Mr. Willis Gordon, ladies and gentlemen.

So...what the heck is Willis Gordon talkin' 'bout?

Ohio speech and debate champion, writer, and former restless young black man from Canton, Ohio; twenty-one-year-old Willis Gordon has always been 'talkin' 'bout' something.

These days he's talking about being a published author.

Published in February of this year, 'The Long Road Home', is for sale online thanks to his publisher, Authorhouse. After just one month on Amazon, the online mega-bookseller was placing a second order.

“I don't do anything small,” Gordon says, and throws his head back laughing.

'The Long Road Home' is a collection of short stories crafted from his own emotionally gripping personal experiences.

In his last year of high school Gordon was grieving the murder of a cousin with whom he was raised. He withdrew from his family and his teachers and peers at school. The stories are a personal account of that time in his life and the non-stop debauchery that rounded out the summer before he left for boot camp.

Currently on leave from the Navy, Gordon is busy promoting his book. Tomorrow night, he'll be reading from the book at Muggswigz Coffee shop in Canton.

Gordon calls himself a fiction writer and his online bio defines him, “lost highwayman, a traveler, a patriot and a hell-raiser”. With influences from Hemingway to Steve McQueen, Hunter S. Thompson to Bruce Springsteen; Willis Gordon is a true American writer. Like his influences, Gordon speaks and writes about all that he believes to be American – opportunity, public service, and the freedom to achieve anything. He also doesn't hesitate to include his candid version of surviving the human condition.

In fact, he's transparent about the self-destructive path he took after his cousin Jarrod Underwood was gunned down in Cleveland at the age of 28.

“I failed,” says Gordon, “protecting him was my one job and I fucked that all up.”

He drank, he smoked, he wrote, he dabbled in the un-mentionable. A long year of mornings after the murder Gordon would wake and wonder how it was possible to still be alive.

Not dying is what Gordon says made him realize why he's alive.

“I had an epiphany at the end of the summer of 2008,” he explains, “realizing my purpose has become my coat of armour...I know I cannot die until this is done.”

Byrun Reed worked in the library at GlenOak when Gordon was in high school – they shared a love of literature and music. Reed describes Gordon as, “never afraid,” and “always two steps ahead.”

His speech and debate coach Tom Mosberger referred to Gordon as one of the 3 or 4 state champions he's coached in his career. “He's a unique individual, a jack of all trades.” In a phone interview, Mosberger went on to describe Gordon as a student who had a commanding stature and was intelligent, though at times he found himself confused about Gordon's behaviour, he said there were times he looked at Gordon and thought, 'what were you smoking?'

Reflecting on his former student at GlenOak high school, forensic science teacher John Shoup describes Willis Gordon as, “...insightful, ahead of his years, has a cutting wit, and he's one of those people he gives a little bit more meaning to your own life.”

“A student like Willis Gordon comes along rarely in a teacher's career,” Shoup said.

***

Gordon leaves next week on deployment to Bahrain, now an E-3 with the U.S. Navy.

“I'm ready for an adventure,” says Gordon in that confident cool voice. “My life story could not have been possible anywhere but America; I can at least give them four years of service.”

check out Willis Gordon at Muggswigz Cafe in Canton, Friday April 15, 9pm, and follow his online column at : www.drunkenabsurdity.com 

Willis Gordon can also be found on Facebook.  Click on the book cover below to get yourself a copy.