Becoming Moon

By: Craig A. Hart

Narrated by: Alex Freeman

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Becoming Moon is a coming-of-age story about a young man struggling to be himself amid pressure from a repressive family. Following his dream of becoming a writer, he turns from everything he knows and enters adulthood embittered, angry, and resentful.

As he struggles to make a name for himself, he is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Although it requires a betrayal of his principles as an artist, he resigns himself to what appears to be fate. The compromise brings money and recognition, but these are fleeting, and he soon finds himself caught in a web of depression and financial hardship.

Desperate, the writer begins taking trips to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where he hopes to reconnect with his muse. During one of these excursions, he meets Nigel Moon, a grizzled author nearing the end of his career. Moon gives the writer a second golden opportunity and the chance to prove himself in the face of personal doubts - but only if the writer is able to set his past aside.

Hart's stripped-down prose brings the listener into direct contact with the story and its characters. Equal parts witty and dark and wry and tragic, the text uses simplicity as its focus. Raw and honest, Becoming Moon is an unforgettable story about exorcising past demons and finding personal redemption.

©2015 Craig A. Hart (P)2018 Craig A. Hart

Becoming Moon

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started Becoming Moon, but I was immediately drawn into the elegant prose and gritty world of the unnamed protagonist. One (previous) paperback reviewer said it best: Mr. Hart reminds us that we are a product of our choices, and we often struggle to do the right thing. I read the book over the course of one day, and my only regret is that it wasn’t longer. I would love to learn more about the characters, and hopefully Hart will revisit them in future works.

Portrait of the Writer as a Young Man

A moderately successful writer in a writing slump stumbles upon an aging fellow author who makes him an offer that could change his life if he can let go of his past in this unusual psychological retrospective by Craig Hart.
Completely like most of Hart's other action thriller work, this story shares only it's Northern Michigan setting. It's the kind of deeply psychological tale I've come to love, making you take a look at your own upbringing, morality and life choices.
I loved both of the main characters and the way Hart creates a vivid picture of the author through current, recent past and youthful recollections.
Well worth a read.

The blood of Jesus

Living in the Upper Peninsular, Nigel Moon is in his 70s, an author who found fame late in life, having had a best selling novel in each of the preceding five years. Now he is being harassed by his publisher to write a sixth book for them. Failure to do so would put him in breach of contract. But Nigel has nothing more to say. Then the possible solution arrives in the form of a much younger middle aged author, whose first published novel some decades before had been his only success and who was now struggling to survive on his already small and dwindling savings. The starving artist living in poverty is attractive only in fiction and to the very young. Sent

Sensitive!y written, the book traces a story in two parts seen through the eyes of the incoming author: that of his growing up in an oppressive evangelistic family to his meeting with the old author, and his ongoing life beyond that point. It explores selfishness and desire, the fear of being excluded, the pain of betrayal, the dawning of sexuality, ethics, religious construction, free will or otherwise, and more, all in the natural ponderings of a boy becoming man. Vivid characterisation further enhanced by the excellent performance of Alex Freeman, who, in addition to reading g clearly and with good intonation, also gave voice individually to each of the protagonists.Sent

A moving and absorbing easy to read story, I was fortunate in being freely gifted with a complimentary copy of Becoming Moon, by the rights holder at my request. Thank you. There was a subtle elegance the writing not found in many stories, more than a simple coming of age, it spoke of the personal loneliness often lying just below the surface whist retaining energy and hope. Recommended.