Author Brad Herzog is coming to Pittsburgh on tour for his quirky, modern-day homage to The Odyssey.   He’s speaking and signing books tonight at Joseph-Beth Booksellers on the South Side at 7pm, and tomorrow he’ll be at the Butler Public Library at 6pm.

Brad’s book, Turn Left at the Trojan Horse, is a cross-country excursion in the spirit of the ancient journey of the first road trip in history–The Odyssey.

But instead of a voyage home to Ithaka following the Trojan War, Herzog made his way toward his alma mater in Ithaca, New York. With middle age bearing down on him and a college reunion on his agenda, he asked himself: How has he measured up to his youthful aspirations? What constitutes a life well-lived? In this day and age, what makes a hero?

To answer those classic questions, Brad crafted an itinerary taking him through classically-named places.  He says, “I went to places like Troy, Oregon (population 50), not far from Hell’s Canyon. And Iliad, Montana, which can only be reached by traveling about 40 miles down a dirt-and-gravel road. And Siren, Wisconsin, which was almost completely destroyed by a tornado a few years ago. And other tiny towns with names like Athena and Apollo and Atlas.”

Brad explored his personal history and met some intriguing characters on the way.  He says, “I went to a rural town in Washington where an ancestor of mine is buried and discovered a hidden family secret about his murder-suicide. I met a fascinating woman in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania who was molested as a child and developed dissociative disorder, juggling more than a dozen incredibly distinct personalities. I had a heart-to-heart talk with a young Amish farmer in Plato, Indiana. I met a homeless guy in Montana who has essentially been a sort of entrepreneurial hobo for the past four decades. The two of us had a short but adventurous canoe trip on the Missouri River, right where Lewis and Clark had paddled almost exactly 200 years earlier. But we were more Martin and Lewis.”

To find out more about Brad and his book, check out his website or stop by one of his two local events.