“The best stories sometimes just find you.”
ALAN CROWE
THE FALL HAPPENED INSTANTLY
What if freezing to death, slowly, isn't the worst thing?
One missed step shattered his neck and comfortable life. Bob catapulted into the snow of a frigid Michigan winter night without a coat, hat, or gloves. He could not move. Bob’s single goal–stay alive. His only connection to that life is Kelsey, his golden retriever. Exposed and vulnerable to a force that grows stronger, it pushes him to a place where few survive. The ice steals his body inch by inch. Despite Kelsey’s ferocious efforts to prevent losing her friend, he begins to drift in and out of consciousness as Bob confronts something more agonizing than freezing to death.
Bob lived a life of wonder, adventure, and curiosity. He also experienced a crushing loss and the torment strewn behind it. In the snow and biting cold, he is laid bare to decisions made along his life’s path. With the prodding of a mysterious guide, Bob accepts a journey into his soul that challenges the lies he’s told himself. Bob’s story is an emotional thrill ride that will end at the intersection of Life and Death. The questions (and answers) strike deeper as the ride slows, and Bob must settle the tab for his decisions getting there.
Alan graduated from the University of Michigan in Creative Writing, where he wrote and directed a three-act play that won the Arthur Miller playwriting competition.
Inexplicably, he spent the next forty-three years in sales and marketing. During his time in the corporate wilderness, he continued to write short stories, advertising copy, and blog articles for clients. As he neared retirement, the idea for PainLess Traveled dropped in his lap, and he initially turned it down. However, like a rash unresponsive to hydrocortisone cream—Crowe kept scratching.
He researched, interviewed, and peeled back the layers of adventure, tragedy, joy, and suffering to discover what lay beneath. The power of the narrative convinced him to share it.
Inspired by a relationship Alan enjoyed with a close friend of fifty years, he shared many of Bob's life events, triumphs, and tribulations, including his death. He's woven them into a cathartic roller coaster through dark tunnels and cobra loops that touch something in all readers’ lives.
Alan wanders the world with a MacBook and voice recorder, free from the pressure to have an opinion on everything.
