RELEASE JUNE 2026
AN EXPLORER
IN A VANISHING
WORLD
Leaving a familiar world behind, on a five year journey, a restless twenty-two-year-old American with little money starts in Europe and heads east. Across the legendary overland trail from Europe to Turkey under martial law, Iran in the final days of the Shah, Afghanistan before its collapse, and in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistan war he finds adventure.
What begins as youthful innocence and curiosity soon becomes a five-year immersion in cultures, unpredictable dangers, and intoxicating freedoms far removed from life back home.
Along the way he consorts with smugglers, mystics, wanderers, jihadist, sikhs and fellow travelers chasing promises of an era; drugs, sex, freedom, risk, peace and the thrill of the unknown.
DROP OUT captures a remarkable moment in time, when the world felt open, borders were porous, and a young traveler could simply head east and see what happens.
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
Having lived through the period, with friends who dropped out for a time, it's a regret in my life. An exhilarating story with refreshing candor.
POWERFULL, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
An insight in time; with culture, geopolitics, antics and frolics of a young man attacking the world. Gaining knowledge few achieve in a life time - a must read.
STIMULATING , INFORMATIVE, FULLY RECOMMENDED
I would have never let my boy take this journey; but, a man in his twenties wouldn't ask mother. The activities are variously cruel, heart warming, exoctic, dangerous and enlighting.
WORTH EVERY PARENT AND YOUNG MAN'S TIME.
JAMES
LAWYER
KRISTINE
AUTHOR
JANELL
MOTHER
Founded by a team of passionate book lovers, Drop Out Press is dedicated to connecting readers with the stories that matter. We offer a wide range of genres, from fiction to non-fiction, ensuring there’s something for everyone. Our commitment is to foster a love for reading and support authors in sharing their voices.
BIO
J. (Jay) Eugene is a wandering flâneur drawn to the margins of society; from teeming cities, to Himalayan trails, to the isolation of North Korea. For more than fifty years, his curiosity in people, cultures, economics, and geopolitics has placed him in regions on the edge of transformation.
Jay has lived in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He spent two decades as an executive building and leading businesses worldwide. Now based in the U.S., he still sets out with a small leather bag each year, and circles the globe in search of places in transition. Travel, it seems, remains his first and most persistent calling.
DROP OUT is drawn from his first five-year overland sojourn across Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India in the 1970s.
Lost in Time
Five -Year Overland Journey
