Can a desire for revenge lead to redemption? Salvation doesn't always take place in church. God's Instant is the story of how two young people overcome the crippling effects of a missing parent and how a concrete connection with the recent past and exposure to a practical, bedrock faith in God brightens their future. Set in the rugged deserts of southeastern Washington and the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon and against the exciting world of professional rodeo, God's Instant is the story of Jill and Grady. Jill has been hiding from the world in plain sight, and Grady is a brooding loner subject to periodic bouts of nearly homicidal rage. They're brought together by an enigmatic old couple possessing a determined and practical faith, and who despite their own tragic past, refuse to live completely in the present. FIVE STAR reviews for God's Instant: A memorable and beautifully written story of a young cowboy and his search for himself and his past. Blizard's descriptions of the Washington countryside range from breathtaking to unusually haunting. As I read this book, I found myself immersed in the rodeo world and what it means to be a real cowboy. The story goes beyond the typical Western, tying in the struggles of adolescence and the theme of how to figure out where you're going, if you don't know where you come from. I highly recommend God's Instant to all readers. -Jennifer Ciotta, author and editor. Barry Lopez, in CROW AND WEASEL, states, "Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive." Bruce Blizard's intriguing novel, GOD'S INSTANT, is just such a story of sustenance, drawing together everyday folks adrift in hidden secrets, brutal honesty, unrealized connections, and hope. Set in the modern northwest, similar to an earlier but no safer world, young and old, friends and strangers, live lives echoed in the landscape, rich with regret, vision, lies, forgiveness, brokenness, and perseverance. Grady, the main character, is a bull rider, whose sense of the rhythm of the bull dictates his success or failure once the chute is opened. Similarly, opening these pages, the reader leans and lurches, spins, breathless, anticipating the worse while praying for the best. Like the characters herein, no reader 'escapes' this story unchanged, and luckily, throwing our hat to the crowd, we jog away, much better for this rich ride. -Jim Deatherage, award-winning English teacher.
