In early August every year for the last 10 years, I have the pleasure of attending the Abilities Expo in Houston to run the Artists Market. We have 6 booths (this year 8!) featuring artists with disabilities selling their artwork.

This is where I first met Author Ron Hull from Houston. Ron is a prolific writer. He writes poetry, novels and short stories.Ron is a very interesting man to talk to and we always have great conversations when we see each other at Abilities Expo. Sometimes he is featured in our Artist Market so I have three full days to spend time with him. Or if he isn’t selling his books at the event he always makes it a point to stop by our booths, usually purchasing art. Ron is an avid art collector.

Ron is always so kind and gifts me copies of his books. I have read his short story collection It’s in the Water and Other Stories and also his Autobiography. Both great reads. I don’t tend to read his novels because they aren’t in my area of interest. Ron writes in the genres of historical science fiction and action.

At the most recent Abilities Expo Ron gave me a copy of his latest novel The Last Wanderer. This book is an “apocalyptic end of the world as we know it” novel. Not my usual type of book, but I was intrigued and gave it a try.
I was very impressed with this novel and had a hard time putting it down. What I really like about Ron’s writing style is that he writes about very intellectual topics in a very easy to read manner without making the reader feel stupid and also without going on and on about theory and background. He states his case in a succinct factual manner and moves the action along nicely with interesting characters and dialogue.

I mean this is a novel about the last man on earth, a lone human traveling across the US in a large tractor trailer for over 20 years. That seems like it could get boring quickly. But surprisingly it didn’t! This unnamed traveler meets much adventure on his trip.

This book definitely got me thinking…How far are we as a society from total devastation of our people and our planet? If I was one of the last humans on earth, how long would I survive? Do I have the tenacity and the skills to take care of myself in such a situation? What would life be like if contact with another human was an unknown?
I highly recommend Ron Hull’s most recent novel and I am so happy to know him and help promote him as an Art Spark Texas Artist of the Month.

To learn more about Ron, his books, or to read his weekly poem visit Ron Hull’s website.

April Sullivan

Artworks Director