The Never Fable

Before his severe head trauma is ever diagnosed, Daniel Never wanders from the hospital where he has woken onto the dark streets of Manhattan, unaware of why or when he made the trip from Philadelphia. Motivated by the psychological effects of his injuries, the suggestions of voices in his mind and the unusual tales of his dreams, the year to follow throws him, his family and the characters of his delusions into both real-life turmoil and an unlikely struggle that has spanned the course of American history. The Never Fable is, on its surface, a thriller centered around the trappings of post-traumatic psychosis, homelessness, substance abuse and rehabilitation. But beneath that surface lies great adventure - a type of historical and religious mythology paralleling Daniel's grandfather's war stories and the endless babbling of his family's television set. Throughout, Daniel flies full-speed from Andrew Jackson's invasion of Spanish Florida to everyday frustrations with an ex-girlfriend, between the bizarre death of Zachary Taylor and the difficulty of simply finding a job, from the battles of the American Civil War to the nuisances of therapy sessions and hospital visits, and then back again, full-circle, to a shocking solution to all of Daniel's problems. This is Steven Brandsdorfer's debut novel, a work of pure fiction written over many years and inspired by the fine line between reality and everything else.