Apr 9, 2025
Author Mark Mustian discusses his new Southern Gothic novel, Boy with Wings. In this work of historical fiction, a boy named Johnny Cruel is born with wing-like appendages on his back. Is he a miracle, or is he cursed? Johnny ends up in a freak show traveling through the South in the 1930’s. While he bares his back for the entertainment of onlookers, he finds that the very thing that shocks people also gives him power. Mark had long wanted to write a book about “odd people,” and he knew he finally had something special when he struck upon the idea of Johnny Cruel, the boy with wings. In this story, Mark delves into the idea of what it’s like to be different, as well as issues of race and religion in the South during the 1930s.