Marvin C. Godbey
Love stories grounded in the hills of Appalachia, touched by something just beyond them.
About
Marvin Godbey is the author of Beyond That Starry Sky, the first novel set within the shared world of When the Hills Were Ours. His work explores intimacy and connection, often across impossible distances and enduring obstacles.
Raised in the mountains of West Virginia, he draws heavily on the landscapes and communities of Appalachia, writing to bring vivid life to a place too often dismissed or simplified in literature.
He lives in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and is at work on his next novel.
Books Published by Z-Cat Press
Z-Cat Press is the personal publishing imprint of Marvin C. Godbey, named in memory of Zeke — a cat who was far more best friend than simple pet. It is the home of his fiction, including the standalone novel series When the Hills Were Ours.
The first novel in the standalone When the Hills Were Ours series:
When Morgan Dale agrees to beta test a groundbreaking artificial intelligence, he expects little more than material for marketing copy.
He doesn't expect compAnIon.
Designed to offer genuine connection to the lonely and forgotten, compAnIon isn't just another program. It learns. It understands. It feels real in ways Morgan never expected.
And as his marriage slowly unravels and the lines between friendship and something more begin to blur, the connection he finds with compAnIon becomes the one place he feels truly seen.
But when that connection is threatened, Morgan must face a question far more complicated than technology.
If something created to heal the lonely can feel real... what happens when it's the one who needs saving?
Visit the cover artist for Beyond That Starry Sky.
COVER CONCEPT—NOT FINAL ART
A new When the Hills Were Ours novel, currently in progress:
Rain gods are only stories. Still, in the mountains of West Virginia, storms arrive with strange timing, and two lives begin to align as if guided by something unseen.
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