Calling — Joe Samuel Starnes

On a bus outside Vegas, a washed-up gambler meets a strange preacher

As the bus rolls away from the Las Vegas strip, Timber Goodman screws his eyes shut and tries to keep his stomach from lurching. He came to Vegas in hopes of jump-starting his fading broadcasting career, but he leaves hung over and dead broke. Beside him sits a preacher in cowboy boots, whose only luggage is a Bible, a bottle of bourbon, and a razor-sharp bowie knife. This is Ezekiel Blizzard Jr., a disgraced man of God who's got a tale to tell -- and doesn't care if Timber's listening. As Zeke's story winds on, Timber finds himself enraptured.

In this sweeping novel of the American South, Joe Samuel Starnes explores the gritty side of faith and shows that all it takes to save a wandering man is another lost soul.