On a warm September night in 1991, in a quiet neighborhood north of Houston, Texas, David McGlynn’s closest friend and teammate on the high school swimming team is found murdered on his living room floor. As the crime goes unsolved and his friends turn to drugs and violence, McGlynn is vulnerable, rootless, searching for answers. He is drawn into the eccentric and often radical world of evangelical Christianitya journey that leads him to a proselytizing campus fellowship in Southern California, on a mission to Australia, and to Salt Lake City, where a second swimmingrelated tragedy leaves him doubting the authenticity of his beliefs. In his postevangelical life, he finds himself exiled from his parents, plunged into financial chaos, and caught offguard by the prospect of fatherhood. A new job offers hope for a new beginning, until the possibility of losing his newborn son forces him to confront the nature of everything he believes. The memoir’s concluding chapter, which appeared in The Best American Sports Writing 2009, celebrates the author’s love for swimming, the enduring metaphor for his faith and the setting for many of his life’s momentous occasions. Rough Water charts the violent origins of one young man’s faith and the struggle to find meaning in the midst of life’s painful uncertainties.

A Door in the Ocean: A Memoir

McGlynn, David

History

Counterpoint

This debut collection received critical acclaim and is now available for the first time in trade paper. The stories in The End of the Straight and Narrow take on the inner lives of the zealous, their passions and desires, and the ways religious faith is both the compass for navigating daily life and the force that makes ordinary life impossible. In Landslide,” an aspiring evangelist witnesses the miraculous event that launches his career, but fails to notice the mental decline of his college roommate. In Moonland on Fire,” a divorced, born-again father, his new wife, and his estranged teenage son battle to save their dilapidated home from a massive fire. In Deep in the Heart” a dying boy reveals his final wish to his estranged parents: he wants to kill a deer. In Seventeen One-Hundredths of a Second” an aging virgin is drawn into a precarious friendship. The five linked stories that comprise the collection’s latter half focus on a woman blinded suddenly while giving birth, who years later begins a process of disappearing that confuses her family and leads to ultimately violent and disintegrating ends. Ranging from the coastal highways of Southern California, to the mountains above Salt Lake City, to the swampy bayous and pine forests surrounding Houston, Texas, the stories often take place against the backdrop of disastera landslide, a fire, a drowning, a hurricaneas the characters question whether faith illuminates the world or leaves them isolated within it.

The End of the Straight and Narrow: Stories

Literature & Fiction

United States

On a warm September night in 1991, in a quiet neighborhood north of Houston, Texas, David McGlynn’s closest friend and teammate on the high school swimming team is found murdered on his living room floor. As the crime goes unsolved and his friends turn to drugs and violence, McGlynn is vulnerable, searching for answers. He is drawn into the eccentric and often radical world of evangelical Christianitya journey that leads him to a proselytizing campus fellowship, on a mission to Australia, and to Salt Lake City, where a second swimmingrelated tragedy leaves him doubting the authenticity of his beliefs. In his postevangelical life, he finds himself exiled from his parents, plunged into financial chaos, and caught offguard by the prospect of fatherhood. A new job offers hope for a new beginning, until the possibility of losing his newborn son forces him to confront the nature of everything he believes. A Door in the Ocean celebrates the author’s love for swimming, the enduring metaphor for his faith and the setting for many of his life’s momentous occasions, while it charts the violent origins of one young man’s faith and the struggle to find meaning in the midst of life’s painful uncertainties.

A Door in the Ocean

Sports & Outdoors

Biographies

Counterpoint LLC

“McGlynn’s trek through young parenthood―missteps, brawls, avalanches, and all―is as entertaining and shrewd as any book I’ve read in some time.” ―James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street One Day You’ll Thank Me translates the small, often hilarious moments common among parents of young children, especially dads, into “life lessons” about fatherhood. Comprised of interconnected chapters, the stories invoke a sense of humor and honesty that expand our understanding of what it means to be an American dad.

One Day You'll Thank Me: Lessons from an Unexpected Fatherhood

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Review\nPraise for One Day You’ll Thank Me\n"The book is often (painfully) funny . . . The heart of his new book lies in [McGlynn's] willingness to expose the fact that he, like the rest of us, has learned far more from the many parenting failures than from the rare success. To be a parent, says McGlynn, is to hope you are doing things right but to never be sure . . . There’s so much at stake for a parent. So little room for error, and yet, the author reminds us, we err all the time. What’s most important, McGlynn seems to be saying, is not how many errors we make, but how willing we are to confront them. For our children, that willingness may be the greatest gift of all." —Los Angeles Review of Books\n"A poignant, funny book about the life of a modern–day dad." —Los Angeles Times\n"McGlynn is a fine writer who brings to life the small pleasures of family life—mediating warfare between his boys; teaching a son to ride a bike; buying his eldest a cellphone; and many more." —Toronto Star\n"Sharp, tender, and terrifically funny." —Madhuri Vijay, Shelf Awareness\n"A funny but also substantive collection of observations about parenting . . . One Day You’ll Thank Me pays tribute to the constant effort of parenting, that you never get it absolutely right, but you keep trying to learn from your mistakes." —The Cap Times\n"David McGlynn’s reflections on fatherhood are funny and wise . . . McGlynn shows how parenthood is often conflicted—but also full of grace." —The Christian Century\n“McGlynn’s trek through young parenthood—missteps, brawls, avalanches, and all—is as entertaining and shrewd as any book I’ve read in some time.” —James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street\n“One Day You’ll Thank Me is a wonderful book with a big heart. David McGlynn tells a timeless story in a personal voice, rich with humor and humanity.” —Susan Casey, author of Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins, and former editor in chief of O, The Oprah Magazine\n"I am grateful for David McGlynn's thoughtful, vulnerable, and often hilarious observations on fatherhood . . . I can use all the help I can get." —Michael Perry, New York Times bestselling humorist\n"Fatherhood is probably the scariest good thing that can happen to a man. In this beautifully honest, richly textured, often hilarious dispatch from the home front, David McGlynn illuminates how parenting puts everything into perspective, most of all our own bedeviled selves." —David Giffels, author of Furnishing Eternity: A Father, a Son, a Coffin, and a Measure of Life\n"Each brutally honest chapter is filled with heart and humor as McGlynn shares his most tender and most trying moments as a parent . . . All parents will relate and enjoy, but fathers of sons will most certainly relish this charming and hilarious tale of fatherhood." —Booklist\n"A pleasing blend of humor and humility that shows what it means to be a father in America today . . . Timeless, funny, and honest stories of raising boys." —Kirkus Reviews\n“McGlynn’s trek through young parenthood―missteps, brawls, avalanches, and all―is as entertaining and shrewd as any book I’ve read in some time.” ―James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street\nOne Day You’ll Thank Me translates the small, often hilarious moments common among parents of young children, especially dads, into “life lessons” about fatherhood. Comprised of interconnected chapters, the stories invoke a sense of humor and honesty that expand our understanding of what it means to be an American dad.\nBook Description\nPublicity 
Targeted outreach to Father’s Day roundups Author promotion through website at http://www.davidmcglynnbooks.com/\nEvents Schedule 
Possible events at Wisconsin bookstores

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

The Training Officer: Do You Have What It Takes?

Business & Money

Job Hunting & Careers

Firefighter Book Club

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