Marginal People — Michael A. Smith

By circumstances of birth and choice, some people are on the outside, with their noses pressed against the glass of life. Richey Stanton is an aspiring actor who never made it beyond regional theater. His artist girlfriend, Carmen Salazar, bears the childhood scars inflicted by an alcoholic father. Marshon Johnson has overcome poverty and racism to become a criminal kingpin of the poverty-stricken East Side. Kandie Givens is a single mother of three recently transplanted to the city, where she ekes out a living as a waitress, and waits for her "prince on a white horse." She mistakenly thinks that a new arrival in town, Ace Semanski, will love and care for her and her children. Semanski, an ex-con and racist, is the catalyst who uses guile, blackmail and murder to force the others to participate in a kidnapping/ransom plot. The efforts of these marginalized people to extricate themselves from this maelstrom makes some of them stronger, and cost others their lives. "Marginal People" is a psychological thriller and an examination of our society's values, and their impact on individual lives.