No HOPress-Shorehouse Books Holiday shout out would be complete without the talented novelists we publish. This week, we are highlighting Brian Kiley and Wil 3 (William Brandstetter). Both these gentlemen deliver work that will capture your hearts and souls.
The Astounding Misadventures of Rory Collins and Maybe Kevin
Brian Kiley Bio: Brian Kiley has been a staff writer for Conan O’Brien for 23 years. He’s been nominated for 16 Emmy Awards (He won in 2007). He’s appeared seven times on the David Letterman show, 12 times on Late Night with Conan and four times on the Tonight Show and he has his own Comedy Central half-hour special. His jokes have been featured in Reader’s Digest, Prevention Magazine, GQ and The New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle.
Rory Collins Book Description: Rory Collins accidentally misses his mother’s funeral and then learns she committed suicide and he’s to blame. This is shortly 
after he impregnated two virgins he felt sorry for. It was a rough sophomore year of college by any standards.
For more than twenty years, Brian Kiley has delighted me with his inventive and prolific wit, so it is no surprise that he has written such a terrific novel. The Astounding Misadventures of Rory Collins is boldly comedic, poignant, dark, unpredictable and just plain fun. Congratulations Brian, I am bitterly jealous. – Conan O’Brien
Maybe Kevin Description: Tom returns from World War II to discover his father and brother have turned their backs on him. Julie hopes to find a father for her beloved Kevin. Plot twists, sacrifice and raw emotion greet the reader when the lives of the two protagonists intersect as they each try and preserve what’s left of their family.
If a novel is a map to emotions, Maybe Kevin (part Faulkner, part How I Met Your Mother) takes you on a compelling trip, teasing you with the truth, all while excavating the layered reality of a family. It left me sobbing. But the good kind of sobbing, where you also feel relieved. I sat down to read a chapter but instead read the whole thing and cried like a baby. Surgically constructed art with words, Maybe Kevin is a masterpiece. Whether a joke or a novel, Brian Kiley is my favorite writer. I’ll read all the words he puts together. – Wendy Liebman, Comedian
Wil 3 Bio: Wil 3 is a father, an educator and a retired college assistant basketball coach. Wil graduated from Washington and Jefferson college with a double major in Political Science and Secondary Education. Wil has worked as a teacher and curriculum developer in several school districts and post-secondary institutions. Wil is an advocate to end homelessness and currently sits as a Board Member at “Hearts of the Homeless,” a 501(c)3 non-profit and regularly volunteers at Light of Life Mission in the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pa. Prior to releasing “Heartly God?”, Wil authored several one-act plays that have been performed by various theater groups in Western Pennsylvania. Heartly God? is his first full-length novel. When not writing, Wil can be found trout fishing or on a stand-up paddle board with his son Rider and occasionally practicing law, if time permits.
Heartly God? Description: Nico Rossi was an engineering wunderkind, until tragedy robbed him of his future. He limped home to Pittsburgh to work as a Catholic school teacher in the hope of rebuilding his spirit. Self medication, toxic girlfriends, and unrelenting insomnia all conspired to sabotage his healing… until, one day, he found himself smack in the midst of a miracle! Do miracles happen?
“Heartly God?” dives into this question. If they do happen, can we recognize them, or have we all become too bitter, too cynical, or too tired to notice? Can
we believe in miracles if science and technology fail to explain events that are indisputable?
Follow Nico as he struggles through life’s challenges, both mundane and miraculous. Consider if you possess the ability to recognize the wondrous, as it unfolds around you, every day.
NOTE: May 2020, Shorehouse Books is proud to launch the sequel to Heartly God? Stay tuned