Author of Island Woman and Gregory’s Anomaly
Richard Sessions’ second novel, Gregory’s Anomaly, published by Lucky Bat Books, is a medical thriller exploring public, religious and family reactions to a shocking discovery that challenges our thinking about our evolutionary family tree. In a book that stays apace with new findings in science, Sessions takes us on a mind-expanding and suspenceful ride.
Gregory’s Anomaly, The story:
Has a new branch been added to the Homo sapiens family tree?
Six-month old Gregory Shenko defies traditional scientific thinking when an electroencephalogram (EEG) reveals extremely high voltages coming from an oversized lesion in his brain. When the university doctors caring for Gregory experience violent episodic headaches and claim the episodes somehow stem from Gregory’s brain “anomaly,” the academic and public controversies explode and speculation runs rampant. Could another line of hominid have survived the evolutionary process or are the reports merely a hoax?
Public reaction drives Gregory, his mother, and his pediatrician into hiding. Years later, an adolescent misadventure brings the Neanderthal-appearing Gregory back into the public’s attention and the world must decide: What makes a human “human”?
Island Woman
Richard Sessions’ first novel, Island Woman, was published in 1997, and the ebook published by Lucky Bat Books in 2013. This historical fiction novel takes place in the early 1700’s off the west coasts of the Americas. Abbie Spence, a recent graduate of Reed College, is put back in time against her will and encounters Chumash Indians, Spanish warships, hacienda landowners, and much more during the time when Spain controlled the New World. The author was inspired to write this book based on his sailing experiences to the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara.
About Richard Sessions
A fourth-generation Californian, Richard Sessions grew up and attended college in the San Joaquin Valley. After a stint as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy, he moved to Los Angeles and received a Master’s degree from USC before taking a position at UCLA in pediatric research administration involving “high risk” infants. He held other senior administrative positions working closely with medical scientists and engineers while obtaining a second Master’s degree from UCLA.
After 19 years he was recruited by a neuroscience institute at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. Eleven years later, he co-founded a couple of start-up biotechnology companies. All of these scientific and academic experiences provided grist for Gregory’s Anomaly, which Sessions calls his academic medical thriller.