In Trebor Healey’s poetic literary debut, Through It Came Bright Colors, 21-year-old Neill Cullane's world suddenly implodes when his younger brother is diagnosed with cancer. Set in 1990s San Francisco, the story charts the trials and tribulations of Neill's family as they scramble to deal with and make sense of their tragedy, visiting UCSF Hospital for surgery after surgery, while Neill precariously clings to his role as brother and caretaker, even as the issues that his brother's illness has brought to the surface threaten to overwhelm him.

 

When he meets the enigmatic Vince Malone, himself a cancer patient, Neill begins to finally face up to the urgency in his own life and allows himself to be seduced by the beautiful junkie/philosopher/thief. Their stormy, secretive relationship, played out in a Tenderloin residential hotel, both liberates Neill and adds to his woes, for unlike his brother, Vince resists Neill's efforts at every turn, continually challenging his motivations and beliefs. What's more, Neill now has a secret that he is afraid to share with his family, concerned that he will disappoint his parents and cause them further heartache at the worst possible time.

 

Vince dismisses such caution as cowardice, but despite his seeming callousness and his own self-destructiveness, there is a kind of generosity in how Vince imparts his hard-won wisdom, knowingly or not, which ultimately makes him the primary catalyst in Neill's growth. Together the doomed lovers hunt down books, indulge in drugs and drink, visit a Tibetan lama, and take a fateful trip to the High Sierra. But it isn't until Vince makes a final, irreversible sacrifice that Neill comes to understand that far from wounding his family further, his revelation can in fact heal and help his family to rediscover its lost wholeness.