Christopher Scotton is an experienced public speaker, seminar leader, online marketer and technology entrepreneur. After a stint as a venture capitalist, he joined his third start-up, a computer-aided design (CAD) software company, where he is currently President and CEO. Scotton is a recognized expert and frequent speaker on search engine marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing and online lead generation.
[A] pulse-quickening debut...Scotton tempers his Gothic tale with
poignant insights into the crushing weight of loss...THE SECRET
WISDOM OF THE EARTH melds beguiling characters with an urgent
ecological message.--O Magazine
A deeply moving story about human cruelty and
compassion...wonderful...This book reminded me a little of Harper
Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird'--The Oklahoman
A masterpiece...Scotton sketches a rainbow of humanity...splendid
and hopeful. Scotton's undeniable love and awe for this region
shine through as he painstakingly portrays strokes of beauty in man
and nature...The belief that everyone can make a difference in even
the smallest of efforts shines optimism in the bleakest corners of
the novel.--Shelf Awareness
A page turner...What [Scotton] should be congratulated on is his
willingness to tell a new story in an old neighborhood, to draw
characters who are thoroughly human, and to create a story that
leads to terror and redemption, love and survival. --The New York
Times Book Review
Astonishingly confident debut novel...a hugely powerful meditation
on the deep cost of change...that will absolutely rivet his readers
with an virtuoso combination of uplift and heartbreak. Writing
careers don't begin any more promising than this.--Christian
Science Monitor
Christopher Scotton's first novel opens with such a grand sweep of
language that I knew at once I was in the hands of a master
storyteller. I was swept up in the drama of a boy watching his
world come apart. The book is big as all get-out--human and warm,
richly detailed, beautifully told, impossible to put down.--Mark
Childress, author of Georgia Bottoms
Gut-wrenching...A powerful epic of people and place, loss and love,
reconciliation and redemption.--Kirkus (Starred Review)
How marvelous to start the year of reading with Christopher
Scotton's big-hearted THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH...In the world
created by Scotton, Appalachia is more than verdant or
hardscrabble... Scotton writes with deep understanding about how
the mines eventually got played out and the impact of mountaintop
removal... Evil may defy understanding, but in that inquiry into
evil, this lovely novel brings readers closer.--The Chicago
Tribune
Marvelous...Scotton writes with deep understanding...with a vivid
but light touch.--News and Observer
Scotton is a natural storyteller with a terrific knack for visiting
trouble upon his characters and pushing them into
confrontation...Not a page goes by without a threat, a promise, an
action or a reckoning...expertly woven.--The Washington Post
Scotton's finely wrought characters, perfectly paced plot, and keen
sense of place make THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTHresonate with the
reader long after the book has been finished.--Catherine Weller,
Weller Book Works
Solid, sometimes soaring debut...written in taut, propulsive
prose...a big, old-fashioned yarn well worth the telling.--USA
Today
The coming-of-age story is enriched by depictions of the earth's
healing and redemptive power...makes for compelling reading when
the action grows intense-managing, like the landscape it describes,
to be simultaneously frightening and beautiful.--Publishers
Weekly
The debut novel from Christopher Scotton weaves the impacts of
mountaintop removal mining into a poignant story of humanity and
healing.--Appalachian Voices
THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH is a marvelous debut...The setting,
in the coal country of Appalachia, is rich in history and lore and
tragedy. A young teenager comes of age under the wise counsel of
his grandfather. An ugly murder haunts a small town. The story has
everything a big, thick novel should have, and I hated to put it
down.--John Grisham
Violent and wonderfully tender...bittersweet...full of gorgeously
rendered, intricately interwoven story threads...But it's Scotton's
clear love of and respect for his subject--and his refusal to rely
on cliches when describing Appalachia's humble people, their trials
or their successes--that makes the novel so surprisingly uplifting
at times, and profoundly rewarding.--San Francisco Gate
With its hardscrabble setting and cast of burdened characters
hemmed in by seemingly insurmountable circumstances, Scotton's
violent and wonderfully tender novel speaks not only to a bevy of
America's centuries-old troubles but also to our frustrated yet
ardent attempts at fixing them.--San Francisco Gate
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