Eli Brown

In THE GREAT DAYS, Eli Brown examines the insular and secret world of cults in America today. Combining in-depth research with the right amount of creativity, Brown weaves a powerful narrative that offers insight into why people join cults, how cult leaders lure followers to their cause, how these same leaders manage to even fool themselves, and the desperate measures some will take to escape and find freedom far beyond the gates of their closed communities. THE GREAT DAYS A Novel By ELI BROWN Winner of the Fabri Literary Prize “They bowed, row after row, curling into themselves, clenching their bodies like fists, their shaved heads brown as knuckles. The world was already bright. The desert tightened, offering up the last molecules of the night dew, spreading itself thin as hammered gold.” Twenty cycles of chanting. Forty minutes of silent meditation. After six years, even in the Arizona desert’s merciless summer heat, August still loved his simple, serene life at the True Mind Heart Center. He relished being among the followers of the last prophet, the most important spiritual figure since Christ. The Founder of the Movement, Papa would change the entire planet. World peace would be just the beginning, as August had written in his final letter to his sister Jesse. Unlike the enlightened leaders before him, Papa would see his followers through to the end. Papa would restore Eden to earth, banishing violence, disease, governments, and all the trappings of Mull existence. Papa would free minds with a new universal language. Patience was the key. August knew the Great Days were near. In his fiction debut, THE GREAT DAYS (Boaz Publishing, November 2008; $14.95 paperback original), Eli Brown gradually exposes the dark reality of a powerful cult through a true believer’s brutal awakening and coming of age. When the novel opens, twenty-five-year-old August is thrilled to be chosen to serve Papa in a special role. As he evolves and comes closer to the ultimate revelation, the Truth that could not be spoken, Papa is often rendered speechless. When Papa loses his voice, he depends on August to act as his interpreter. Papa points to a passage in one of his sacred books-the Old Testament, the Bhagavad Gita. Then, guided by Papa’s gestures and grunts, Brother August imparts a profound teaching to the initiates. When Ego creeps in and challenges Papa’s strength and wisdom, August fights back. He crushes the rumors that Papa’s increasing bouts of speechlessness and confusion were caused by illness, a mortal frailty. Faith rebounds when Papa announces his plans to select the final Mother-the woman blessed to become his fifth wife. August feels certain that he will soon be reunited with Jesse and his Mull mother in a world beyond the realm of human imagination. At last, the tragedies of his life before the Movement-watching his father die in a car accident, surviving a harrowing dog attack, experimenting with LSD-will be forgotten and forgiven. He even indulges in fantasies of marrying Sister Meredith, a kindred True Mind Heart convert from their days at the Monterey Chapter. August’s faith is shaken when Papa reveals the name of the girl he plans to marry. August’s dreams are shattered when Papa rewards his service with a self-gratifying “gift.” Waking up in a nightmare, August begins to see the light about Papa, a Vietnam War commander and sole survivor of an ambush. He begins to question the revered practices of shaving and tattooing initiates, subsisting on a diet of mush and lentils, and “redirecting” doubters. To save himself, August makes a daring escape from the compound-eighteen acres of fields and a scattering of buildings surrounded by a wide necklace of chain-link fences to keep coyotes and hares out-into the barren desert. After a few tough, eye-opening weeks back in the Mull world, he makes the courageous decision to return to the fold-to save Meredith and hundreds of others from Papa. Packed with startling twists and sobering revelations, THE GREAT DAYS culminates with August’s brief, radical reign as Papa’s replacement. What happens when spiritual power abruptly changes hands? Is the truth sometimes crueler than the lies of security? A mesmerizing and deeply affecting novel, THE GREAT DAYS establishes Eli Brown as a writer to watch. About The Author Eli Brown lives and writes in Oakland, California. He received his MFA in Fiction Writing from Mills College. His poetry has appeared in The Cortland Review and Homewrecker: An Adultery Reader. The Great Days is his first novel.