives are irrelevant. Flashbacks wouldn't help. So Cross keeps it simple, meaning that the worst aspect isn't a worst aspect at all, even if we think it might be early on.
I hope this book finds an audience. It has a power to it that comes from not flexing muscles. It's not glitzy and flash and deliberately deep. It's honest and the depths come from that honesty. Maybe it might find its way into the hands of someone early enough into Zeke's journey that they can see a parallel and change their course, even if they picked it up because of its hip title and its promise of sex, drugs and, well, a banana. Oh yes, there's a banana and it has a very good reason to be in a book about sex and drugs. Anyway, if just one person like that learns from 'Valley of the Spun', it's done its job. It has the potential to do it often and I wish it all the best.
Originally posted at the Nameless Zine in July 2023:
https://www.thenamelesszine.org/Odds-...
Index of all my Nameless Zine reviews:
https://books.apocalypselaterempire.com/
Cross may or may not be Zeke, our lead character, but Zeke isn't Zeke for long. He starts out young and naïve. He has a daughter, Sadie, who's in a stroller as the book begins. He loves her very much, even though his relationship with her mother, Eva, ended pretty much as soon as she was born. It's pretty clear that they hooked up, had some fun and Sadie's the result. And, as is so often the case, the mother gets the say in most things. He doesn't get custody of Sadie. He doesn't get a fair deal in organising visitation rights. And he's screwed when he plays what cards he believes that he has poorly and is promptly served for nonexistent abuse.
So, he makes a change. He moves out of his brother Levi's place and into a house with Jay, a work friend who needs a roommate. The catch is that Levi cares about Zeke but Jay only cares about the parties that he throws. He cares so much that he throws one for Jay when he moves in and that's a turning point because it's where Zeke takes his first ecstasy tablet. And, for the first time in a long while, he's happy, blissfully happy in fact, which ought to point the way forward to where this novel is going to go. Take a wild stab in the dark how long before he finds himself doing something more than ecstasy and something more than that.
The best aspect to this book is how effortless it seems. I don't mean the prose, because, as much as I enjoyed it, it's not too much of a surprise, especially early on, to know that this is Cross's debut. I mean the downward spiral that Zeke consistently takes, driven by bad decisions, constantly trying to get out of his hole by digging deeper. There are ways out that show up every once in a while, but he manages to avoid every one of them and believably too. He even recognises some of them but a word here or an action there is enough to skew him into a different course.
Another strong aspect is how realistic it all feels. I'm English and of an age that remembers how a large proportion of social activities happened down at the pub. At times, I certainly drank more than I should have done, not enough to be a problem but enough to know that it could have been. Drugs to me are a distant thing, something I see in movies or read about in books like this one. However, this plays out so honestly that I feel like it's about as realistic as it gets. Even though he really had no interest in taking that first ecstasy tablet, it works a charm for Zeke. He has a lot of good times on drugs. Until he doesn't.
And, by that point, he's not Zeke any more. He's X. He's lost his crappy job so starts dealing to find a way to pay for his own habit. He finds a girl, who gets him onto hard stuff. And harder stuff. And a little while later, he screws up, very possibly because he's meant to, and has to start doing a whole bunch of stuff that he might not have chosen to do because he owes people. And so it goes.
Cross is honest about how good drugs can be, especially at a tough time in a young person's life, as he's at his lowest, but also how bad they can be too when they start to own him. The highs aren't as high and they don't last as long. He's honest about how good the drug life can be as well, how easy some things can feel, such as women and money, but also how bad they can be when they get their hooks in and the options vanish. It all feels acutely realistic and it gives me even more respect for Cross who was able to find a way out.
This honesty extends to the characters. There are certainly some bad dudes in this book, don't get me wrong, but most of them are people like Zeke who have found their way into the scene and are now doing what they can to survive. Some are starting out, while others are established, dealing a few drugs here and there or running an operation. However, they're all victims of the system, even if they don't know it yet and even if they're doing well out of it. There are sympathetic characters I had absolutely no expectation of feeling sympathy for and unsympathetic characters who I felt for initially. Our perception of anyone starts with an introduction and introductions need context that we don't necessarily have because Zeke or whoever else doesn't necessarily have it.
If there's a worst aspect to the book, it might be how relentlessly chronological it is. I certainly felt that early on, before I got sucked into the story the way that Zeke got sucked into the scene, but it changes. Partway through, I realised that it had to be chronological because that's the honest way to do it. Cross isn't trying to glamourise anything and he's not wallowing in the slime for effect. He introduces his lead character and sets him in motion. When Zeke needs to make a decision, he does so and, a hundred and eighty pages later, he ends up where he ends up. Different perspectives are irrelevant. Flashbacks wouldn't help. So Cross keeps it simple, meaning that the worst aspect isn't a worst aspect at all, even if we think it might be early on.
I hope this book finds an audience. It has a power to it that comes from not flexing muscles. It's not glitzy and flash and deliberately deep. It's honest and the depths come from that honesty. Maybe it might find its way into the hands of someone early enough into Zeke's journey that they can see a parallel and change their course, even if they picked it up because of its hip title and its promise of sex, drugs and, well, a banana. Oh yes, there's a banana and it has a very good reason to be in a book about sex and drugs. Anyway, if just one person like that learns from 'Valley of the Spun', it's done its job. It has the potential to do it often and I wish it all the best.
Originally posted at the Nameless Zine in July 2023:
https://www.thenamelesszine.org/Odds-...
Index of all my Nameless Zine reviews:
https://books.apocalypselaterempire.com/
April 2, 2026
A Gritty, Unflinching Descent into Darkness and Redemption
Valley of the Spun by Jonathon T. Cross is not an easy read—but it’s an undeniably powerful one.
This story pulled me into a harsh, neon-lit world where survival feels uncertain and hope is constantly slipping through your fingers. Following Zeke—a young father whose life unravels after losing his daughter—the book dives deep into addiction, desperation, and the dangerous pull of escape. ()
What really stood out to me was how raw and personal the story feels. There’s no sugar-coating here. The portrayal of addiction and the underground scene is gritty and, at times, uncomfortable—but that’s exactly what makes it hit so hard. You can feel Zeke’s spiral, every poor decision, every moment of false hope, and every consequence that follows. ()
I found myself deeply conflicted while reading this. It’s not always easy to connect with Zeke’s choices, but you understand why he makes them—and that emotional complexity kept me hooked. The writing has a stripped-back, almost haunting quality that makes the story feel real rather than dramatized.
That said, this isn’t a perfect read for me. Some parts felt heavy in a way that slowed the pacing, and the intensity can be overwhelming at times. But honestly, that weight feels intentional—it mirrors the suffocating reality the story is trying to portray.
At its core, this is a story about loss, addiction, and the fragile possibility of redemption. It’s dark, confronting, and at times heartbreaking—but it lingers long after you finish.
If you’re drawn to gritty, character-driven stories that don’t shy away from the darker sides of life, Valley of the Spun is absolutely worth picking up.
Valley of the Spun by Jonathon T. Cross is not an easy read—but it’s an undeniably powerful one.
This story pulled me into a harsh, neon-lit world where survival feels uncertain and hope is constantly slipping through your fingers. Following Zeke—a young father whose life unravels after losing his daughter—the book dives deep into addiction, desperation, and the dangerous pull of escape. ()
What really stood out to me was how raw and personal the story feels. There’s no sugar-coating here. The portrayal of addiction and the underground scene is gritty and, at times, uncomfortable—but that’s exactly what makes it hit so hard. You can feel Zeke’s spiral, every poor decision, every moment of false hope, and every consequence that follows. ()
I found myself deeply conflicted while reading this. It’s not always easy to connect with Zeke’s choices, but you understand why he makes them—and that emotional complexity kept me hooked. The writing has a stripped-back, almost haunting quality that makes the story feel real rather than dramatized.
That said, this isn’t a perfect read for me. Some parts felt heavy in a way that slowed the pacing, and the intensity can be overwhelming at times. But honestly, that weight feels intentional—it mirrors the suffocating reality the story is trying to portray.
At its core, this is a story about loss, addiction, and the fragile possibility of redemption. It’s dark, confronting, and at times heartbreaking—but it lingers long after you finish.
If you’re drawn to gritty, character-driven stories that don’t shy away from the darker sides of life, Valley of the Spun is absolutely worth picking up.
February 11, 2026
Wow, what a powerful story! Valley of the Spun pulls you in and doesn't let go with its gritty, realistic storytelling and real characters. Lots of danger, twists and questions to be answered that keep you turning pages. A bit of a Drugstore Cowboy vibe that I enjoyed. Well-done POVs. Zeke is a sympathetic main character with real struggles, and I was rooting for him to get his life back on track as he spiraled in understandable ways because of all he was going through. A highly recommended read!
March 22, 2026
I would normally never even give a book with a cover such as this, a second look. Though it had less than 5 reviews, they were good. I read the about section, and it sounded interesting. Upon completion of the book, I can say that it was. There were flaws, and I felt like the ending went from dark to a fairytale, but overall, it held my interest. Despite never living in this world, I felt as if I were in it. It is a cautionary tale, of how one wrong decision can make your entire life go sideways.
April 3, 2026
What a journey
What a amazing journey through losing oneself due to addiction and fighting to make it back.
If True Romance era Tarantino, Shane Black, and Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad got together they wouldn't come up with something as good.
What a amazing journey through losing oneself due to addiction and fighting to make it back.
If True Romance era Tarantino, Shane Black, and Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad got together they wouldn't come up with something as good.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews