Book excerpt: "The Stuff on the Inside" is a coming-of-age novel that follows a young student named Leslie Barclay. During his journey through college, Leslie battles with the finite nature of life, the collapsing health of those closest to him, and struggles to mask his identity crisis. The more the outside world fails him, the more refuge Leslie seeks within the walls of his college. Pursuing any means to cheat death and stay young forever, Leslie sells his soul to the masters that rule on campus. In this attempt to stave off the coming tide of adulthood, Leslie finds himself drowning in a sea of adolescence that he helped create. Only to discover a horrifying truth... you either get old, or you die. This novel touches on many adult conversations surrounding topics such as mental health, self-harm, death denial, and sexual assault. It is not intended for readers under the age of eighteen.