Meet David Black, a young family doc whose solo practice has spectacularly tanked. So has his marriage; the two are not unrelated. His best friend, Oz, wants him to reinvent himself, offering their fellow Boulderites everything they need to live forever (or at least long enough for Oz to profit and retire). David balks. At first. What follows is a romp of a read, a comedy with heart - from the characters who staff the new clinic to pursuit by pheromone-crazed wildlife, a literal cliff-hanger, and the love that, in the end, might save him. Come visit the exotic New-Age mecca of Boulder, Colorado, and get to know: David, hapless idealist and reluctant hero, Junie Blanche, Ph.D. candidate and New Orleans immigrant, Oz Garcia, entrepreneur and Master of Bad Habits, Shriana, organic beauty and trophy wife aspirant, Don Gilmore, hypochondriac and hemp magnate, Cyrus P. Flint, slowly expiring longevity scientist, Miss Paula and Dr. Biggs, fearsomely muscular HGH hawkers, Beatriz Hanacanahuolipalipalulu, Kava Kava smuggler... ...and, of course, the happy but complicated staff of the Forever Clinic - Dr. Quinn Quinn, former health guru and cross-dressing fugitive, Nancy Ouvenstrasser, lonely masseuse and closet intellectual, Adeline and Thomas Thinna, starving diet & fitness pros, and Howie Krishna, Yogitation instructor and Real Thing. (Warning: while local statutes prohibit the distribution of How To Live Forever as a wellness and longevity guide, there remains the danger that the reader might absorb one if not more aspects of its alarmingly Reasonable Approach to Semi-Optimal Health.)
About the Author: My story started in Detroit. After an early exit from high school, I was bronze foundry worker by day and art student by night, moving on to a GED, Wayne State University, and med school. Then came a family practice residency in Colorado, an alternative practice in Boulder, and a fellowship at UCLA. My partner lured me to her beloved NYC, where we had the second of three great kids, I taught for a few years, and was board certified in Preventive Medicine before dragging her back to this near-fictional isle in the great literal West. Currently, I hold a half-time position as a family doc, making it the world's best day job, a solid dose of life and patient care that leaves time to write (and, yes, a few healthy-lifestyle things that are fun enough to do but boring to read about, except - perhaps - in the context of a character-driven novel). Aside from a few published studies, I began my writing career with the Zen of Science column for Nexus, covering topics from sex to homeopathy, yoga, massage, meditation, acupuncture, social connectedness, and the psychology of cancer survival. A decade ago, I fell into fiction and have been addicted since. This led to the novels Resonance, Thrilling Romance, The Mortalist, a handful of short stories, and now, How To Live Forever. The last has been the best: the characters became friends, if rather odd ones, and I've been fascinated by aging and longevity since, well, forever.