What Death Taught Terrence
by Derek McFadden
Genre: Inspirational Fantasy
LIFE IS A JOURNEY. SO IS THE AFTERLIFE.
At the end of his life, Terrence McDonald must discover its meaning,
or he’ll be banned from the afterlife forever, and his soul will cease to
exist.
Join Terrence–
and those who love him–on a poignant and
unforgettable journey through a life at once wonderful and harrowing.
Learn what Terrence learns. See what Terrence sees. By this provocative
story’s end, readers may even learn a thing or two about themselves.
***
The TV is on, and I’m on the couch, leaning as far back as I can. My heavy, indecisive brown eyes—their lenses blurred ever since my tumultuous, too-soon entrance into the world—flutter between open and shut. I am half-watching half-listening to a football game on a Sunday afternoon. Was that the doorbell?
“Who is it?” I call out, expecting to hear my daughter, Megan’s, voice. These days, she is the one person who visits me. The only person who knows I’m making my home in this little oasis fashioned from wood felled by my own hand.
“Terry, it’s Mom. I’m here to help you move.”
My mom? That’s not possible. She’s...
Wait. To help me move? Oh, God.
I rise from the couch and glance back at my lifeless body.
PRAISE FOR What Death Taught Terrence
“What Death Taught Terrence offers a powerful, painful, and poignant look at the life of a man rarely encountered in fiction. Derek McFadden’s writes with an insight few can match.”
— T.F. ALLEN, author of The Night Janitor and The Keeper
“A good story allows the reader to experience life as another person, and McFadden made me do so on a deeply personal level. If you like the works of Mitch Albom, I think you’ll find What Death Taught Terrence a worthy addition to your library and the reading of it a lifeaffirming journey.”
— BRADLEY HARPER, Edgar-Award Finalist, author of A Knife In The Fog and Queen’s Gambit
“In What Death Taught Terrence, Derek McFadden builds a world that satisfies both our desire for imagination and our need for personal introspection. I found this (story) immediately immersive, and it stuck
with me long after I finished. McFadden is doing something rare in today’s fiction—exploring the limits of what we will believe to form a better understanding of who we are.”
— ALEX DOLAN, author of The Euthanist and The Empress of Tempera
Erroneously,
That God, who is to have brought forth
Heaven and Earth—
While His angels sang
An untouchable harmony—
Birthed them by mistake,
May I, with an implement
I hope will never shy
From my truth,
Humbly advise:
Let a prayer be sent,
From this poet’s pen,
For all who wish it meant
For them;
Anyone who requires proof.
Up into the universe’s
Roofless expanse.
That those who have yet
To discover their gifts,
Given out of love,
Not by chance,
Shall have the option to
Call for help from up above
When their lives seem rent
Or devoid of direction.
Knowing that call will be met with:
“Do not fear life.
There is no such thing as perfection.
I am with you.
You might feel alone,
At times even crazy.
But you are safe,
Under my protection,
And nothing can be accomplished
Without faith.
Like your parents before you,
And theirs before them,
You come from a God who is many times
Mistaken.
Yet you are so far from a mistake.”
Derek McFadden is the author of the novel What Death Taught Terrence, available in February of 2020 wherever fine books are shelved. Other works of note include the well-regarded Prose From A Grandson To A Senior Fellow.
Born with a mild case of cerebral palsy, his is "a voice for those whose voices have yet to be heard," according to the online publication Audacity Magazine.
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