Does art have the power to transform? Jon Baxter has big dreams. Make cool art, meet hot girls, dive a Porsche. His reality is a million mile away - beer guzzling father, naive mother, house a shambles and the little town a dead end. Not to mention the fact that he's now in jail. Yet, somehow, Jon stumbles upon one chance at a dream, one chance at a way out. Unfortunately Jon is his own worst enemy. He resists and fights his teachers at every turn. He hates the art school persona, particularly Cindy-that hippie girl who everyone says is so "talented," while his own art is labeled as cliche, sexist and immature. The only thing Jon does like is Katerina, a struggling student and former stripper with more baggage than Southwest Air. As Jon flirts with disaster, he chances upon a unique and powerful professor who rattles Jon to his very core. Now armed with the weapons of paintbrush and fire, Jon must enter the labyrinth of his own soul. Only within this crucible of paint and heat lives the potential for transformation and powerful artistic expression -- if Jon can summon the courage to see it through. The Boy Who Painted Fire is a coming of age story in the narrative tradition of the Bildungsroman, told with uncanny depth and authenticity. It provides anyone who has explored their own creativity, or enjoys the arts, a fun, quirky, irreverent, yet moving and transformative reading experience. It is a journey of struggle, inspiration and redemption, with a host of memorable characters, all of whom change Jon in some way, as he struggles with art, love, truth, and ultimately, his own soul."