Friends to the End is the book that sent me off on a path I’d never imagined.
When I first started writing it in late 1999, my main intention was to write something a bit unusual; a book that wasn’t appearing in the dozens by different authors under different titles in every bookstore in the country.
I began writing this book about a male victim of domestic violence, under the same misapprehensions that most people held at the time, and still hold today: that there is the same help available for male victims as there is for women. All anyone in this kind of situation need do is pick up a phone and help will surely come.
I don’t know why I didn’t know better. After all, I’d been working with and around the social services in my community for over a decade at the time. Yet, when I began searching the internet for the agencies that provided services for male victims, so I could be sure to have my facts straight, I found that these agencies did not exist. Not only did they not exist, some of the women-only agencies were quite put out with me that I should even ask about such services.
Once I did find a good resource, I had to practically re-write the book from the ground up, as it was based on ideas that were simply impossible in the real world.
I have to admit I never tried very hard to find a “traditional” publisher, as I’m a citizen of cyberspace through and through. So it happened that the book was published in e-book format twice – but not until now in hard copy.
People have been nudging me for some time to do this, not the least of whom is Jan Brown, Executive Director of the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men & Women. She’s always felt that Friends is an approachable book on the subject, that needs to be available to the general public. Yes, it is fiction, but I’ve been assured by male victims themselves that everything that happens in the book has happened to one or more of them, too.
You’ll probably think that it’s pricey for a paperback, and I suppose that’s true, but I’ve priced it so that DAHMW can make some cash from the proceeds. You see, every dime above costs is going straight to DAHMW. Not a percentage, not a portion, but the whole thing.
If you really can’t afford the paperback, it’s available in download form for $5, and DAHMW still gets a nice donation. Or free downloads are here.
If you’re a blogger or traditional journalist who’d like to review the book, I’d be happy to send you a copy in MSWord form. Shoot me an e-mail with your URL or the name of your publication, and I’ll send it along.
This one is about the pre-Google, pre MySpace era of the internet, when e-mail discussion groups with members numbering in the hundreds and thousands were not uncommon. With its dated references, (written in 1999) it almost classifies as historical fiction. ;>)
The story centers on the annual in-person conference of the Outriders, and longtime members Fran and Alan, who are meeting F2F for the first time. This is not just another “cybergeeks in love” story, as they are being stalked by religious radicals who would be comical if they weren’t so freaking dangerous!
