Redemption stories rock

With the news that literary hoaxer James Frey has been canned by Random House (finally!), its time to remember that the sins of this one author do not take away from the value in the marketplace of the good old fashioned redemption story.  As the Redeemer showed, we all are, in our common humanity, sinners and we all need saving!  But aside from that larger point, my more narrow focus today at Quillnews is on a redemption story that a friend of mine wrote that is the real deal and not some poser hokus-pocus-poopsie from Media-Ville. For a story about the deprevations and evils from addition, and the potential redemption that comes from recovery, I recommend that Quillnews readers check out Snow Blind, by Douglas Kalajian.  This true life story of defense attorney Howard Finklestein has become a cult classic in South Florida, where Kalajian is a reporter for the Palm Beach Post, Finklestein the newly elected Public Defender for Broward County, and the scurge of cocaine has had such an impact on the region and its people. (RY Page)