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Black and White
Despite being disillusioned by the horrors of Iraq and Afghanistan, Jason Keller is profoundly grateful to be alive. Once recovered from physical injuries sustained in the city of Ramadi, Iraq under circumstances he cannot fully remember, he is discharged from the Marine Corps with Post Traumatic Stress.
Jason isolates himself in his ancestral home in Holston Valley, Tennessee, struggling with reinventing himself every day. Jason wrestles with nocturnal panic attacks, survivor's guilt, moral injury, institutional betrayal, substance abuse, and existential dread. He wants to be worthy of the life he has retained but blames himself for his junior Marine’s death, an infantryman bound for a life of moral service in the Chaplain Corps.
Far from family and the war, Jason undertakes a series of self-experiments to increase his “consecutive days without incident” and “control stress responses”. He runs daily, sleeps on a 48-hour cycle, reads avidly, and renovates his WWII veteran grandfather's house to stay busy, but his system is flawed. The best he can seem to achieve is a state of numbness and functional alcoholism.
Enter Ava Taylor, a 24-year-old veterinary college student on summer break from Vanderbilt University. Away from academic life, close family, and her father's small-town congregation, Ava strives to balance her growing rebellious spirit and emerging independence with academic pressures and financial stressors. Quick-witted, compassionate, and full of southern charm, Ava is determined to financially rescue her proud, ailing father and 6-year-old sister from looming poverty.
Holston is a small town, and soon, Ava and Jason meet. Despite an initial attraction, Ava dismisses Jason as rude. Jason recognizes he is emotionally unavailable, jaded by vicarious military relationship trauma, and determined to remain alone.
Thrown together under unforeseen circumstances, Jason helps Ava, to the detriment of his own resolve. The tentative friendship they form eases their mutual loneliness, and soon they are spending free time watching The Sopranos, solving Jason’s raccoon problem, and debating life's most absurd philosophical contradictions. Wanting to protect Ava from the darker aspects of himself, Jason keeps her at a distance once he realizes his feelings could surpass mere friendship.
Black and White is a portrait of the 9/11 Generation’s warrior class, and an odyssey through healing, forgiving, becoming, and loving.
Jason isolates himself in his ancestral home in Holston Valley, Tennessee, struggling with reinventing himself every day. Jason wrestles with nocturnal panic attacks, survivor's guilt, moral injury, institutional betrayal, substance abuse, and existential dread. He wants to be worthy of the life he has retained but blames himself for his junior Marine’s death, an infantryman bound for a life of moral service in the Chaplain Corps.
Far from family and the war, Jason undertakes a series of self-experiments to increase his “consecutive days without incident” and “control stress responses”. He runs daily, sleeps on a 48-hour cycle, reads avidly, and renovates his WWII veteran grandfather's house to stay busy, but his system is flawed. The best he can seem to achieve is a state of numbness and functional alcoholism.
Enter Ava Taylor, a 24-year-old veterinary college student on summer break from Vanderbilt University. Away from academic life, close family, and her father's small-town congregation, Ava strives to balance her growing rebellious spirit and emerging independence with academic pressures and financial stressors. Quick-witted, compassionate, and full of southern charm, Ava is determined to financially rescue her proud, ailing father and 6-year-old sister from looming poverty.
Holston is a small town, and soon, Ava and Jason meet. Despite an initial attraction, Ava dismisses Jason as rude. Jason recognizes he is emotionally unavailable, jaded by vicarious military relationship trauma, and determined to remain alone.
Thrown together under unforeseen circumstances, Jason helps Ava, to the detriment of his own resolve. The tentative friendship they form eases their mutual loneliness, and soon they are spending free time watching The Sopranos, solving Jason’s raccoon problem, and debating life's most absurd philosophical contradictions. Wanting to protect Ava from the darker aspects of himself, Jason keeps her at a distance once he realizes his feelings could surpass mere friendship.
Black and White is a portrait of the 9/11 Generation’s warrior class, and an odyssey through healing, forgiving, becoming, and loving.
450 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2022
About the author
Tiffany Madison
2 books169 followersI’m a 3x co-founder, multidisciplinary consultant and advisor, storyteller, communications coach, and activist. I'm a Dallas, Texas native living in Austin, Texas. I'm a former journalist published in the Washington Times, Policy Mic, Voices of Liberty, and The Libertarian Republic. I've written nine fiction stories, including four novellas, three shorts, and a five-part series.
My forthcoming novel, Black and White, is currently undergoing revision for 2022 publication. You can sign up for updates on my website: www.tiffanymadison.com
15+ years of experience in business communications, creative marketing, and social media strategy, startup and early-stage operations, branding, and PR. Throughout my diverse career in various industries, including blockchain and politics, I’ve led and guided startups, non-profits, small businesses, and publicly-listed companies as a director, project manager, consultant, and advisor.
Based in Austin, Texas, I am also the co-founder of DecentraNet, an advisory and consultancy firm, and AMMA Healing, a luxe hemp-wellness company. I am also an active independent business communications consultant and advisor.
I also serve as a city leader for Bunker Labs, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and national network of leaders and volunteers dedicated to helping veterans, spouses and entrepreneurs start their own business.
I am also a published author and journalist, public speaker, activist, and communications coach that helps parents transform their communication with high-conflict co-parents.
Please do not confuse me with "Tiffany Madison", the erotica writer often filed under my profile here.
You can follow me on Twitter @tiffanymadison, Facebook or at my website.
My forthcoming novel, Black and White, is currently undergoing revision for 2022 publication. You can sign up for updates on my website: www.tiffanymadison.com
15+ years of experience in business communications, creative marketing, and social media strategy, startup and early-stage operations, branding, and PR. Throughout my diverse career in various industries, including blockchain and politics, I’ve led and guided startups, non-profits, small businesses, and publicly-listed companies as a director, project manager, consultant, and advisor.
Based in Austin, Texas, I am also the co-founder of DecentraNet, an advisory and consultancy firm, and AMMA Healing, a luxe hemp-wellness company. I am also an active independent business communications consultant and advisor.
I also serve as a city leader for Bunker Labs, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and national network of leaders and volunteers dedicated to helping veterans, spouses and entrepreneurs start their own business.
I am also a published author and journalist, public speaker, activist, and communications coach that helps parents transform their communication with high-conflict co-parents.
Please do not confuse me with "Tiffany Madison", the erotica writer often filed under my profile here.
You can follow me on Twitter @tiffanymadison, Facebook or at my website.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 10, 2015
Really looking forward to this when it's published. Still waiting for this original story! All these haters are hilarious. It's been YEARS. Go away. The story was so original to begin with that the hate is just dumb. I'll buy it!
Shelved as 'not-for-me'
September 3, 2013See comments.
Shelved as 'rewritten-fanfic'
November 18, 2012See comments.
February 21, 2013
Originally posted as Twilight fanfic "Black and White" by Vixen1836.
It's not available in its published regurgitation, as the author is apparently still 'editing' the fanfic.
It's not available in its published regurgitation, as the author is apparently still 'editing' the fanfic.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews