Robert Flynn's second novel tracks a day in the life of Pat Shahan,
minister of a Protestant church in a large city. Young, devout, and
honest, Shahan seeks revelation—and is offered a revolving neon cross
for the church steeple; he seeks vision—and gets a pep talk from the
church treasurer. Striving to serve the Lord, he is dragged into a
"Great Crusade" wich is nothing more than a publicity stunt that ends
disastrously. Shahan's day sees him ministering to the sick and dying,
pacifying angry parishoners and counseling troubled ones, seeking
inspiration for a sermon, trying to calm his mother by phone, and
losing patience with his family. Pat Shahan is a thoroughly human
minister.

    Throughout his day—and by extension his ministry—he struggles
to balance his faith in Christianity with his doubts about himself and
his church. His story gives a pulpit-eye view of organized religion, a
view that is occasionally humorous, sometimes affectionate, always
open-minded, and ultimately affirmative. "There is darkness in the
world," says Shahan, "but there is also light."

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ROBERT FLYNN's diverse fiction ranges from the boisterous North to
Yesterday to the complex and haunting Wanderer Springs and Tie-
Fast Country, books that capture the spirit and essence of West
Texas, to The Last Klick, a novel of the Vietnam war. He is also the 
author of two short story collections and several nonfiction books 
and is the coauthor of Paul Baker and The Integration of Abilities. His 
work has won awards from Western Writers of America, the National 
Cowboy Hall of Fame, and Southwestern Booksellers. He is emeritus
writer-in-residence at Trinity Unviersity and a past president of the
Texas Institute of Letters. Robert Flynn lives in San Antonio.


Number Sixteen: Texas Tradition Series