Crossing William

by Kenneth Wayne Allen

Crossing William is a Horror/Fantasy fiction novel set in Southeastern Alabama that focuses on the life of a boy. He is born into a world that holds no pity for him. William’s life is one of suffering as he is cursed from birth by his mothers attempt to protect his life. Using her knowledge of Hoodoo, she provided protection from an abusive father by forcing an entity to watch over the boy. The path he follows is one not easy to understand as Crossing William takes you through the events of his life. This work is filled with a mixture of local folklore and color unique to rural areas of Southeast Alabama and Chattahoochee River Valley.

275 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2013

About the author

Ken Allen is a freelance author with his first fiction novel, Crossing William, available on Amazon.com and Kindle. With a few articles published in regional publications over the years, he decided to take on the challenge of a full length book after completing his first two years ago.
After leaving the military with an honorable discharge as an Intelligence Specialist, Ken worked for several companies, trying to find his place in the world. It didn’t take long for him to decide that an education would be his best endeavor to enhance his future career paths.
In May of 2006, Ken completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology at Auburn University. He continued to attend college after this, working to complete his second degree in History Education.
Ken began to write freelance during this time and fell in love with writing. This prompted him to begin a career in which few find success. His passion for the art can be sensed in everything he writes.

Reviews

[julie morse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Babel always win

I was hoping that the ending would have ended differently. That the cousin and William would have defeated Babel. It was a good read all in all

[Tammi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hooked at the first chapter then...

Decent story but I had to reduce my rating significantly due to the numerous grammatical errors, improper use of words, etc. I truly dislike giving bad reviews and normally find myself only
providing one to caution others.

I had high hopes for this book and was looking forward to reading the trilogy (not happening now). On a positive note, I have to say I was hooked by the first chapter. However, when the editing is so poor, lack of proper punctuation and/or the author cannot differentiate the definitions between isle/aisle; conscious/conscience; road/rode; scarring/scaring; scarred/scared; scares/scars; wrap/rap; exited/excited; in route/en route; week end/weekend; neighbor hood/neighborhood (I could go on and on here) I completely lose interest in the book. The errors and misuse of many words was so overwhelming that I found myself losing respect for the story. The author was inconsistent in his writing which also contributed to my frustration. I feel like the author's storyline started strong and it was intriguing but then the major errors started in Chapter 2 and continued to the very end.

Thanks to my insomnia, I average approximately 6 novels per week. With that said, I can overlook many typos, etc. but this book just contained too many for me to enjoy the story. If you're a serious reader and expect a well written and edited novel, this book is not for you in my opinion. However, if you can continuously look past sentences such as "I road over to meet with my cousin..." and "I didn't rap this thing around a tree..." then you will probably enjoy it. But then again you may be one of those individuals who constantly stop their cart in the middle of the grocery "isle."

I believe I read that this particular author is self published. If this is indeed the case, please do not rely solely on whomever proofed this particular book for you for future publications. Yikes!!!

[Joan Baze · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read.

Each page kept you wanting more. I would definetly recommend this book to others. I am anxious to read more of his books now.