The Family That Wasn't is a humorous fable of how our families live inside us. Though geared for middle grades (ages 8-12) it will also appeal to readers of all ages. The 13-year-old narrator, John Boggle (whose real name is John Bazukas-O'Reilly-Geronimo-Giovanni-Li Choy-Echeverria), finds his family so impossibly crazy that he cannot stand living with them another moment. He invents a new perfect family so convincing that he suddenly finds himself living inside this imaginary world. But John finds that he too has changed. He sees his too perfect image in the mirror and begins to wonder if it is all some kind of mistake. Only trouble is, now he can't remember who he is. He only knows that he must leave this family at once. His sole clue is the name, John Boggle. To find his true family he embarks on a cross country quest. Along the way he encounters other characters who have also lost touch with their families. Together they must find a way to reconstruct the connections to bring back the family that once was.
About the Author: Early on in his writing career, Gene realized that he was the sort of person so aptly described in an essay by E.B. White ("Some Remarks on Humor") for whom there is a constant "danger of coming to a point where something cracks within himself or within the paragraph under construction--cracks and turns into a snicker." Dealing with this "uninvited snicker" has been the story of his life. Indeed, Gene tends to see the absurd in every situation. That might explain why his favorite quote by Albert Camus now hangs over his writing desk: "The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth." His fiction has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Highlights for Children, Heinemann and Weekly Reader. Gene 's first novel, "The Family That Wasn't," was written in 1990 when he lived in Providence, RI. Inspired by some of James Thurber's stories about wacky family members, Gene created in his novel a family so impossibly crazy that the teenage main character cannot stand living with them another moment. Gene's second novel, "My Vacation in Hell," is the sequel to his earlier novel. Geared for young adults, it is a dark comic fantasy of a young man's journey through hell. Set in the mid-1960s, it is narrated by a 15-year-old writer and victim of sexual abuse. Gene is also the author of Dragon Daily News: Stories of Imagination for Children of All Ages. Read more of Gene's writing at his blog: (http: //www.thetwaronitezone.com). A former teacher and University of Arizona instructional specialist, Gene now lives in Arizona.