BOOK INFORMATION

85A

By Kyle Smith

10 Digit ISBN: 1-935098-26-8
13 Digit ISBN: 978-1-935098-26-3
LCCN: 2010901984
Price: $14.95
Trim: 5.5 x 8.5
Format (pb/hc): Paperback
Pages: 234

For additional information about this book, visit the website www.85Anovel.com.

ORDERING INFORMATION

For Consumers

For Retailers/Libraries/Wholesalers

Itasca Books

Also available from national wholesalers, including:

Ingram
Baker & Taylor
Partners Book Distributing

BOOK DESCRIPTION

It’s a subzero Chicago morning on January 23, 1989, and Seamus is at his fighting best. Braving the bitter cold at the 85A bus stop, Seamus rails against his repressive environment in anticipation of his “the-minute-I-turn-18” move to London.

Liberated by failure when kicked out of school for yet another late appearance, Seamus makes a break for London via an Amtrak to the mean streets of Late Eighties Manhattan.

85A tracks a watershed day in the life of an adolescent antihero. Foulmouthed with a capital F-word, Seamus embodies Johnny Rotten as a way of fending off the bullies at home, at school and in his whites-only neighborhood. Luckily, his mixed-raced friend Tressa opens him up to experiences that turn his worldview on its head. Through it all, Seamus basks in BBC dramas, dreaming of what life would be if only he could stow away to London.

By the time Seamus reaches his last L stop, he will come to see that his 85A ride that morning was just the kickoff to an intrepid urban odyssey.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kyle Thomas Smith is a writer in Brooklyn, New York.