Doc's Choice

by Mark De Cloud Troth


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Softcover
$10.49
$9.95
Softcover
$9.95

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 10/27/2009

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 6x9
Page Count : 84
ISBN : 9781449019235

About the Book

Shane Williams is a young high school teacher and coach, living and working in Taos, New Mexico. After having previously finished college and law school, he spent several years traveling across America working odd jobs while attempting to tame a restless soul. Successful or not in that endeavor, he has indeed found a home and more importantly a purpose in this culturally diverse mountain community. He is in love with a woman he adores, challenged and inspired by his profession, and seemingly content. Still, there is something missing.

James Ferguson is a middle aged retired surgeon, who wants simply to be left alone in the peaceful surroundings of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Taos. Known as “Doc” to the locals, he is a local legend of considerable curiosity albeit fueled by the mystery of his well guarded past. He is eccentric and quite reclusive, yet always friendly when approached and quick with a smile or a helping hand.

The two men strike up a conversation one morning at a charity run in Albuquerque, and find immediate comradeship in their love for the mountains, and their enjoyment of running the sparsely traveled roads and trails throughout “The Enchanted Circle.” They begin meeting weekly to train together, stretching their horizons physically and developing a strong friendship. Doc is the seasoned veteran serving as the coach, and Shane assumes the athlete's role, striving for higher levels of achievement while soaking up the wisdom that his mentor bestows upon him. As mutual trust grows, walls come down and an almost father-son relationship is fostered, with both men healing wounds and finding solace.

This novella focuses on two complicated men of supreme character, their inner thoughts and trials of both the heart and mind, and the evolution of their unique friendship. There is a severe accident that takes place along the trail, followed by a heroic run to save a life, and then a tragically courageous decision that completes the circle of events.

Doc's Choice will most likely build you up, and quite possibly bring you down, but it will surely complete your circle of emotion.


About the Author

Mark Troth was born in Colorado in 1955, but has lived most of his life in Texas. Educated at the University of Arkansas in Political Science and Pre-law, and later in finance and accounting in graduate school, he has worked his entire professional career in the commercial banking industry.

A passion for reading and writing captivated Mark in his early childhood. He has spent a great deal of his leisure time throughout the years attempting to satisfy that unquenchable thirst. He enjoys looking back at his own youth and drawing from his experiences and influences to inspire his fiction. He writes about people he admires - the challenges they face and the trials they endure, and the relationships that shape their character. His settings are the deserts, plains and mountains of the great southwest including Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, areas of vast beauty and freedom. He yearns for the peace of the high country, or the exhilaration of a lonesome valley - perhaps fueled by a life spent in a big city chasing commerce. The business world has absorbed the years and provided well for his family, yet has driven him to seek a balance from the written word through the stories he creates.

Doc's Choice is Mark's second work of fiction. It is a rather long short story, or perhaps just a short novel, but the themes are consistent with what has inspired him for over half a century. His characters are powerful yet flawed, hopeful but destructive, and the story provides enough suspense and uncertainty to keep the reader highly engaged. Most importantly though, Doc's Choice is a simple testament to devotion and friendship.

Mark and his wife Mary live in Richmond Texas. His son and daughter are both in college. Mark commutes seventy miles daily to and from his job at the bank. He reads voraciously, and writes to remember and relax, when time permits and the passion burns.