New Book Available January 22

mark@marktreble.com

Four Seconds on the Clock: College Freshmen will be available for purchase on Amazon Kindle on January 22. The sequel to Four Seconds on the Clock, a coming-of-age tale about two teenagers recovering from the aftermath of trauma, follows Logan and Tommy to their first year at Dual Carolina University.

The young men are on basketball scholarships, which, at DCU, is nothing like most NCAA Division One schools. Instead of being treated like minor gods, at DCU they live in the dorms, and eat in the cafeteria, with all the other students. They must maintain a minimum B average, and take a menial job on campus, to keep their scholarships. They do get rental cars, but they're used compacts, and the athletes have to insure and maintain them, and buy all the gas. Everything else is an academic basketball program: Basketball in the middle of an Academic Program.

They are still haunted by the trauma they underwent, and are inhibited by the memories. They adjust well to college life - making friends, going to parties, studying, and practicing. The team welcomes them, helps them, and protects them. Situations regularly stress, and change, their relationships with each other and their families. Tommy's father tells him I don't have a son, while Logan learns that his mother considers him nothing but an ATM.

They keep up with friends, including the other high school basketball starters; every one got a full scholarship to a school in the highly-competitive Atlantic Coast Conference. Their team has its first winning season in decades, and the celebrations are, well, interesting. Characters from the fist book, such as Aunt Kamisha (Aunt Scary Lady), lawyer Uncle Paul, and Coach play significant roles. So do new characters, including Dr. Janet Buttermaker, the school's first female head coach; Muhanmad Wilson, a role model and ready with good advice; Jay Poppinseed, who regularly hosts epic parties; and others.

The guys repeatedly find themselves jealous, then back together, then really jealous, then ... who knows? Their friends' teams all were invited to March Madness; can a team with its first winning record in years participate? These and other issues are resolved, but not the trauma aftermath. It continues to plague them, with little respite.

The original, Four Seconds on the Clock, will go on a free special January 21-23, to celebrate the sequel.