Joseph Carl Taft is a boy with a remarkable ability he can see flashes of the future a heavy burden to bear, especially for a boy who cannot speak. The fragments Joseph sees reveal more than he wants to know and less than he can fully understand. But "Semaphore" is about more than language and the ability to move beyond one's own time. It's also about the terrible weight of fear. Brilliantly written, emotionally taut, this is an achingly beautiful novel. "Semaphore" is being released simultaneously with "Surveyor", Hawke's poignant novel about two old friends, their magical and mysterious desert home, and the sudden shift in terrain that alters both their sense of place and the structure of their friendship.