Hot New Beach Book Sizzles Spiritually


THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Feb. 3, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- In this deceptively simple novel, a distinguished cop is swept into a series of mysterious events, including a baffling investigation that affects him personally. Jay Stephens' first novel Confluence is a tapestry of the tangible and the spiritual, a fecund philosophical and spiritual work that is embedded within a thrilling suspense novel. As the protagonist tries to solve a crime, we are taken into an alternative world that will make us question long-held notions about time, the nature of the human spirit, and existence.

Detective Lieutenant Martin Magnus is esteemed by his colleagues. A victim of pedophilia, he has become an incorrigible womanizer as an adult. After two failed marriages, he successively falls for three women -- his psychiatrist, a woman half his age, and a degenerate schemer. The first leads him to the second, Linda Jordan, whom he entangles in his investigation and causes serious harm. The last is Virginia Schultz, a morally corrupt woman, who ironically leads him to his spiritual redemption.

In Confluence, Stephens hides in a suspense novel an exploration of the nature of the human spirit. The protagonist seeks himself, as his self is seeking him. The author weaves into the plot, quite successfully, a medley of ideas both material and mystical-pedophilia, interracial unions, lust, sex, infinite parallel universes, reincarnation, and recollection of past lives. This aptly titled novel spins together mystery, suspense, romance, and spiritualism.

About the Author

Jay Stephens is a Philadelphia native currently residing with his wife in southern California. He earned a doctoral degree at Temple University and has retired from a career in health services. He has three sons, two of whom are married, but no grandchildren yet.

His hobbies are golf, hiking, deep-sea fishing, and most of all gourmet cooking. He has taught culinary classes and has written a yet-unpublished cookbook titled The Ad Lib Gourmet: Or How to Soar in the Kitchen without a Flight Plan. He is working on two other completely different novels.


                  Confluence * By Jay Stephens
                            A Novel
                 Publication Date: July 12, 2004
         Trade Paperback; $21.99; 251 pages; 1-4134-4494-6
         Cloth Hardback; $31.99; 251 pages; 1-4134-4495-4

To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 486. Tearsheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Carmi Domingo. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (215) 599-0114.

Xlibris is a strategic partner of Random House Ventures, LLC, and a subsidiary of Random House, Inc. Xlibris books can be purchased in any major bookstore, or online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders or Xlibris. For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.



            

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