Leaving Home, (Paperback)

Franklin Cohen is on a mission: He is an extraterrestrial from another galaxy who has been teleported down to Earth in order to learn whatever he can about humanity. In order to do this without being detected, however, he has to pretend to be a human being himself. And so Franklin Cohen The Extraterrestrial now becomes Franklin Cohen The College Graduate. The Dewey-Eyed, Dreamy English Major. Unemployed. Unemployable. Completely unconcerned about his lack of direction. And now living back at home with his controlling parents, who find that appalling lack of concern of his ever-increasingly more exasperating.

A labor of love which took the author twenty years to write, Leaving Home was originally intended to be a take-off of a Charles Bukowski semi-autobiographical novel (Post Office, Factotum). However, over the ensuing two decades it slowly evolved into something else. The writing style is at times much more ornate than that of Bukowski; and its simple plot, although rooted in realism, does contain certain magical elements. As such, Leaving Home is an imaginative attempt to infuse new life into an old literary form; i.e., the bildungsroman or "coming of age" novel.

Finally, the author states: "I do not know whether this novel I've written, using my own brain and my own heart, is a great one or merely an average one. Most writers think that their writing is great, and I am certainly no exception to the rule. However, the pursuit of excellence-regardless of the outcome-is never a delusion. It is always a badge of honor. And I wear that badge of honor proudly."