Living Behind Time

Editions:ebook, Hardcover, Paperback

“Most of us are living behind time: trapped in some phase of our past like an insect in amber.” So says Frank Mason, protagonist of Living Behind Time, a pre-9/11 on the road story with a big twist. Evoking echoes of the 1950s Beats, Frank Mason, the protagonist, reverses the standard east-west American journey by going west to east. Leaving his home in San Diego, California, he makes a solo cross-country trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Along the way, he revisits friends and locations from the past. He encounters a cult in the California desert, acts as a decoy to get immigrants into Arizona, connects with old friends in Boulder, Colorado and Columbia, Missouri. There’s a serio-comic meetup near Kansas City with a friend who’s taken up cultivating cannabis. He then reengages with an old girlfriend in Memphis, but reluctantly goes on to the Gulf Coast and Pensacola where an older couple nearly adopts him to make up for the loss of their own son. After an eventful stop with friends near Raleigh, North Carolina, Frank’s cross-country trek concludes in Myrtle Beach, where he tries to process the recent discoveries he has made about himself and the nation’s recent past. In the end, as he prepares to retrace his steps yet again, he learns that no matter who we are individually or as a country, there is still hope in a shared future.

Published: November 22, 2014

Publisher: Hat Creek

Genres:

Historical, Literary

Tags:

historical fiction

About the Author

J.B. Hogan

J. B. Hogan is a prolific and award-winning author. He has published over 270 stories and poems.

His books, including Living Behind Time, Losing Cotton, The Rubicon, Fallen, Tin Hollow, and many more, are available from Oghma Creative Media and Amazon.com.

Other Books By J.B. Hogan

Under the September Sky

Under an Endless September Sky, Sometimes the Story Finds You.
Sapphire Sullivan has spent almost a year trying to forget the only boy she’s ever loved. One stolen kiss with her brother’s best friend changed everything. When Jack Murphy called it a mistake, Sapphire promised herself she’d stop wishing for something that could never be.
Then Labor Day weekend brings him back into her life.
Under the glow of carnival lights and an endless September sky, Jack looks at her the way he used to. Old feelings ignite, forgotten dreams come rushing back, and Sapphire starts believing that maybe first love deserves a second chance.
Until someone else appears.
Jett is the kind of boy who only exists in stories. He’s beautiful, mysterious, and seemingly devoted to only her. There’s only one problem—no one else can see him.
Except Jack.
Sapphire doesn’t know why Jett came into her life, what connects him to Jack, or what he truly wants from her. But as strange moments become impossible to ignore and the line between the real world and something more begins to blur, Sapphire is forced to question everything she believes about love, fate, and the stories we tell ourselves.
Because sometimes the hardest choice isn’t between the past and the future. It’s between the story you’ve been writing… and the life waiting to be lived.

Fourth of Forever

One summer. One secret. One love they never saw coming.
Aliya Jacobs has always counted down the days to summer at Lake Carrington—sunlit swims in turquoise water, lazy afternoons at her uncle’s cabin, and every moment spent with her best friend, Nick. But this summer brings an unwelcome surprise… Nick’s cousin Wyatt.
Sharp-tongued, guarded, and openly resentful of the out-of-towners he calls “hillies,” Wyatt clashes with Aliya from the moment they meet. Yet when a late-night rescue leads them to a reclusive old man and a map tied to a long-lost treasure—their rivalry turns into something far more complicated.
Whispers of hidden clues begin to surface, suggesting the legend might be real. At the same time, the powerful Elias Corporation is closing in, determined to transform Lake Carrington into a luxury resort that could destroy Nick’s family store and the town Aliya loves.
Reluctantly forced to work together, Aliya and Wyatt race to uncover the truth before time runs out. But as danger grows and secrets unravel, they must decide what matters more: finding a treasure that could save the lake… or risking their hearts on something even more uncertain.

Forgotten Fayetteville and More Hidden Histories from Washington County

Washington County has nearly two centuries of stories to tell, and many of them have been forgotten.
In this follow-up to Forgotten Fayetteville, local historians J. B. Hogan and Susan Parks-Spencer uncover more of the people, places, and events that shaped Fayetteville and the surrounding county. Explore the violent early years of Evansville, revisit the shocking murder that led to the execution of the Burnett family, and discover what made April 1864 one of the deadliest months in Washington County history. You’ll meet John Rollin Ridge, the first Native American novelist, learn the story of Rebecca Brown Tollett’s life in slavery, and examine the tragic lynching of Reverend Anthony Bewley.
From vanished towns and frontier churches to forgotten cemeteries, pioneering families, and overlooked chapters of Native American, Black, and immigrant history, these stories reveal a richer and more complex past than many realize. Woven together, they form a portrait of the lives, triumphs, and tragedies that shaped this corner of the Ozarks and the communities that call it home.
Whether you’re a lifelong resident, a newcomer, or simply a student of Arkansas history, Forgotten Fayetteville and More Hidden Histories from Washington County invites you to look beyond familiar landmarks and rediscover the people and events that helped shape the Ozarks.

Roan & Weatherford