The Corkscrew Adventure: Strange Times in Yeehaw Junction by Rick Sanders

Rick Sanders may well be the most talented person I know. He is an artist, he is a writer, he is a teacher. His art is amazing. His ability to encourage others to find their artistic ability is phenomenal. He writes with a wry eye on the world and can do serious, mysterious, and humorous. I am beyond impressed with this man's talents and wonder what he will next pull out of his hat.

Sanders' book Strange Times in Yeehaw Junction was exactly what I needed during a recovery from pnuemonia. You must enter the world he creates with a willingness to suspend your disbelief, your preconceptions, your judements. Leave political correctness at the door, because Sanders doesn't adhere to any version of "correct" in this tale. I had to put it aside during my recovery because every time I laughed I coughed, and that happened a lot. This is a story of two friends who go on a simple trip to deliver a treadmill. Along the way, they are swept into a Twilight Zone type vortex and find themselves in the nearly inescapable town of Yeehaw Junction. They meet the people of the town, who all seem somehow outside of the regular world, and they find themselves along the way.

It was a corkscrew of an adventure. Every time I thought I knew where we were heading the road would curve and we'd end up in some other place. I thought I was in for some good laughs when I picked the book up, but found myself reflecting on LIFE, reflecting on the chance of choice, and rooting for the completely flawed (maybe broken) main charactors, Lee and Thomas. I hope somebody from some Indie film maker, Amazon Video, or Netflix picks this up and sets it to script. It would be a great series.

I am not, by nature, a funny person, I appreciate humor in others but rarely find it in myself, and even less frequently do I find it in my writing. I'm impressed with Sanders' ability to weave humor with seriousness throughout his work and I wonder at the complexity of his mind. His descriptions are real and acute, beautifully rendered even when the subject matter is not. More than once, at the beginning of a chapter I stopped and reread his opening hook, his is a master of the opening hook.

I can't wait to see more from Rick Sanders. If you haven't introduced yourself to his body of work yet, you are missing out. www.strangetimesbysanders.com