About the Book

Almost Heaven is a collection of short stories from the small country town of Ballengee, West Virginia. It mirrors memories from early adolescence in Hinton, West Virginia, to my early teenage years in Charleston, West Virginia. Each character is inspired by associations of those years. People influence us all, and their stories reflect my memories. Each story opens with a thought of a past day, presents the adventure, and closes with a moral lesson I have learned. My Father, Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick, was a minister of the Gospel for forty years. I have grown through the years following my Father’s moral teaching and found good in the least of these and peace of spirit from each challenge. I was an eighteen-wheeler navigator for twenty-seven years, and I wrote these stories to give moral guidance to my sons in my absence. They have encouraged me to share, and Almost Heaven is my contribution to the larger community.