The Great Mandolini gave him a weird look, and then laughed loudly. As he was laughing, Mr. Bruns came up behind them and tapped the desk.
“You realize there’s another class of eager learners hoping to come in here and break the chains of their preconceived ideas and assumptions, right?”
The Great Mandolini gave Brezzen a look that said, psychopath.
They stood up to leave, and just before they were out the door, Mr. Bruns said his name.
“Brendan, that was a good pull on the hawkbear,” he said.
He turned around, the Great Mandolini on his hip, just like he’d always been in so many campaigns before. And for the first time, Brezzen knew exactly what he should say.
“You just have to know what you’re up against.”
We sing too.
Songs of hope.
Songs that never stop,
Ringing in the ears of every person
who says they can’t hear,
and things can’t change.
You’ve heard their song.
Now hear ours.
Acknowledgments
FIRST AND FOREMOST, I HAVE TO THANK MY AGENT, Michael Bourret, and my editor, Martha Mihalick. I can’t imagine doing this without either of you.
Also, my family—Michelle, Nora, and Ben. I’m sure they get tired of my constant and seemingly never-ending monologue about the books I’m writing, professional wrestling storylines, and various other Very Important Topics. I promise the next book will be a “happy” one. Maybe.
I’m also lucky to have a lot of great friends, writers and not. They are a constant source of inspiration, levity, and wisdom. In no particular order, Sara Zarr, Dan Kraus, Tara Altebrando, Corey Ann Haydu, Steve Brezenoff, Kate Bassett, Carrie Mesrobian, Christa Desir, Amanda MacGregor, Marc Olson, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Emma Berquist, Greg and Jess Andree, Richard Lewis, Dustin Wilhelmy, Jill Braithwaite, Chris Hoke, Aaron Guest, Paul Luikart, Seth Riley, Matt Slye, Cameron Dezen Hammon, Lauren Winner, Joy Caires, Lona Caires, Elissa Zoerb, Scott Marsalis, Jim Morehouse, Michael Moore—the entire St. Clement’s community—and probably a hundred other people I’m forgetting, thank you. You make my life better.
Andrew DeYoung deserves a line to himself for coming up with the title for this novel.
Thank you to the therapists and childhood trauma experts who graciously pointed out the places where I got things wrong and helped me, hopefully, make this book an honest picture of healing after trauma. Lindsay Miesbauer Wilhelmy, Dr. Robin Gurwitch, PhD, and Dr. Melissa Brymer, PsyD, PhD. Thank you for your willingness and your work. Any mistakes that remain are my own.
And finally, I want to thank everybody who, like me, has had enough. The survivors. The activists. The everyday people who simply won’t let this keep happening.
Keep going. Keep going. We can fix this.
About the Author
BRYAN BLISS is the author of the National Book Award Longlist novel We’ll Fly Away, as well as the acclaimed novels No Parking at the End Times and Meet Me Here. He holds master’s degrees in theology and fiction, and has worked as a curriculum designer and developer and as a youth pastor. He lives with his family in St. Paul, Minnesota.
www.bryanbliss.com
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Books by Bryan Bliss
No Parking at the End Times
Meet Me Here
We’ll Fly Away
Thoughts and Prayers
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
THOUGHTS & PRAYERS. Copyright © 2020 by Bryan Bliss. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Cover art © 2020 by Matt Roeser
Cover design by Matt Roeser and Paul Zakris
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Title: Thoughts & prayers : a novel in three parts / Bryan Bliss.
Other titles: Thoughts and prayers
Description: New York : Greenwillow Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2020] | Audience: Ages 13 up | Audience: Grades 10–12 | Summary: “Three high school students attempt to repair their lives after a school shooting”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020024432 | ISBN 9780062962249 (hardcover)
Subjects: CYAC: Grief—Fiction. | School shootings—Fiction. | High schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.B63 Th 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024432
Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-296226-3
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-296224-9
2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
Greenwillow Books
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