The American Martyr
They didn’t want to go to war. They chose a different way out. Only one of them survived.
With a devastating overseas conflict escalating, the United States reinstates the draft. For Brian Brample and his friends, the war feels remote—until it suddenly isn’t.
Facing conscription into a fight they believe is unwinnable, they make a decision meant to take control of their fate.
But the plan goes wrong.
Brian wakes up the only survivor of a tragedy that instantly becomes national news. Overnight, he is transformed from an anonymous teenager into the center of a political and media firestorm.
To the public, he is everything at once: victim, symbol, villain, warning.
To everyone else, he is something simpler.
Someone to blame.
As investigations, lawsuits, and public outrage close in, Brian is forced to navigate a country that needs his story more than it needs the truth.
Surviving was not the end of the nightmare. It was the beginning.
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An overseas war is going badly.
With casualties mounting and America's allies on the brink of defeat, the United States government makes a controversial decision: reinstate the military draft.
For Brian Brample and his friends, the war feels distant and meaningless. They are teenagers focused on graduation, friendship, and weekend paintball games—not dying on a foreign battlefield with a near-certain mortality rate.
Faced with conscription, they make a shocking choice. If they are going to die, they will die on their own terms.
But when the planned mass suicide goes horribly wrong, Brian becomes the lone survivor.
Suddenly, he finds himself at the center of a national firestorm. Politicians need someone to blame. The media needs a villain. Protesters need a symbol. As lawsuits, criminal investigations, and public outrage consume his life, Brian discovers that surviving may be far worse than dying.
Abandoned by friends, betrayed by family, and trapped in a system desperate for a scapegoat, Brian must confront a question that divides an entire nation:
When does a victim become a monster?
A gripping thriller about politics, responsibility, and the devastating consequences of survival.
The Many Faces of Brian Brample
Brian Brample is a complicated young man is forced to put his beliefs and morals on the line against society and his government.
King Death represents the worst moment of a young man's life and the moniker put upon him from a society who refused to understand his plight.
Adolph of Nazareth is a natural attempt to give the middle finger to those who shunned him. A desire to take everything the world hates and loves forcing them to intertwine through true logic.
The King of Us is another moniker forced upon the boy but from a perspective of acceptance and thanks.
Jehon represents the light within us all, the care for others, the sense of charity, the angel on one shoulder.
Luke represents the evil within us all, the selfishness, the greed, the devil on the other shoulder.
But in the end they all are a part of the American Martyr.
The Exploitation of Brian Brample
Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be an astronaut.
You can’t be anything you want
You will die at sixteen
Teacher, what was the Revolutionary War about?
Independence from a King for oppression under elected tyrants
Dad – As long as you’re under my roof
Boss – I don’t pay you to think
Government – Of the people by the people and for the people
But they own your soul
-Adolf Of Nazareth
A teenager becomes the sole survivor of a failed group suicide meant to avoid the draft, only to be turned into a national symbol, scapegoat, and target in a political storm.
Paperback / Hardback
Books and E-Books
A fugitive security guard is pulled into a decades-spanning conspiracy after discovering a shadowy organization linked to a double murder and a later stadium bombing.
A coming-of-age romance set in small-town Texas as two young people grow up, fall in love, and navigate a changing America during the civil rights era.
Other Titles by Richard W. Kelly
