"A solidly impressive debut by a writer worth watching."     -Publisher's Weekly     "This is a gem of a first novel."     -Midwest Book Review     "A deeply moving book...riveting."     -linguist Stephen Krashen

	"William Hart has written a powerful, arresting first novel that explores the teacher/student relationship in a new and complex way.  This is a book about heroism, about the scars of Vietnam, and, ultimately, about love."          -T. Coraghessan Boyle At a state university in mid-1980s Los Angeles, freshman English routinely turns ethnic minority and immigrant students into ex-students--until an untenured instructor bucks the system. "By turns bleak, funny, touching, and infuriating, Hart's powerful book is the Cannery Row of academia, exposing absurdity and fraud with unwavering courage.  That it is also a compelling gaze into two beautiful and broken souls makes the reading irresistible."         -B.D.Love, author of Water at the Women's Edge    "This story is one of despair and triumph that leaves a deep emotional impact on the reader."         -Sarah Lasee, The New Perspective "A terrifically executed novel."         -Marc Leepson, The VVA Veteran "Masterfully crafted, beautifully written, poignant without an ounce of sentimentality, a 'love story' in the best sense."         -Reese Danley-Kilgo, The Huntsville Times "The sense of humanity pervades everything in Never Fade Away, making for a read that won't quickly be forgotten."         -Fred Baerkircher, Colorado Daily "Will be enjoyed by anyone who has ever questioned a leader's vision."         -Elizabeth Routen, Critique Magazine "One of the best books I've read in a long time....I recommend this to anyone who has an interest in education and the treatment of minorities in our country."         -Marge Robbins, www.simegen.com "Hart's characters go straight to the heart....Someone will probably make a movie out of this book, and that would be unfortunate."         Helen H. Gordon, Midwest Book Review
	The novel's opening shows its format: alternating entries from personal journals kept by a teacher and his student.     9/3/85        Can you smell in a dream? Or did I just dream it last night? I was eighteen again, stepping from a DC-8 into Vietnam for the first time, slugged in the face by the stench of that steaming green land. It burned in my nose and lungs like nothing I'd ever known, a composite of rotting garbage, smoke from fires, human sweat--all cooking at 115 degrees. Boy did it scare me. I was thinking, if I can't even take the smell of the place...      Woke in the wee hours to an odor equally unforgettable: the fetor of deceased human flesh curing in equatorial sun. For a long time it clogged my nostrils, even though I was awake. Ended up sleeping on the living room couch, where it seemed less. This morning it was gone.      I found it easier to enter Vietnam than ever to leave. Part of me can never leave, I guess.      Sooooo, what else?...Oh yeah. Today was the first day of fall semester. Rah rah, sis boom bah.      Dutifully administered the John Goddard Electroshock Lecture to my ENGL 002 sections. Fire and brimstone did rain down till every trembling eyeball glowed in terror. Well, they've got to know we're not convened to play pattycake. Get used to it, dudes: the zeros in English 002 signify you're in college by a vagrant hair. Shine fast or we snip you.      Christ have I got a lot of Asians in those classes. Sixty percent, I bet. Workload will be a bitch, and for my pains, at semester's end, I'll preside over yet another slaughter of the innocents. Wonder how many I can rescue this time.      Crossed my mind the Department could be stacking my rosters. Perfect way to guarantee an instructor they want to get rid of has low pass rates. Yet I prefer another scenario, more flattering. Some of the Asians, I know, come looking for my sections. And they've got a pretty good grapevine going. Am I being screwed by my own competence? Tuesday, September 3      Today is first class meeting for English 002. When teacher walk in, I am disappoint. A man teacher. I think he is 40 years old, maybe. His name is Mr. Goddard.      He make strong speech, scare us to death. He tell about final exam in December how tough it will be, how we will fail for sure if we dont be serious. Usually more than 50% fail 002, he say. Next he give worser news, if you fail any English class two time, you flunk out school, that's it buddy!      Everybody so quiet to hear those evil facts. Even the guys look scare (which we know they hate). In our little class, 15 students sit, 15 stand behind to see if they can add, all are misery. Only sound is clock running, its little finger goes around, I feel misery too.      Then Mr. Goddard talk to us more positive. Inch by inch his words rise us up from misery condition. Even if final is tough, he say, some students always pass. And if our class work hard, more can do it. Also, he promise to help us every way. He is English as Second Language teacher, his job is help student like us, etc, etc, etc.      Well, he seem sincere and I want to believe. But I remember my last semester English teacher. On first day she promise we will learn so much, then she give us only lazy teaching and many harsh judgements. In that class, all fail but three.      I must watch this new teacher. Are his words and actions same, or is he another fake one? If he is fake, I must decide some other plan to pass.      Tonight, I burn money and pray to my family. I promise my parents, my grandparents, I will pass English 002 this time. As spirits they watch me everything I do, how can I lie to them or break my swear?      In this journal I make second promise. If I fail English 002 again, flunk out school, disgrace my elder generations, I will end my shameful existence.   Signed Sincerely, Tien Le No way to fail English now. Because I always keep promise, and I dont wanna die.
	ISBN 1-56474-386-1 Publication: March, 2002 Daniel & Daniel  Trade Paperback 202 pages Order Never Fade Away from Daniel and Daniel Publishers, Inc. P.O. Box 2790 McKinleyville, CA 95519 (707)839-3495 $12.95 + $3.00 P&H (any # books) Online Order Links for Never Fade Away below

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HART'S 2ND NOVEL: A SATIRE