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Jedah Mayberry
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The Unheralded King of Preston Plains Middle Kindle Edition

by Jedah Mayberry (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
A lushly told reflection on a young man’s passage into manhood
--
From irascible patriarch Alonzo “Grandpa Tuke” Tooker on down, the Hopkins family—altruistic Dottie, dissatisfied Chester, and their sons Langston and Trajan—are no typical residents of the Thames River Valley town of Preston, Connecticut. This is perhaps most true of Langston, a boy whose peers declare him to be the “King of Preston Plains Middle School”: a vibrant young man dedicated to his dream of competing in Olympic-level Tae Kwon Do, as well as to his growing passion for his beautiful classmate Angelica Chu.

Yet when a terrible accident brings Langston’s Olympic dreams to an abrupt close, Trajan Hopkins, the family’s youngest son, must learn to cope alone with the coming trials of adult life: his slowly changing relationship with self-destructing childhood friends, his initiation into the world of women at the hands of a former teacher, and his growing awareness of the risky world outside his family’s circle within the shadow of a Haitian drug lord’s operation and the often-threatening local police who watch over it.

Jedah Mayberry’s The Unheralded King of Preston Plains Middle marks the debut of a striking new voice in American fiction: intelligent, richly cadenced, slyly funny, and deeply thoughtful about what it means to be a son, a father, and a man.
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  1. Print length
    331 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Accessibility
    Learn more
  4. Publication date
    March 5, 2013
  5. File size
    724 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Mayberry's prose is deftly smart, his characters lushly engaging, thesmall-town environment beautifully drawn - a highly recommended read, andeagerly awaiting Mayberry's next! - LiteraryFiction Review (literaryfictionreview.com/king.html)

A wonderfully evocative novel that demands a slow and reflective read,The Unheralded King of Preston Plains Middle marks the arrival of a talentednew literary voice in Jedah Mayberry. Undoubtedly deserving of your time, it ishighly recommended. - Book Viral (bookviral.com/the-unheralded-king-of-preston/4584816438)

From the Author

Trajan Hopkins is the prototypical adolescent male, genus of the species, protected on all sides by the soft cushion of family. He worships Langston, invariably from a crouched defensive position in an effort to fend off the latest sequence of moves his brother is working to perfect. Langston is widely regarded around town as Preston's most prolific fighter, steeped in martial arts, his ambition set on someday reaching the Olympic stage.
Trajan fits neatly inside his brother's shadow, the dutiful second seed. When his brother dies, it's like one leg of a chair going missing, a wave of debilitating aftershocks sent rumbling through Trajan's existence warping his sense of connection to anybody near to him. He ventures into the world alone, steps out on the call of the wind, the rise of the moon, the tide pulling against him. He returns at the end of the night to diminished ties, the weave of familial cues strewn loose about him, waves crashing in, pushing him ever further from the shelter of home.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00BQ33Z3Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ River Grove Books
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 5, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 724 KB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 331 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1938416156
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,110 in Literature & Fiction (Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

About the author

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Jedah Mayberry

Jedah Mayberry

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JEDAH MAYBERRY is an emerging fiction writer, born in New York, raised in southeastern CT, the backdrop for his fiction debut. The book won Grand Prize in Red City Review's 2015 Book Awards as well as honorable mention in Writer's Digest's Self-Published Book Awards. It was named 1st in Multi-Cultural Fiction for 2014 by the Texas Association of Authors. Jedah was a top ten finalist for the 2013 Best New Author Award sponsored by the National Black Book Festival. He garnered honorable mention in Glimmer Train's April 2012 Family Matters Short Story Contest for Ton Oncle, a version of which was published as part of the book. His work has appeared at Loose Leaf Press, Flashing for Kicks, EtherBooks, Linden Avenue, and Black Elephant. He is a regular contributor to The Prose App. He currently resides with his wife and teenage daughters in Austin, TX.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
17 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book's characters well developed and appreciate the story quality. The writing receives positive feedback, with one customer describing it as "read like silk."

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Character developmentStory qualityWriting quality
3 customers mention "Character development"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book.

"...This is a credit to how likable the main character is. I'm looking forward to more work from this author." Read more

"...along with introduction & development of a host of extremely unique characters. Tasteful & intriguing. Fine job, Jedah." Read more

"I really enjoyed this book! The characters are well developed and interesting. Great debut - I can't wait for more!" Read more

3 customers mention "Story quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the story interesting.

"...Indeed, that's one of its only shortcomings. It's a good tale, all in all, but the numerous trajectories and character detours subtract from an..." Read more

"...Tasteful & intriguing. Fine job, Jedah." Read more

"I really enjoyed this book! The characters are well developed and interesting. Great debut - I can't wait for more!" Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book, with one describing it as beautiful and another noting it reads like silk.

"...But I still loved it just the same. The writing is incredibly lyrical and I got drawn into it...." Read more

"...found not one typo, and the work is syntactically excellent and well edited. The writing is quite beautiful...." Read more

"...come across a writer who effortlessly strings words together that read like silk. This is my first time reading a book from this author...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Not another turn of the crank
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    My personal taste in entertainment tends to run one of two ways. Sometimes I just want the bad guys to wear black hats, the good guys to wear white hats, some satisfying explosions, and the two star-crossed lovers to end up together right at the end. Beer and popcorn - yay! Other times I want a story that makes me pay attention, one where it isn't obvious from the first chapter how the whole thing is going to go, and where the twists aren't there just to show that the author can mess with you. Nice wine and good cheese - yay!

    This book is definitely in the second camp. To me at least, I didn't understand at first why I was being told some of the things that were in the story and the setting. But that's ok. I kept reading. And then an event happened that unified a bunch of threads and took the story up a notch in intensity. And the cycle repeated. More stuff that it took a while to understand. Another significant event, tying a lot of threads together and turning the oven up yet once more. And then it repeated again. By the end it all made great sense and I realized that my enjoyment had grown chapter after chapter.
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  • Anonymous Reader
    5.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyed this story even though...
    Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This story broke the mold of what I usually like--there were many POV not separated by any sort of break in the text. Also, the POV flowed from character to omniscient and then back to the characters. But I still loved it just the same. The writing is incredibly lyrical and I got drawn into it. My only quibble was that I felt like the final confrontation at the ending could be drawn out a little more--maybe Trajan could of reflected on the lights of his city and the omniscient narrator could have commented on how much the night time view had changed, but how different peoples and cultures were still butting up against each other...I don't know, it would just have been nice to have something that would have drawn up all the pieces full circle.

    Still that is a tiny quibble. 4.5 stars rounded up, because I didn't ever have the urge to skim or jump ahead.
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  • The SkyWriter
    3.0 out of 5 stars Butterflies & Ladybugs--Trajan's War for identity
    Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Here we have a growing up tale of two brothers whose lives take very different paths. When one dies, the other loses sight of who he is, becoming defined through the book by what his dead brother might have been. `Langston' is the older brother of `Trajan.' Langston is also Trajan's idol, "...my whole world," the younger Hopkins boy says at one point. The older boy also seems to be the title character, though that assignation could be given to other roles in the book, as we shall see.
    Langston, who as the author states "...entered the world fists balled" receives a debilitating head injury in a fight with school rival named Albert, the brother of Langston's love interest, Angelica. After the fight and the head injury, Langston is left with a seizure disorder. He struggles to find his way, loses Angelica, cannot find a life purpose and lands in police custody. When he dies of a seizure under the stress of being arrested--on spurious charges it must be said--younger brother Trajan is bereft.
    So is Langston's mother Dottie, father Chester and grandfather Tuke. But it is Trajan who must now define himself without the role model he once had. Trajan's father, Chester, leaves the family, mother Dottie retires to her bedroom, becoming a recluse and Trajan is left, at a young age, to strike out on his own.
    Trajan maneuvers through school activities, a responsible work assignment, casual female friendships and sports. He falls in with a woman who idolized Langston, and who was a one time teacher to both Hopkins boys. Mrs. Quigley and Trajan become lovers, and the clandestine relationship ushers Trajan into adulthood in more ways than one.
    returning home from the Quigley house through a snowstorm, Trajan stumbles upon a murder scene, in which a man is dead and a woman survives. The crime is the work of Luscious, a local drug kingpin. For inadvertently covering the criminal's tracks in the snow, Luscious delivers Trajan home. The encounter sets up the climax of the book.
    Mr. Mayberry has told quite a story here, a tale that barely masks itself as autobiography, it appears, but in a fictional way. This reader found not one typo, and the work is syntactically excellent and well edited. The writing is quite beautiful. For example: discussing the loss of Langston, Angelica was, "...losing him in a trillion tiny pieces, grains of him sliding past her with magnificent force." Instead of birds and bees, Trajan learns about, "...butterflies and ladybugs." Raucous music on a dance floor is like "...that of cats being pushed from high places." A jock that Angelica clings to is, according to Trajan, "...a muscle on skates."
    However, the story contains so many subplots and peripheral themes it is almost unwieldy.
    Indeed, that's one of its only shortcomings. It's a good tale, all in all, but the numerous trajectories and character detours subtract from an otherwise fine story. Is it necessary to include the Sessions family history? All the native American background? The Took family's extensive history for that matter? Also, considering the subject matter, the emotional level seems a bit temperate. We don't see Dottie's grief when her older son dies, we only hear of it. We don't feel the tension when Trajan and Mrs. Quigley are nearly discovered in their tryst. We sense the conflict when Luscious and EZ confront each other at the end, when Trajan is in jeopardy as well, but we don't see it, don't smell it, or feel it.
    In the end, it is Trajan, the young man who survives the loss of his big brother, the depredations of a drug lord and the absence of a mother or father figure in a hostile world who is the true Unheralded King of Preston Plains Middle.
    Byron Edgington, author of The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life
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  • TN
    4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful writer
    Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Every now and then you come across a writer who effortlessly strings words together that read like silk. This is my first time reading a book from this author. I must say for this being his first piece of work, I was thoroughly impressed. The story line focuses on a young boy who finds himself in several peculiar and tragic situations. There were several minor characters, who in my opinion, got in the way of the actual story line and could have easily been main characters in a sequel. This is a credit to how likable the main character is. I'm looking forward to more work from this author.
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  • maxine b. shelby
    5.0 out of 5 stars Quote: "The village of Preston is largely defined by what it is not..."
    Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    As a long-term resident of S.E. CT, I can attest to this statement. Coming of age for Trajan Hopkins in Preston is deftly displayed through the historic area content, familial interaction along with introduction & development of a host of extremely unique characters. Tasteful & intriguing. Fine job, Jedah.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Barbara Gafney
    5.0 out of 5 stars Something special!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I'm always impressed by author's who let you see into their heart and sole when they write. This was that kind of book for me.
    I loved it and look forward to his next endeavor.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Bernard Scavella
    5.0 out of 5 stars Unheralded King of Preston Plains Middle
    Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    The book displays the wit and intelligence of the author, Jedah Mayberry.
    I look forward to his next book. Hopefully it will the sequel to The Unheralded King of Preston Plains Middle.
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