Joe Langston is the embodiment of all that the American work ethic is supposed to produce. He is a good man. A loving husband and father. A competent and dedicated executive. Little can he know that now, just as he is poised to reap the rewards of a lifetime of professional devotion, the values on which he has built both his personal and his business life are about to be rocked to their foundation.
By the people he trusts most. The boss he admires. His best friends. Even his family.
Beginning with the day he expects to be welcomed into the boardroom of one of the world’s richest conglomerates, Leviathan’s Scales is the story of Langston’s perplexing fall from grace, his banishment to a remote small town in the Mississsippi River Valley and the heartbreaking defiance through which he regains his zest for life. It's filled with unforgettable characters, including the stern and disheveled old Texan.who is Langston's boss and mentor, the sly and manipulative executive who enjoys toying with Langston's life, a delightfully vulgar transplant from Chicago who gives Langston new insights into the nature of friendship and many more.
MacArthur Payne has discovered something. Faith. A faith that will permit him to live the life he has always wanted. A faith that moves mountains. A faith that changes lives - his own and those of all the people he loves. All he needs to do, he is certain, is to follow the ancient lead of the prophet Abraham - and buy a ticket for the Michigan Lottery. His story is the opening for a diverse collection of tales, including a confrontation with a Wild West gunfighter, an orphaned teenager's encounter with justice, a frightening discovery by a mayfly swarm on a country pond and more.
I was a contributing writer to this 2013 project examining the causes and effects of plagiarism and fabrication in journalism and helping identify strategies to address them. It was published by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Copy Editors Society.