Novelist
Daniel (Danny) Lance Wright, Author
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Living Life By Degrees
Today I continue living life by degrees, literally. This, I’m sure, requires an explanation.
It might appear that, once again, I virtually vanished from the blogging and social media scene. And, in a way, I did. January 15th I had total knee replacement in my right leg, the result of age and an injury that ended a football career before the age of sixteen. I’ll leave that part of the story for another day. Such surgery is neither unusual nor isolated. In fact, I have many friends and acquaintances that have undergone the procedure. All but one that I sought opinions from indicated it had been a good decision to get it done. That was all I needed to hear after suffering for a number of years with a bowed leg and pain.
I totally underestimated the amount of time and pain involved in the rehabilitation process afterward.
If I’m not manipulating and stretching the joint at home, I’m icing it several times a day, plus going in for supervised physical therapy regularly. It’s not only exhausting but leaves little time for anything else. I had been working on a novel that I haven’t added a single word to since the second week of January. (By the way, hydrochodone I’m taking for pain is a creativity killer. It sort of makes me not care about anything.)
The orthopedic surgeon filled my head with scary stories of racing scar tissue before it set up and ruined my range-of-motion that might require additional surgery just to scrape it away or risk limited mobility permanently. I began physical therapy with a dismal 32 degrees of flexibility. I had to get it beyond 90 degrees within the first month and to between 110 and 120 degrees within six weeks. Now you can see why I’m living life by degrees. Currently, I’m at a 105 degree bend and breathing a bit easier and taking less pain medication. So, here I sit, blogging. It's worth noting, though, I haven’t had a pain pill yet today. I actually seem to have a few successfully firing synapses.
I’m almost ready to hit the resume button on life, but not quite. If you’ll excuse me, I must go ice the damn thing again. It’s swelling just sitting here.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Too Important To Ignore
As I’ve mentioned before, my motivations in life are seldom politically motivated. I’m the quintessential middle of the road independent in that regard. But, I heard something on the news yesterday that brought on a tingle of fear that to most folks may have been barely worth a shoulder shrug, considered business as usual in America.
Earlier this year, I published through ATTM Press a science fiction novel predicated on a global economic collapse that even two hundred years later had not resolved. It’s called “Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”. As a plot setting, it left the world in what might be described as a post-apocalyptic condition without a single bomb having to explode anywhere. The world plunged into survival mode with all advanced technology vanishing over time and even some basic technology is left in need of restoration. And, it all began with overwhelming and broad-reaching greed. I mention this because it is why the news story yesterday wrecked my thoughts for the remainder of the day and led me to post this.
It was reported yesterday that one of the largest banks in the world, HSBC, was basically slapped on the wrist for laundering money for criminal and terrorist organizations worldwide. Let me point out that this action cannot be more criminal. They were fined 1.93 billion dollars (thereabouts) or roughly five percent of last year’s profits with no person, persons or group within the organization being held accountable with prison or a conviction of any kind. Prosecutors said that they were “too big to prosecute”. Reasons given were that it would cost too many jobs and create too much turmoil in world markets.
Wouldn’t smaller banks move in to pick up the slack in a matter of weeks if HSBC had their charter yanked? Wouldn’t all the honest employees find other employment at other banks as soon as that happened? I’ll answer both questions with a resounding yes, of course. It’s a slap in the face of our economic system to believe otherwise.
Wouldn’t it serve humanity better to demand honesty and accountability through the law, regardless of size or influence of the accused? Were lucrative promises made behind closed doors in exchange for leniency? Were politicians threatened with forfeiting massive campaign contributions? Were government leaders promised under-the-table favors of any kind? Again, I answer with yes; in fact, I think I’ll say, “Hell yes!” There can be no other explanation for a company being given the equivalent of a traffic citation for a crime of such immensity.
A few years ago the government bail-out was given because certain companies were “too big to fail” and “too big to prosecute” is the next step toward problems of monumental and uncontrollable scope. What next? Will government willingly hand over control of certain aspects of power because the company is “too big to say no to”? From my perspective, we are there in many ways already, especially if our leaders are bold enough to say aloud, “They’re too big to prosecute” without tongues planted in cheeks.
In my novel, “Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”, the protagonist bemoans stupidity at a pivotal point in our nation’s economic history just prior to an irreversible collapse by stating, “The affairs of government was reduced to an office between the janitor’s closet and restrooms within corporate headquarters and served no other purpose than to print money on demand and make speeches on behalf of the company.”
“Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy” is science fiction but the current state of our nation and world indicates it may become non-fiction in my lifetime.
Earlier this year, I published through ATTM Press a science fiction novel predicated on a global economic collapse that even two hundred years later had not resolved. It’s called “Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”. As a plot setting, it left the world in what might be described as a post-apocalyptic condition without a single bomb having to explode anywhere. The world plunged into survival mode with all advanced technology vanishing over time and even some basic technology is left in need of restoration. And, it all began with overwhelming and broad-reaching greed. I mention this because it is why the news story yesterday wrecked my thoughts for the remainder of the day and led me to post this.
It was reported yesterday that one of the largest banks in the world, HSBC, was basically slapped on the wrist for laundering money for criminal and terrorist organizations worldwide. Let me point out that this action cannot be more criminal. They were fined 1.93 billion dollars (thereabouts) or roughly five percent of last year’s profits with no person, persons or group within the organization being held accountable with prison or a conviction of any kind. Prosecutors said that they were “too big to prosecute”. Reasons given were that it would cost too many jobs and create too much turmoil in world markets.
Wouldn’t smaller banks move in to pick up the slack in a matter of weeks if HSBC had their charter yanked? Wouldn’t all the honest employees find other employment at other banks as soon as that happened? I’ll answer both questions with a resounding yes, of course. It’s a slap in the face of our economic system to believe otherwise.
Wouldn’t it serve humanity better to demand honesty and accountability through the law, regardless of size or influence of the accused? Were lucrative promises made behind closed doors in exchange for leniency? Were politicians threatened with forfeiting massive campaign contributions? Were government leaders promised under-the-table favors of any kind? Again, I answer with yes; in fact, I think I’ll say, “Hell yes!” There can be no other explanation for a company being given the equivalent of a traffic citation for a crime of such immensity.
A few years ago the government bail-out was given because certain companies were “too big to fail” and “too big to prosecute” is the next step toward problems of monumental and uncontrollable scope. What next? Will government willingly hand over control of certain aspects of power because the company is “too big to say no to”? From my perspective, we are there in many ways already, especially if our leaders are bold enough to say aloud, “They’re too big to prosecute” without tongues planted in cheeks.
In my novel, “Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”, the protagonist bemoans stupidity at a pivotal point in our nation’s economic history just prior to an irreversible collapse by stating, “The affairs of government was reduced to an office between the janitor’s closet and restrooms within corporate headquarters and served no other purpose than to print money on demand and make speeches on behalf of the company.”
“Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy” is science fiction but the current state of our nation and world indicates it may become non-fiction in my lifetime.
Monday, December 3, 2012
A Nutty Kind of Wisdom
Early yesterday morning, I sat at this keyboard, fingers at the ready, attempting to force out creativity that might miraculously advance my latest novel toward some sparkling conclusion in the next couple of months. Picture, if you will, flushing rocks down a toilet and expecting them to go somewhere. Okay, now you know how hopeless my effort was, regardless of the pain in my head that followed. That pain was the only thing created.
Later, I finally gave up, grabbed a bowl full of freshly gather pecans, snatched up the cracker and then headed for the front porch. I was wearing shorts, flip-flops and a sleeveless T-shirt in eighty degree weather and began shelling pecans. The fact that it’s December and so warm is a complaint and a post for a different day. I will say, though; if I wanted this kind of weather in the last month of the year, I’d move to the tropics and at least have a beach nearby, but, enough of that.
Back to creativity; here’s something I’ve known all along but apparently needed to be reminded of, as do all people that have anything to do with the arts: Ideas and brilliant thoughts occur only when the head is clear of extraneous influences. A mindless endeavor like shelling pecans is a good way to make ideas flow, or working out at the gym, or jogging –things that require no brainpower. Forcing creativity does... not... work... ever. I’ll debate it with anyone because my mind is firmly set on this issue.
There are extremely talented novelists that are far above my pay grade that do inspired work. I’ve read novels that were so good, I committed to following the author’s work from then on, only to discover the next one to be disappointing and, maybe, the third one as well.
Dare I go so far as to call them crap? Ooh, close call, but yeah I will.
And then, a couple of years will pass and the same author will release another inspired work. In retrospect, I’m convinced that what transpired was strictly a commercial commitment. It appeared that the author agreed to a multi-book deal – the second and third written solely to sell on the weight of the author’s name.
Would I do this? Hell, yeah! What author in his/her right mind would turn it down? But, it’s not the point I’m trying to make. It simply spotlights that inspired writing requires inspiration. Yes, a fat paycheck is one form but, again, not my point. I’m speaking specifically and only of creative inspiration.
So, here’s the thing: On those days you feel as though your brain has lost every wrinkle and glossed over like the proverbial cueball, then grab a bowl of pecans and hit the porch... or something like that.
Have a great day, y’all.
Later, I finally gave up, grabbed a bowl full of freshly gather pecans, snatched up the cracker and then headed for the front porch. I was wearing shorts, flip-flops and a sleeveless T-shirt in eighty degree weather and began shelling pecans. The fact that it’s December and so warm is a complaint and a post for a different day. I will say, though; if I wanted this kind of weather in the last month of the year, I’d move to the tropics and at least have a beach nearby, but, enough of that.
Back to creativity; here’s something I’ve known all along but apparently needed to be reminded of, as do all people that have anything to do with the arts: Ideas and brilliant thoughts occur only when the head is clear of extraneous influences. A mindless endeavor like shelling pecans is a good way to make ideas flow, or working out at the gym, or jogging –things that require no brainpower. Forcing creativity does... not... work... ever. I’ll debate it with anyone because my mind is firmly set on this issue.
There are extremely talented novelists that are far above my pay grade that do inspired work. I’ve read novels that were so good, I committed to following the author’s work from then on, only to discover the next one to be disappointing and, maybe, the third one as well.
Dare I go so far as to call them crap? Ooh, close call, but yeah I will.
And then, a couple of years will pass and the same author will release another inspired work. In retrospect, I’m convinced that what transpired was strictly a commercial commitment. It appeared that the author agreed to a multi-book deal – the second and third written solely to sell on the weight of the author’s name.
Would I do this? Hell, yeah! What author in his/her right mind would turn it down? But, it’s not the point I’m trying to make. It simply spotlights that inspired writing requires inspiration. Yes, a fat paycheck is one form but, again, not my point. I’m speaking specifically and only of creative inspiration.
So, here’s the thing: On those days you feel as though your brain has lost every wrinkle and glossed over like the proverbial cueball, then grab a bowl of pecans and hit the porch... or something like that.
Have a great day, y’all.
Friday, November 16, 2012
The Latest Review of "Annie's World: Jake's Legacy"
Another review of "Annie's World: Jake's Legacy" is in. Of course, all reviewers are different, but overall I'm happy with what avid readers are saying. -dlw
***
New! LAS Reviewer "The Long and the Short Of It Reviews" reviewed Annie's World: Jake's Legacy
Fantastic Read November 8, 2012
Would you take a dangerous risk to save a stranger's child? Is it better to be thought of as a hero or increase your odds of living to see another day?
Jake's made some difficult decisions during his life. Surviving in a lawless society often means making tough choices and yet when he meets a newly orphaned girl named Annie, Jake discovers how quickly even the most deeply entrenched priorities can shift. To be honest I didn't particularly care for Jake at first due to choices he made early on. While they were understandable given the harsh environment in which he was living I had some trouble moving past them and getting to know the person he eventually becomes.
The magic happens during Jake's slow transformation as the plot thickens. It was a pleasure to see how even small, seemingly inconsequential decisions affected his character and my favourite part of this tale by far was getting to see how one change would eventually spur another.
The political message in this book was a little heavy-handed. Every time Jake talks about how society slowly crumbled over the course of a few generations due to the greed of corporations and the wealthy the story is temporarily knocked off course. It would have been more effective to spend more time showing how much the common person has suffered instead of having the main character repeat himself so often. Multiple punctuation and grammatical errors also distracted my attention from the plot.
Annie's World: Jake's Legacy is a frightening look at one possible future awaiting mankind. I'd recommend it for anyone who has ever wondered what life might really be like if there was no such thing as a centralized government and if the only law of the land was survival of the fittest.
Originally posted at LAS Sci-Fi/Fantasy Reviews
***
New! LAS Reviewer "The Long and the Short Of It Reviews" reviewed Annie's World: Jake's Legacy
Fantastic Read November 8, 2012
Would you take a dangerous risk to save a stranger's child? Is it better to be thought of as a hero or increase your odds of living to see another day?
Jake's made some difficult decisions during his life. Surviving in a lawless society often means making tough choices and yet when he meets a newly orphaned girl named Annie, Jake discovers how quickly even the most deeply entrenched priorities can shift. To be honest I didn't particularly care for Jake at first due to choices he made early on. While they were understandable given the harsh environment in which he was living I had some trouble moving past them and getting to know the person he eventually becomes.
The magic happens during Jake's slow transformation as the plot thickens. It was a pleasure to see how even small, seemingly inconsequential decisions affected his character and my favourite part of this tale by far was getting to see how one change would eventually spur another.
The political message in this book was a little heavy-handed. Every time Jake talks about how society slowly crumbled over the course of a few generations due to the greed of corporations and the wealthy the story is temporarily knocked off course. It would have been more effective to spend more time showing how much the common person has suffered instead of having the main character repeat himself so often. Multiple punctuation and grammatical errors also distracted my attention from the plot.
Annie's World: Jake's Legacy is a frightening look at one possible future awaiting mankind. I'd recommend it for anyone who has ever wondered what life might really be like if there was no such thing as a centralized government and if the only law of the land was survival of the fittest.
Originally posted at LAS Sci-Fi/Fantasy Reviews
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Unplugged
I'm really enjoying the new television series "Revolution". And, although, I think the method of power failure a bit too fanciful, I don't think it's ridiculous at all to consider the potential reality of such a world. I thought I'd re-post an earlier submission. Maybe I should've written a screen proposal to the network in May, 2011 when I first posted this.
***
Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth.
Something I think about often, and worry about a little, too, is that our entire functioning world hinges on those things that can be plugged in to a power source. As tech toys flood world markets at an alarming rate, we as humans, and supposedly sentient beings, are actually losing our humanity at the same speed. We are but a collection of numbers and symbols in a database somewhere and, therefore, living and existing at the pleasure of people who know how to manipulate those numbers and symbols.
I think, though, I want to take this discussion in a slightly different direction. Let me set a hypothetical scenario for you. Let’s say it’s the year 2012 and Osama bin Laden’s replacement is much savvier about technology than his predecessor—not how to use it, but what ceases to happen without it. Politicians and power moguls can argue all they like that we have too many redundancies in our grid system to worry much about terrorism on electricity production. I’ll only buy into that premise to a point. For the most part, I choose to believe that such talk is self-serving to maintain central control even as many different companies distribute power. The reason is simple, distributors distribute, they don’t produce.
How many remember the northeastern power outage of 1965; how about the one in 2003? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_1965
It’s not worth boring you with technical jargon or excuses for the outages. I’m not intelligent enough for that anyhow. But, what is fascinating to note, is how little it took to take down a huge chunk of the northeastern United States in an instant. And both times it stayed down for a frighteningly long period. Now, multiply that by two or three other central power producing locations.
I think you know where I’m going with this; the U-S, with the possible exception of the military, would be blind, deaf and dumb. How long do you think it would take for panic and mayhem to set in, sides chosen and warring tribes to emerge battling over scraps of food?
I challenge each one reading this to look around and count the number of young people you personally know that have no clue how a loaf of bread is made or what from, where ham comes from or how to make it, how to make cheese or butter, have never gathered eggs from a coop, have no idea how to spin yarn, sew, weave, build a chair from tree branches, or even something as simple as walking into an open pasture and knowing what is edible and what is poison. This list could go on and on. Unfortunately, these are the people that now rule the world and are currently breeding offspring that think their futures hinge on new products from Apple and Microsoft or how well the stock of one investment company does versus another, or what political party will best serve them.
I think I’ll get to work writing a novel of catastrophe and call it, “The Geek That Inherited The Earth” or maybe, “The United States Unplugged”. Of course neither have much hope of a happy ending if I insist on too many truisms. I would have to go whole hog and create a fantasy world because, really, who’d believe society could collapse just because someone pulled the power plug. Absurd. Right?
***
Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth.
Something I think about often, and worry about a little, too, is that our entire functioning world hinges on those things that can be plugged in to a power source. As tech toys flood world markets at an alarming rate, we as humans, and supposedly sentient beings, are actually losing our humanity at the same speed. We are but a collection of numbers and symbols in a database somewhere and, therefore, living and existing at the pleasure of people who know how to manipulate those numbers and symbols.
I think, though, I want to take this discussion in a slightly different direction. Let me set a hypothetical scenario for you. Let’s say it’s the year 2012 and Osama bin Laden’s replacement is much savvier about technology than his predecessor—not how to use it, but what ceases to happen without it. Politicians and power moguls can argue all they like that we have too many redundancies in our grid system to worry much about terrorism on electricity production. I’ll only buy into that premise to a point. For the most part, I choose to believe that such talk is self-serving to maintain central control even as many different companies distribute power. The reason is simple, distributors distribute, they don’t produce.
How many remember the northeastern power outage of 1965; how about the one in 2003? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_1965
It’s not worth boring you with technical jargon or excuses for the outages. I’m not intelligent enough for that anyhow. But, what is fascinating to note, is how little it took to take down a huge chunk of the northeastern United States in an instant. And both times it stayed down for a frighteningly long period. Now, multiply that by two or three other central power producing locations.
I think you know where I’m going with this; the U-S, with the possible exception of the military, would be blind, deaf and dumb. How long do you think it would take for panic and mayhem to set in, sides chosen and warring tribes to emerge battling over scraps of food?
I challenge each one reading this to look around and count the number of young people you personally know that have no clue how a loaf of bread is made or what from, where ham comes from or how to make it, how to make cheese or butter, have never gathered eggs from a coop, have no idea how to spin yarn, sew, weave, build a chair from tree branches, or even something as simple as walking into an open pasture and knowing what is edible and what is poison. This list could go on and on. Unfortunately, these are the people that now rule the world and are currently breeding offspring that think their futures hinge on new products from Apple and Microsoft or how well the stock of one investment company does versus another, or what political party will best serve them.
I think I’ll get to work writing a novel of catastrophe and call it, “The Geek That Inherited The Earth” or maybe, “The United States Unplugged”. Of course neither have much hope of a happy ending if I insist on too many truisms. I would have to go whole hog and create a fantasy world because, really, who’d believe society could collapse just because someone pulled the power plug. Absurd. Right?
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Focus, Man, Focus!
I’m sure you’re aware of all the bumper sticker clichés that have to do with goal setting and success in life. As examples: “If you can see it, you can be it.” “To visualize it is to become it.” “You can do anything you can imagine.” “Success begins with an unshakable mental image.” And, the list goes on and on.
While still working in the sales and marketing side of the television industry, I was fed a steady diet of it over a number of years and usually the television station paid handsomely for some outsider in an expensive hotel ballroom to indoctrinate, or reinforce, the minions of sales people in attendance – usually about once a year.
If you think I’m about to get down and negative about this sort of thing; I’m not. In fact, I remain a huge fan and proponent of such imagery and goal setting. What’s the point of starting anything, unless you can create a mind’s-eye image of successfully completing it?
So far, I’ve laid down three paragraphs to simply set up questions I have for me and for you: How does success visualization and goal setting evolve as we get older? Or, should it change at all? Is it normal at, or near, retirement to stop doing such things? I wonder about this often as I attempt to analyze myself in this regard.
Oh, I still visualize success and set goals, but it’s becoming an increasingly narrower endeavor. What I mean is that I, once upon a time, dreamed of becoming a novelist – beneath that umbrella were a number of stories I wanted to write. I not only had a vision of becoming an author but a highly detailed mental image of success doing it. Now, I don’t see things in such grandiose fashion. Instead, I see myself successfully completing the novel in progress.
There was a time I’d stand in the center of a room and totally remodel it in my mind before I ever picked up a saw or hammer. Only then did I go about the job of making that room fit what I saw. Now, I spend a week, or so, trying to visualize re-gluing a rickety chair.
I wonder; now that I likely have more sand at the bottom of my hourglass than the top, is that normal? Or, could it be that I’m sabotaging my creative future with such a narrowing approach?
If you know me at all by now, you surely realize that when I latch onto a philosophical notion like this, I can’t seem to let it go until I get it down in print. Some people talk it out. I write it out.
Right now, I’m trying to develop a mental image of breakfast. That’s about it. But, on the upside, it's becoming crystal clear.
Y’all have a wonderful day.
Author of
"Six Years' Worth"/Father's Press/mainstream/print & ebook
"Paradise Flawed"/Dream Books LLC/action-adventure/print & ebook
"Where Are You, Anne Bonny?"/Rogue Phoenix Press/ historical drama/ ebook only
“Trouble”, short story/CrossTIME Science Fiction Anthology, Vol. IX/print only
“Dancing Away”/ short story/romance/Untreed Reads/ebook only
“Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”/ATTM Press/soft science fiction/print & ebook
“Helping Hand For Ethan/Rogue Phoenix Press/young adult/print & ebook
“Phobia”/Booktrope/suspense-thriller/print & ebook
“Defining Family”/Whiskey Creek Press/young adult/print & ebook
“The Last Radiant Heart” (re-release)/Sage Words Publishing/science fiction/print & ebook
COMING SOON
“Hackberry Corners, Texas 1934”
“Zero To Love”
While still working in the sales and marketing side of the television industry, I was fed a steady diet of it over a number of years and usually the television station paid handsomely for some outsider in an expensive hotel ballroom to indoctrinate, or reinforce, the minions of sales people in attendance – usually about once a year.
If you think I’m about to get down and negative about this sort of thing; I’m not. In fact, I remain a huge fan and proponent of such imagery and goal setting. What’s the point of starting anything, unless you can create a mind’s-eye image of successfully completing it?
So far, I’ve laid down three paragraphs to simply set up questions I have for me and for you: How does success visualization and goal setting evolve as we get older? Or, should it change at all? Is it normal at, or near, retirement to stop doing such things? I wonder about this often as I attempt to analyze myself in this regard.
Oh, I still visualize success and set goals, but it’s becoming an increasingly narrower endeavor. What I mean is that I, once upon a time, dreamed of becoming a novelist – beneath that umbrella were a number of stories I wanted to write. I not only had a vision of becoming an author but a highly detailed mental image of success doing it. Now, I don’t see things in such grandiose fashion. Instead, I see myself successfully completing the novel in progress.
There was a time I’d stand in the center of a room and totally remodel it in my mind before I ever picked up a saw or hammer. Only then did I go about the job of making that room fit what I saw. Now, I spend a week, or so, trying to visualize re-gluing a rickety chair.
I wonder; now that I likely have more sand at the bottom of my hourglass than the top, is that normal? Or, could it be that I’m sabotaging my creative future with such a narrowing approach?
If you know me at all by now, you surely realize that when I latch onto a philosophical notion like this, I can’t seem to let it go until I get it down in print. Some people talk it out. I write it out.
Right now, I’m trying to develop a mental image of breakfast. That’s about it. But, on the upside, it's becoming crystal clear.
Y’all have a wonderful day.
Author of
"Six Years' Worth"/Father's Press/mainstream/print & ebook
"Paradise Flawed"/Dream Books LLC/action-adventure/print & ebook
"Where Are You, Anne Bonny?"/Rogue Phoenix Press/ historical drama/ ebook only
“Trouble”, short story/CrossTIME Science Fiction Anthology, Vol. IX/print only
“Dancing Away”/ short story/romance/Untreed Reads/ebook only
“Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”/ATTM Press/soft science fiction/print & ebook
“Helping Hand For Ethan/Rogue Phoenix Press/young adult/print & ebook
“Phobia”/Booktrope/suspense-thriller/print & ebook
“Defining Family”/Whiskey Creek Press/young adult/print & ebook
“The Last Radiant Heart” (re-release)/Sage Words Publishing/science fiction/print & ebook
COMING SOON
“Hackberry Corners, Texas 1934”
“Zero To Love”
Sunday, October 21, 2012
I want to share this review from Midwest Book Reviews', Diane Donovan. I hope you enjoy reading the review as much as I enjoyed receiving it. And, of course, I hope you buy the novel, "Defining Family", and develop your own opinion.
Defining Family
Daniel Lance Wright
Whiskey Creek Press
PO Box 51052, Casper, WY 82605-1052
9781611602456, $4.99, www.amazon.com
http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1022
Defining Family is a powerful young adult novel which opens in a Texas children's home when a prank gone awry sends four sheltered teens into the world on the run from the law.
For teen Samantha, recovering from a nightmare of childhood sexual abuse by her parents, it means re-entering a world which has defined her life and fears with one event.
For Rebecca, it's all about antagonizing Samantha, whom she sees as controlling others around her by intimidation. Covered with tattoos and piercings, Rebecca's hard exterior hides a tender heart and a fondness she holds for Aaron.
Speaking of Aaron, his quest to live a less fearful life brings them all into danger, while Amy has her own demons to flee.
While running makes sense at the time, the four teens eventually realize that flight isn't bringing them any further from trouble, and is ultimately bringing them closer together in an ever-tightening quest for survival.
Romance, survival, trust, betrayal, and quests for maturity affect the friends as they move through countryside and bring challenges which will bring them full-circle to confront their own inner demons of their pasts.
DEFINING FAMILY is about more than defining family or coming of age without one. It's about breaking down barriers to intimacy through shared experiences and struggles for both individual and group survival - and it's about finding a place in the world rather than running from it.
Teens interested in a gripping coming-of-age survival saga will find much to relish in this moving saga.
Defining Family
Daniel Lance Wright
Whiskey Creek Press
PO Box 51052, Casper, WY 82605-1052
9781611602456, $4.99, www.amazon.com
http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1022
Defining Family is a powerful young adult novel which opens in a Texas children's home when a prank gone awry sends four sheltered teens into the world on the run from the law.
For teen Samantha, recovering from a nightmare of childhood sexual abuse by her parents, it means re-entering a world which has defined her life and fears with one event.
For Rebecca, it's all about antagonizing Samantha, whom she sees as controlling others around her by intimidation. Covered with tattoos and piercings, Rebecca's hard exterior hides a tender heart and a fondness she holds for Aaron.
Speaking of Aaron, his quest to live a less fearful life brings them all into danger, while Amy has her own demons to flee.
While running makes sense at the time, the four teens eventually realize that flight isn't bringing them any further from trouble, and is ultimately bringing them closer together in an ever-tightening quest for survival.
Romance, survival, trust, betrayal, and quests for maturity affect the friends as they move through countryside and bring challenges which will bring them full-circle to confront their own inner demons of their pasts.
DEFINING FAMILY is about more than defining family or coming of age without one. It's about breaking down barriers to intimacy through shared experiences and struggles for both individual and group survival - and it's about finding a place in the world rather than running from it.
Teens interested in a gripping coming-of-age survival saga will find much to relish in this moving saga.
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