The Fountain, a novella by Michael Kelley set against the backdrop of political turmoil that readers will find familiar, describes the discovery by a middle-age couple that eternal youth can have a downside. James and Peg Sanders had not thought much about a family legend dating to the 17th Century, but the legend would eventually become the centerpiece of their lives. The legend linked their fate with a shipload of Africans, led by a charismatic shaman and aided by a sympathetic crew member by the name of James Sanders, who managed to escape confinement from the docks of Charleston, S.C., and avoid a lifetime of slavery. Centuries later, the modern day Sanders couple would have to engineer an escape of their own to avoid capture by overzealous local authorities.

I am a former newspaper reporter, columnist and editorial writer now working as a freelance writer in Santa Fe, N.M. I grew up in Joplin, Mo., and spent most of my career in Memphis, Tennessee, where I also earned a masters degree in English with a concentration on linguistics. My novel, Tent City, is set in 1960 Mississippi against the backdrop of the voting rights movement. My novella, Fred and June: Journeys, is about a transgender woman and her boyhood friend. My latest piece, The Fountain, is about a middle-age couple who discover that eternal youth can have a downside.