When love defies death.

Alexander, an Angel of Death, comes for the soul of the dying Dan Cooper. He finds his way blocked by blood on the Cooper’s door frame (accidentally left there when his wife Anna has a run in with a thorn on a rose in their garden.) After a delicate “negotiation,” Anna finally allows Alexander to take her suffering husband.

A year passes. Alexander returns, having found Anna…unforgettable.

It’s nearly twenty years later. Alexander and Anna have settled in the suburbs and raised their teenage son, Malcolm, who has no idea what his father does for a living.

When a cheerleader at school suffers a near-fatal accident, Malcolm steps in the way of another angel’s appointed round, setting off a journey of discovery that leads Malcolm to Penumbra—the shadowy world between mortality and The Beyond.

David Howard

David Howard is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright, lyricist and, most recently, novelist. His most visible credit being DreamWork’s major feature film GALAXY QUEST (Story and Screenplay credit), for which he won a Nebula Award, a Hugo Award and a Silver Raven Award and which was recently acknowledged as #61 on the Writers Guild list of The All-Time 101 Funniest Screenplays. David has also worked in television. Credits include THE CARVER BROTHERS (series pilot), with Robert Deniro’s Tribeca Films for CBS (co-written with M.F. McDowell) and DEAD AND BREAKFAST (series pilot) for the WB. He has also collaborated on pieces for the live stage: FALLING FOR EVE (lyricist, based on his play Adam Alone) with book by Tony-winner Joe DiPietro and music by Bret Simmons, appeared Off-Broadway at the York Theatre. Other musicals (book and lyrics, with composer Bret Simmons) include THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST – A WILDE NEW MUSICAL and HAYFEVER THE MUSICAL. His new play, THE HIDDEN ONE, recently premiered at the Torrance Theatre Company. He finished this first novel PENUMBRA this year.

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