Paradise Lost and Found

I met Mark Stubbs on the Internet several years ago. During the course of our developing friendship, I began to suspect his childhood was a crushing experience. This unassuming gentle creature was subjected to relentless bullying which damaged his self-esteem to the point of being irreparable. Through the grace of a higher being, Mark was introduced to horses. In his own words, he relates the defining moment that forever changed his life. At the barbecue, they had two horses in a corral and let people have a go at riding them. I was a show-off, I'm afraid to say, and I rode Camenante around the corral, again and again. A man came to my parents and said, "If that was my child, I would do everything in my power to make sure he pursued riding because he's a natural. And so his parents did take this strangers advice. Recently Mark sent me notes of his life taken over several decades. I gave them to my editor who pulled these 32,000 words into a powerful novella which I am so very pleased to have been able to produce for my friend, this remarkable horseman and gentleman.