STROKE OF GENIUS
"They thought he was finished. They were wrong."
A thriller by Vince B. Bailey. 25 years in publishing. Stroke took my words. I wrote a thriller to get them back.
"They thought he was finished. They were wrong."
A thriller by Vince B. Bailey. 25 years in publishing. Stroke took my words. I wrote a thriller to get them back.
Frank Bennett is a successful executive at the top of his game. Buying NexaTech was the biggest accomplishment of his career. Then a stroke suddenly leaves him with aphasia, taking away something he has always depended on — his ability to communicate.
As Frank fights to recover and find his words again, he realizes somebody is trying to take control of the company and sell it out from under him. Frank doesn’t know who is behind it, who he can trust, or how deep the betrayal goes. And the closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous it becomes.
Now Frank has to protect NexaTech while navigating a world where people mistake his difficulty speaking for an inability to think. They think the stroke has taken him out of the game. They’re wrong.
This is where the next ones will live.
Since 2012, I’ve taught production, editing, and writing to young people in Fresno through the Alliance Magazine Workshop. The students make the magazine themselves — every page is theirs.
The Central Valley Sport Report.
Vince B. Bailey spent more than 25 years in publishing, working with some of the most recognizable magazine brands in the country, including Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vibe, Spin, Time, People, and Sports Illustrated. He also taught magazine production at the Columbia Publishing Course at Columbia University for several years.
He has served on the boards of Valley Teen Ranch and the Fresno chapter of the NAACP, and serves on the board of Black Students of California United. He founded the Alliance Magazine Workshop, which has taught production, editing, and writing to young people in Fresno since 2012.
In July 2023, he suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with aphasia — a condition that affects the ability to speak, read, and write. He had to relearn his ABC’s. He spent the next three years fighting back — with therapy, with technology, and with everything he had.
Vince is originally from New York and remains a lifelong, long-suffering New York Knicks fan. After 53 years, the Knicks finally won a championship. After three years of recovery, he finally wrote a book. Some things are worth the wait.