Original, deftly crafted, timely, and which will resonate with what we see happening to real families, real children, and genuine political impotence in our world today, "The Brushy Ridge Militia" by novelist Roger Chiocchi is a riveting fictional story about how overwhelming grief, anger, disillusion, and seeming helplessness in the face of entrenched political corruption and ineptitude...

  The Brushy Ridge Militia by Roger Chiocchi is disturbing, yet compelling. Even though it is fiction, it is brutally honest and gets to the heart of bullying and school shootings in America. From the time he started school, Adam McGuirk had been an outsider. In high school, he was cruelly and unmercifully harassed by members of the football team. Finally one day, he had all he could stand....

Powered by deep frustration at political inaction, this harrowing, high-concept novel from Chiocchi (author of Time Framed) opens with a kidnapping that will scramble readers’ sense of justice. In Washington, D.C., after another profitable day of ignoring the protests of parents who have lost their children to gun violence, Speaker of the House Fred Grantham is seized by two armed men. The...

When losing a loved one to gun violence gets tangled with political inaction, the aftermath can be unimaginable. Roger Chiocchi's "The Brushy Ridge Militia" explored how grief can morph into a radical, constitutionally debated call for change. You'll find yourself in a never-ending conflict between the heart and mind as you read through this heart-wrenching, poignant narrative. The story centers...

 Austin McGuirk gets bullied frequently at the fictional Brushy Ridge High School. Simmering rage prompts the purchase of an AR-15 through a private advertisement. He keeps the gun in his locker, ready to enact his revenge when he boils over. It happens with the ultimate humiliation that’s compounded by being recorded and shared online: “. . . but none of it was as bad as this, none had ever...

Roger Chiocchi’s The Brushy Ridge Militia takes a hard look at America’s deep divisions over gun control, political power, and the consequences of unchecked violence. The story weaves together political intrigue, grassroots activism, and personal tragedy, following Speaker of the House Fred Grantham as he maneuvers through a firestorm of public outrage following a school shooting. But the heart...