LaPuerta Author Gerald Everett Jones Receives Two IPA Book Awards

The Independent Press Awards recognized two books by Gerald Everett Jones - "Clifford's Spiral" in Literary Fiction and "Preacher Finds a Corpse" in Mystery - as Distinguished Favorites in the 2020 competition. The prestigious annual competition is judged by experts from different areas of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers, and professional copywriters. Distinguished Favorite awards are based on overall excellence.

All the bewildered author had to say was "Two books in the same year? Hey, it's not quite a hat trick, but I'm thrilled and gratified to win in two such broad and highly competitive categories."

"Clifford's Spiral" is a quirkily comic literary novel. Its sardonic tone recalls the wry wisdom of Kurt Vonnegut, and its preoccupation with male centeredness is reminiscent of Philip Roth. Stroke victim Clifford Klovis tries to piece together the colorful fragments of his memories. He fusses over his lifelong curiosities about astrophysics and metaphysics, Christian faith and New Age philosophy, and why the spiral shape appears in bathtub drains and at the centers of galaxies. He has imaginary conversations and arguments with wives and lovers, as well as with Hypatia of Alexandria, René Descartes, his old mentor Reverend Thurston, and Stephen Hawking. Clifford's best teacher turns out to be his paraplegic son Jeremy, who has found his father's old letters and journals. Jeremy also wonders:

"Who was Clifford Olmstead Klovis?"

"Preacher Finds a Corpse" is an amateur-sleuth thriller. Evan Wycliff, a lapsed divinity student who is fascinated by astrophysics, finds his best friend shot dead in a cornfield. It looks like suicide. Having returned to his farm roots near Lake of the Ozarks, Evan works as a skip tracer for the local car dealer. He learns his friend was involved in a dispute over farmland ownership that goes back two centuries - complicated now by plans to make an old weapons facility a tourist attraction.

Both books are available as paperback, EPUB, or Kindle from booksellers worldwide. "Preacher Finds a Corpse" has also been released as an Audible audiobook.

"Preacher Finds a Corpse" is the first in Jones's Evan Wycliff mystery series. The second novel, "Preacher Fakes a Miracle," will be released this summer.

Jones holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the College of Letters, Wesleyan University. He is the author of nine novels. His previous works include a series of three satiric Rollo Hemphill misadventures, the adult melodrama "Christmas Karma," the crime story "Choke Hold," the father-son comedy "Mr. Ballpoint," and the historical thriller "Bonfire of the Vanderbilts." He coauthored the nonfiction memoir "The Light in His Soul: Lessons from My Brother's Schizophrenia" with Rebecca Schaper. He has also written more than 25 nonfiction books on business and technical subjects and is an award-winning screenwriter. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, Women's National Book Association, Dramatists Guild, and the Independent Writers of Southern California. His business title "How to Lie with Charts" has become something of a classic on the subject of presentation design. He is the host of the GetPublished! Radio show (getpublishedradio.com).

Author portrait by Gabriella Muttone Photography, Hollywood
Studio photo courtesy Runkee Productions
INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD® is a registered trademark of GabbyBookAwards