Author Doug Cooper Wins 2014 International Book Award for Literary Fiction

CLEVELAND - Aug. 20, 2014 - PRLog -- LAS VEGAS – The International Book Awards selected Outside In as the winner of the 2014 award for Best Literary Fiction on May 21^st at the American Book Fest in Los Angeles.  Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of American Book Fest, said in a press release that this year’s contest yielded over 1200 entries from authors and publishers around the world.

Outside In explores the modern search for responsibility and identity intending to raise awareness for societal issues with self-medication and addiction so prevalent in modern culture. After the overdose death of a student on his parent’s pain medication, twenty-eight year old teacher Brad Shepherd loses his job and escapes to Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island in Lake Erie.  Waiting for him is a new, carefree lifestyle, but the freedom soon proves too much. Brad becomes lost in a haze of excess and instant-gratification. As the end of the summer nears, the grim reality of his empty quest consumes him. With nowhere left to run or hide, Brad must accept that identity cannot be found or fabricated, but emerges from within when one finds the courage to let go. Doug Cooper’s debut novel shows through the eyes of Brad Shepherd how sometimes we can only come to understand who we truly are by becoming the person we’re not.

Doug Cooper has traveled to over twenty countries on five continents, exploring the contradictions between what we believe and how we act in the pursuit of truth, beauty, and love.  He now lives in Las Vegas working on his new book The Investment Club, which is set in Vegas.  Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter or at ByCooper.com (http://www.bycooper.com/).

Outside In is available wherever books are sold in hardcover, as an ebook, and audio book narrated by the author. A portion of each sale is donated to the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Erie and Ottawa Counties in Ohio (http://www.mhrbeo.org).