Mr. Black And White

Marty Williams, an Obama speechwriter, does not get the promised administration job, cannot return to the newspaper because it is closing, loses everything, and sets out in a snowstorm with all he has left, his car and his dog, for California where his picaresque adventures begin—romance, the movie business, dining with political elites to living out of his car, a panorama of people in the world of woes we know today, and a president elect assassination plot unjustly tied to Marty.

The novel begins with a flashback, a dream Marty has about being in a firefight as an imbedded journalist with Marines in Afghanistan, on the eve of the first election, and ends on the day of the inauguration.

The novel is not about the politics, didactic or polemical.

It is Marty’s story and the story of those he meets as he struggles to remain true to himself under the most difficult circumstances. In this way, Mr. Black And White becomes everyone’s story.

Praise

Mr. Black and White becomes us, and that is a signature of a fine author—utter involvement with the main character and the pledge to self-examination/preservation and honesty. Richly written, this book deserves a wide audience.”
—Amazon review
“Allen pulls you in and keeps you there, right to ‘the end.’ That he can create plausibility out of implausibility and have us believe it is the mark of a rare talent. This is the author that Allen is.”
—Amazon review