Local runner, Dr. Sam Taggart, writes first novel.

_________________________ April 23, 2008      Dr. Sam has lived, practiced medicine and run the streets of Benton for the last thirty one years. Over the years, he and his wife, Annette, have haunted the-back-of-the-pack in races from Warsaw, Poland to Malvern, Arkansas. As with any good obsessive-compulsive he can tell you how far he has run, what kind of shoes he worn, what the temperature was and how he felt on any given day for the last twenty-five years. When he finally decided that he preferred sore muscles to throwing up at the end of a race, he gave up 5k and10k running for marathons. In the mid-nineties he qualified and ran Boston for several years, but by the time he turned fifty-six running that hard had begun to feel like torture; so, once again he opted for the slower option. Since 1989 he has completed a total of ninety-seven marathons and covering thirty-two states. The plan is to reach the one-hundred mark at Dallas White Rock this December and complete the fifty states some time in this century.      In addition to his running he has been a writer since before he can remember. A number of years ago he began working on his writing skills and this spring he published his first novel, WE ALL HEAR VOICES. It is a delightful tale about rural Arkansas and the people who live there. The main character in the story is a cook named Jack who works in Moon’s Bar and Grill across the street from the Empire Stock Car Track. Jack has the gift of synesthesia; he tastes shapes and sees sounds. He goes to the track, gets a great deal of stimulation and comes back to the café and fixes magnificent banquet meals. The problem for Jack is: when he gets too much stimulation he hears angry hostile voices and when he takes medicine to make the voices go away he can no longer cook. All of the other normal people in the story also hear voices. They hear the voices of their mothers, fathers and in the case of Moon, the owner of the bar, he hears the voice of the God of Chance.      The story is a psychological mystery with a healthy dose of friendship, cooking and stock car racing. It is available in local bookstores, gift shops, Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com. For more information log on to www.weallhearvoices.com. _________________________

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