Fountain of Youth: A Novel

It's that time of year again for Ray Jensen, a middle-aged bureaucrat who lives in a small, New York town. The anniversary of his father's untimely passing always brings up feelings of grief, guilt and looming mortality for Ray. But this year is different: Ray's son Daniel has stumbled upon the Fountain of Youth, an elixir made from wine grapes that might keep you alive forever. But as Ray learns, it comes with a terrible side-effect when he begins to have visions of the demises of his friends and family.Ray's story comes with a crazy twist: The story is being written by an enormous man who has locked himself away in the cabin of a luxurious cruise ship and appears to be eating himself to death as he pieces together Ray's tale with the help of four highly dubious co-narrators: A Hollywood idol, a stripper, a paper cut-out of a famous football star, and a nerdy guy.It all comes together in Fountain of Youth, with a wild, imaginative structure and story that may remind you of the early works of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Tom Robbins. Crafted by Oregon author Jim Gullo, Fountain of Youth takes on issues of mortality, grieving and loss as it touches you with its simple humanity.