Shattered Horse Book

I had wanted to read something by this incredible writer and by accident I started with a story he first wrote at age 10. It's a bit philosophical but also has plenty of action to move it along. Astyanax's yearning for the truth rings true for us all ("Why does Skyfather not appear in blazing majesty and reveal the truth?") as well as the anguish of discovering how much our perception of the world changes as we age ("Why had I persisted in believing in the things of my childhood, against all the evidence of the outside world?"). I don't know if these ideas were in the original story written by a child of ten, but if they were - WOW.

If you are interested in writing this kind of novel that draws from history but takes flight from it, you may enjoy the author's description of his process in his appendix at the end.