Finding a Hidden Treasure in "An Epitaph for Coyote" by Bryan R. Dennis

Sometimes reading can be a true delight. Sometimes it can be entertaining. Sometimes it can be enlightening, moving, touching and profound. Then, sometimes, rarely, but sometimes, you find a novel that merges all of those things and creates something that you just know will stick with you for a very long time. Sometimes, you read a book and have all of those things happen and you know you have read something special.
I remember feeling that with a couple of novels that are now considered classics. I would hate to compare a new novel to a classic, because that just seems unfair. This is especially true of an author's first novel, available now for the Kindle and e-readers. However, I remember being profoundly affected as a child when I read War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. I also remember being affected when I read Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, or To Kill a Mockingbird or even Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. But, again, to say that Bryan R. Dennis' An Epitaph for Coyote is a classic like those is an exercise in folly. Maybe, some day, the book will be considered in that pantheon, but for now, I just want to say that the novel moved me the way few modern novels have.

Dennis is a relative newcomer to the world of fiction and An Epitaph for Coyote is his first novel. Like many of us out there trying to find an audience when the publishing world seems unwilling or unable to deal with new up-and-coming voices in the world of fiction, he has decided to bypass the standard publishing world all-together. As such, this novel is available digitally at Amazon.com for the Kindle and Kindle Apps. It is also available for the Barnes and Noble Nook and Nook apps. Those of us who have done so have discovered a remarkable thing - that there is an audience for our books, despite the fact that the standard publishing world seems to feel that isn't the case.

For Dennis, success would be a much-deserved thing, if he can continue to write novels as good as this one. The problem is, the book is such a delight in the way it moves along, slowly revealing its story and surprises, that it is tough to describe it. Plus, when I describe it, the plot seems too simple, and too much like something you've read elsewhere.

The story revolves around a young man named Henry Pluck. Henry is about as boring and square as a person can be. His house is obsessively neat. He follows the same routine, makes the same sandwich, and does the exact same thing every day. He lives in a house just outside of Las Vegas and he never sits in his recliner, watches television or does anything to rock the boat. He works in the accounting department of a company and he sits in a cubicle and he loves his job. He hopes to be as successful as his boss, Richard, who sits in an office, never looks up from his computer and seems to have a lot of money. The only thing that he thinks is missing is that he does not have a girlfriend.

Then, one day, he sees a cockroach in his house. That disrupts his idea of what his house should be. He calls an exterminator. The person who shows up at his house is Rosa Santana. She is nothing like Henry. She looks at the world in ways that baffle Henry. She is beautiful and fun and she laughs a lot. She seems not care what people think about her and what she does for a living. Her life is carefree. She shakes Henry's entire world.

Up until that point, the thing that Henry loved to do with his spare time was visit old people in a nursing home. Henry admits that he finds old people fascinating. He spends much time musing at the strange things they do, the things they carry with them, and marveling at their unique way of moving and looking at the world.

Then Rosa shows him a "4,000 year old movie" by taking him out into the desert. She shows him that life doesn't have to be lived in boxes. She shows him the beauty of the world around him. Henry is smitten and, slowly, things begin to change.

See? The plot sounds simple. It sounds like your basic love story. It isn't. This book is, without a doubt, a joy to read. It is funny, charming, three-dimensional, clever and fascinating. The characters live and breathe, leaping off the page and coming to life in your mind. You will be hard-pressed not to fall in love with Rosa as much as Henry does. The world, honestly, would be a better place with more Rosas and a few less Richards.

I spent a lot of years working much the way Henry did. My life had become a world where I traveled in and out of the maze of cubicles at a large company. There was even a short time when I thought that I would spend the rest of my life working for one particular company, helping other companies manager their benefits programs. Then, as things changed, my world also changed. Eventually, my world changed so much that I found my own Rosa - a woman who showed me how amazing life could be.

As such, I found myself rooting for Henry. I found myself wishing for Rosa to succeed, as well. I found myself caring. I found myself wondering what would happen next, and unable to put the book down. I found myself moved, touched and affected.

This is a great debut novel. If this is the level of the writing that Dennis can bring to the world of fiction, then he is definitely one to watch. The world of e-books is one where art like this can thrive, in a world where fiction is being written by the cast of The Jersey Shore.

As such, if you are looking for a book that will surprise you, delight you, and entertain you, then An Epitaph for Coyote is the book for you. If you have a Kindle or Nook and you are looking for a novel that will remind you of classic novels from your past, then this is definitely the book for you. At the same time, if you just want a good story, told well, with characters that seem real, you can do no better.