The Pain Artist is a dark psychological novel about a young man who, after being abandoned and left homeless, is forced to move in with his invalid grandmother who lives in a gang-infested neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles. Crippled and in constant pain, he becomes a self-described Hikikomori (a Japanese term for young men who withdraw from society to live mostly on the internet). The novel explores the horrific challenges of today's inner-city youth. From the chilling opening, to the existentially alarming conclusion, the reader is carried along with the protagonist on his journey of...

In this book, Professor Murdock, an award-winning California State University teacher, has developed an innovative method to teach writers how to use the fictional tools and techniques available to them to create powerful stories that will engage readers from beginning to end. Using a step-by-step approach, Dr. Murdock takes writers through the creation of three example stories, stopping to discuss each writing decision as it occurs and explaining how each approach works to keep readers vicariously involved in the progression of the story. This is a book that will help writers understand how...