Why Blame the Stars?

by Michael Segedy

When the paths of Zoe Asfah and Miles Blake accidentally cross one quiet, summer afternoon on a lonely country bridge, they feel this inexplicable attraction. Is it fate? Maybe. For sure, it's not their backgrounds, which couldn't be more different. Zoe is the daughter of prosperous Ethiopian immigrants who live on the affluent side of town, while Miles is the son of a poor, single white mother who can barely make ends meet and struggles with serious bouts of depression.

Although stratums apart on the socio-economic ladder, they both attend the same university, but for different reasons. Career-focused Zoe seems destined to become a doctor, like her father, and Miles, well, his concerns are larger than simply nailing down a career. So large that he believes he has little choice in addressing them.

The different lenses Zoe and Miles see life through, the moments of laughter they share, the support and love they give each other, and their philosophical reflections on fate define the focus of this witty, humorous, heart-wrenching novel filled with laughter, love, mystery, and sorrow.

167 pages, Hardcover

Published March 26, 2017

About the author

Michael Segedy is an award winning author. Over the years he has lived abroad in faraway places such as Taiwan, Israel, Morocco, and Peru. His life overseas has inspired him to write thrillers that include scenes set in foreign lands.

Novels to date:

Hampton Road, a psychological thriller
In Deep, a political thriller
Cupiditas, a political thriller
Evil's Root, a compilation of In Deep and Cupiditas
EMMA: Emergent Movement of Militant Anarchists, a terrorist thriller
Our Darker Angel, a crime thriller
Sanctimonious Serial Killers, a crime thriller

Apart from writing novels, Michael has published three non-fiction works:

A Critical Look at John Gardner's Grendel
Teaching Literature and Writing in the Secondary Classroom
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson with Introduction, Notes, and Lessons by Michael Segedy

He's also published numerous academic articles about literature and writing in various scholarly journals.

Gwendolyn Brooks, former poet laureate of Illinois, presented him with Virginia English Bulletin's first place writing award.

He and his family currently spend half of the year living in the US and the other half in Lima, Peru.