The Patriot Joe Morton

When the good people of Cranston, Texas, learn that a hometown boy has been killed in Iraq, they set about mounting a proper welcome for their fallen hero. But nobody thinks to ask the boy s reclusive father if such a memorial service is wanted, much less welcome. Not one to make waves, Joe Morton goes along with the townsfolk until, at last, he can bear no more. Joe finally tells Cranston just how he feels. If no one expected what happened on the Fourth of July, they are wholly unprepared for what happens next, least of all Joe Morton, whose sole act of independence brings to Cranston the two things nobody wants: change and the outside world. The Patriot Joe Morton was first-runner-up for the 2010 Pirate s Alley Faulkner Society Gold Medal for Novella.