Cosmos Coyote and William the Nice

Book excerpt: In this truly modern teenage love story, spirituality and sensuality burn equally bright. "I have these two characters I hide behind. The real one is Cosmos Coyote and the phony one is William the Nice. But sometimes I get them mixed up, like now and almost all the time when I'm with you." Cosmos DeHaag is a fast-thinking, law-bending, teenage songwriter from Seattle. In trouble with the law, he is sent to live with his conservative Christian relatives in Iowa and he splits his personality in two: William the Nice will play along, while Cosmos Coyote stays true. When he meets Cherlyn, a beautiful charismatic Christian, their passion takes them both by surprise and the lines between truth and falsehood, Cosmos and William, begin to blur. Now even Cosmos himself is unsure: is he being true when he lies, or lying when he's being true? Jim Heynen explores teenage passion and spiritual yearning in Cosmos Coyote and William the Nice, a book for older teens that breaks boundaries and will entrance readers.