The Squonk and the Horned Beast - Paperback

by Kevin Paul Saleeba (Author)

The Squonk and the Horned Beast was originally conceived as homage to the 1976 progressive rock album, A Trick of the Tail, by the legendary band Genesis. However, the story quickly transformed into its own entity as Kevin Paul Saleeba explores the themes of isolation, depression, friendship, forgiveness and rebirth in this fantasy tale about an ostracized Horned Beast desperate to find his place in the world. Putnam, born with horns and a tail, was captured by humans and severely beaten by a cruel jailer for being a "freak." Set in the harsh prison of Fort Adams in the town of Worchester, Putnam soon will learn his savior would come in the form of a small spider and a hideous wrinkly rat-like creature with beautiful blue eyes.

Author Biography

Kevin Paul Saleeba's first novel, The Squonk and the Horned Beast, was inspired by the 1976 progressive rock album, A Trick of the Tail, by the legendary band Genesis. Kevin is a fan of the progressive rock movement of the 1960s and '70s, particularly from Genesis and Pink Floyd, and he is an avid listener to the avant-garde music of Ennio Morricone, Ron Geesin, Peter Gabriel, and Roger Waters. This music has influenced the fantastic nature of Kevin's fiction writing. Kevin began writing as a child growing up in Seekonk, Massachusetts. He attended the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth majoring in writing and communications. His writing influences include the works of Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, George Orwell, Homer, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Roald Dahl, Robert Frost, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, and the Bible. Kevin is now working on several other writing projects: another fantasy novel called The Great Squonk Wars and two sports books called The Game that Saved the Patriots and The Developmental Guide to Competitive Swimming. Kevin has been a reporter and photographer for several Southern New England newspapers and various online media for more than a decade. Most recently, he has worked as editor/writer/photographer for PatriotsInsider.com with Scout Media, a site devoted to the New England Patriots. His nature photos have been published in the literary magazine, Mused. Kevin also works with special needs kids and he is head coach of both the North Providence Barracudas and Highridge Hammerheads swim teams. He loves spending time in his vegetable garden in Sutton, Massachusetts and playing with his rabbit, Buster.