A.H. Pellett's Blog, page 2
October 28, 2014
The Unspeakable Gentleman - A Book Review
If you read a lot of trash and would like to up your game to say a classic level without compromising your need for speed, may I suggest The Unspeakable Gentleman, an exciting novel published in 1922 by John P. Marquand.
Believe it or not, this classic is an action/suspense piece with the what might be the first novel with spies, greed, gun-play, high-stakes poker and a beautiful unflinching girl who knows how to load a firearm during a high-speed chase.
It is set in early 1800's and concerns a young man who meets his estranged, much despised father--a man who describes himself with the title of the book--and learns there is more to the man than he's been led to believe. The plot revolves around securing a certain document penned with the signatures of traitors to Napoleonic France--the government of which is pulling out all stops to get their hands on it.
The occasional disparaging use of the "n" word in reference to a good-man-Friday, who is one of the men's slave, is almost shocking as were they not there I might have forgotten I was reading a book written nearly 100 years ago.
I recommend The Unspeakable Gentleman highly. It is a fast and fun read, comes in at about 250 pages and is available for free through Project Gutenberg at gutenberg.org.
Believe it or not, this classic is an action/suspense piece with the what might be the first novel with spies, greed, gun-play, high-stakes poker and a beautiful unflinching girl who knows how to load a firearm during a high-speed chase.
It is set in early 1800's and concerns a young man who meets his estranged, much despised father--a man who describes himself with the title of the book--and learns there is more to the man than he's been led to believe. The plot revolves around securing a certain document penned with the signatures of traitors to Napoleonic France--the government of which is pulling out all stops to get their hands on it.
The occasional disparaging use of the "n" word in reference to a good-man-Friday, who is one of the men's slave, is almost shocking as were they not there I might have forgotten I was reading a book written nearly 100 years ago.
I recommend The Unspeakable Gentleman highly. It is a fast and fun read, comes in at about 250 pages and is available for free through Project Gutenberg at gutenberg.org.
October 8, 2014
Stover at Yale - A Book Review
That they called each other, “Old Sport” (whisps of Fitzgerald here) regularly, made it even more fun to read.
As one who likes novels about the social and academic challenges of high school and college, I recently finished reading Owen Johnson's 1911 work , Stover at Yale. Besides that the novel's subject matter fit well with one of my favorite genres, I was excited to read it because a close relative I'd never known attended another Ivy League school in the same general time period as the story in this book and I was hoping to get hints of what college life might have been like for him back then. I was not disappointed.
What probably hooked me was a quote that Andrew Delbanco in the The New York Review of Books refers to F. Scott Fitzgerald as having said about the book, (this is paraphrased, I assume) It is “the textbook of my generation.” That I could download Stover at Yale to my electronic reader for nothing, since its copyright had expired, was an added perk.
Reading Stover, what I learned was that while things were quite different back then, many things have not changed. Much of the text revolves around the protagonist's desire for the other students' approval, including decision to join a society club (aka a fraternity) or not, and his own youthful rebellion and epiphany. For many of us who went to college in the latter Twentieth or even early Twenty-first Centuries, those stories still relate.
Still there are some that do not, like trying out for and making the varsity football team; being seen with a low-class woman and having it splashed across the newspapers; and my favorite, smoking a pipe in your dorm room by the fireplace. That they called each other, “Old Sport” (whisps of Fitzgerald here) regularly, made it even more fun to read.
I'll recommend Stover at Yale to anyone who likes the genre as I do. It is well written and comes in at around 350 pages (my estimate). Be forewarned, it has some blatant unapologetic attitudes towards other classes of people that one can assume was commonplace for the time and place, but may be a bit jarring for the Twenty-first Century reader. If you can get past that fault—and let's all hope those days are past—and take it for what it is, symbolic of its era, you may find you enjoyed this book as much as I and perhaps even learned something along the way.
As one who likes novels about the social and academic challenges of high school and college, I recently finished reading Owen Johnson's 1911 work , Stover at Yale. Besides that the novel's subject matter fit well with one of my favorite genres, I was excited to read it because a close relative I'd never known attended another Ivy League school in the same general time period as the story in this book and I was hoping to get hints of what college life might have been like for him back then. I was not disappointed.
What probably hooked me was a quote that Andrew Delbanco in the The New York Review of Books refers to F. Scott Fitzgerald as having said about the book, (this is paraphrased, I assume) It is “the textbook of my generation.” That I could download Stover at Yale to my electronic reader for nothing, since its copyright had expired, was an added perk.
Reading Stover, what I learned was that while things were quite different back then, many things have not changed. Much of the text revolves around the protagonist's desire for the other students' approval, including decision to join a society club (aka a fraternity) or not, and his own youthful rebellion and epiphany. For many of us who went to college in the latter Twentieth or even early Twenty-first Centuries, those stories still relate.
Still there are some that do not, like trying out for and making the varsity football team; being seen with a low-class woman and having it splashed across the newspapers; and my favorite, smoking a pipe in your dorm room by the fireplace. That they called each other, “Old Sport” (whisps of Fitzgerald here) regularly, made it even more fun to read.
I'll recommend Stover at Yale to anyone who likes the genre as I do. It is well written and comes in at around 350 pages (my estimate). Be forewarned, it has some blatant unapologetic attitudes towards other classes of people that one can assume was commonplace for the time and place, but may be a bit jarring for the Twenty-first Century reader. If you can get past that fault—and let's all hope those days are past—and take it for what it is, symbolic of its era, you may find you enjoyed this book as much as I and perhaps even learned something along the way.
August 4, 2014
Steven King's Convenient Dilemma
Steven King has taken a brave step in publishing Doctor Sleep and I applaud him for it. He could have written a very different, very disappointing manuscript that just sucks off the aged-teat of a masterpiece for nourishment.
Imagine you are one of the world's greatest living writers. You are still very productive and popular. Part of that popularity stems from a novel you wrote nearly thirty years ago, titled Book30+. Book30+ was so great that it was turned into a movie that even more people saw than read the book, making you even more popular. Both the book and movie had satisfying endings, but your fans, to this day, occasionally ask what happened to such and such character (in this case, a sweet little boy from Book30+), despite the novel's age and the strange logic—or lack thereof—of the question.
You know in your own logical mind, it was a book. The characters stopped there, on the last page. But in your heart, you know that's not true. Your characters were, in a strange way, writers know all too well—quite real. One day you catch your mind doing its involuntary writer tricks, imagining just this scenario—the ultimate fate of the little boy. You realize you know the answer! Do you write a sequel? Is it possible to satisfy those untold millions who intimately know the character? Is there a satisfying answer? Isn't it likely that a huge contingent of your most loyal fans will be disappointed?
If you are Steven King and the book in question is The Shining, the answer is yes, you write it. Published in 2013, Doctor Sleep, tells the story of the now adult, Danny, the little boy from the first novel with “the shine.”
I just finished reading Doctor Sleep and came away quite content. While not as satisfied with Danny's character as I might have liked—he's not the sweet little boy from The Shiningany longer but now a grown man, an alcoholic drug-user with a guilty conscious, who is less than careful with whom he sleeps. The story works well though and references back to many aspects of the original story in the old hotel on top of a mountain in Colorado. Readers will welcome hearing back from Tony, the invisible character who gave Danny advice when he wiggled his finger. Tony has a new friend, who you may like equally, though I must say she reminded me a bit of other protagonists from other King books. Besides Danny, other characters return too, including Dick Holloran and Jack, Danny's crazy father. On the disappointing side, I was sorry Jack didn't play more of a role in the new novel, but I don't imagine King wanted to overshadow his new novel with that old story.
Whatever the case, Steven King has taken a brave step in publishing Doctor Sleep and I applaud him for it. He could have written a very different, very disappointing manuscript that just sucks off the aged-teat of a masterpiece for nourishment. Instead he's presented readers with a whole new story that piggy-backs off the old but is fresh and new. May all writers have the fortune of facing a convenient dilemma like this one day.
Imagine you are one of the world's greatest living writers. You are still very productive and popular. Part of that popularity stems from a novel you wrote nearly thirty years ago, titled Book30+. Book30+ was so great that it was turned into a movie that even more people saw than read the book, making you even more popular. Both the book and movie had satisfying endings, but your fans, to this day, occasionally ask what happened to such and such character (in this case, a sweet little boy from Book30+), despite the novel's age and the strange logic—or lack thereof—of the question.
You know in your own logical mind, it was a book. The characters stopped there, on the last page. But in your heart, you know that's not true. Your characters were, in a strange way, writers know all too well—quite real. One day you catch your mind doing its involuntary writer tricks, imagining just this scenario—the ultimate fate of the little boy. You realize you know the answer! Do you write a sequel? Is it possible to satisfy those untold millions who intimately know the character? Is there a satisfying answer? Isn't it likely that a huge contingent of your most loyal fans will be disappointed?
If you are Steven King and the book in question is The Shining, the answer is yes, you write it. Published in 2013, Doctor Sleep, tells the story of the now adult, Danny, the little boy from the first novel with “the shine.”
I just finished reading Doctor Sleep and came away quite content. While not as satisfied with Danny's character as I might have liked—he's not the sweet little boy from The Shiningany longer but now a grown man, an alcoholic drug-user with a guilty conscious, who is less than careful with whom he sleeps. The story works well though and references back to many aspects of the original story in the old hotel on top of a mountain in Colorado. Readers will welcome hearing back from Tony, the invisible character who gave Danny advice when he wiggled his finger. Tony has a new friend, who you may like equally, though I must say she reminded me a bit of other protagonists from other King books. Besides Danny, other characters return too, including Dick Holloran and Jack, Danny's crazy father. On the disappointing side, I was sorry Jack didn't play more of a role in the new novel, but I don't imagine King wanted to overshadow his new novel with that old story.
Whatever the case, Steven King has taken a brave step in publishing Doctor Sleep and I applaud him for it. He could have written a very different, very disappointing manuscript that just sucks off the aged-teat of a masterpiece for nourishment. Instead he's presented readers with a whole new story that piggy-backs off the old but is fresh and new. May all writers have the fortune of facing a convenient dilemma like this one day.
April 29, 2014
Improved Back-matter for Sleeping in Snow with Bears - More Plot Disclosure
Here is some new back-matter I've just written for my novel, Sleeping in Snow with Bears. It shares a bit more of the story's plot than prior versions where I was deliberately evasive.
* * * * *
Aimee, Marcie and Boyd, three best friends since college, will do absolutely anything for one another. Their lifelong bond gets sealed one Halloween evening when Aimee is victimized in a horrible sexual assault and Boyd and Marcie step in to take revenge. Unfortunately, things don't work out as planned. Marcie, a brilliant student who wants to be a surgeon one day, is sent to jail for the deed and Boyd, a wannabe male model, is facially disfigured and leaves the United States for Brazil to learn to fly from an acquaintance who works as a jungle pilot. Still, steel bars and distance can't keep the two apart and Boyd and Marcie find an especially risky way to build a romance. Meanwhile, Aimee's life—initially as promising as her friends'—is falling apart. To numb memories of her assault she's become self-destructive and loses a fiance'. Realizing they must do something to help her, Boyd and Marcie must forget about themselves and come up with a plan to save Aimee from ruin. What they don't realize is all three of them together are vital to an even more important plan. As a result, they soon become the focus of nationwide attention, all set in motion years earlier by a mysterious American Indian legend. And keeping Aimee alive is just the beginning.
Sleeping in Snow with Bears is a novel of suspense, action and a touch of romance. It is available in e-book and paperback formats through most major booksellers.
* * * * *
Aimee, Marcie and Boyd, three best friends since college, will do absolutely anything for one another. Their lifelong bond gets sealed one Halloween evening when Aimee is victimized in a horrible sexual assault and Boyd and Marcie step in to take revenge. Unfortunately, things don't work out as planned. Marcie, a brilliant student who wants to be a surgeon one day, is sent to jail for the deed and Boyd, a wannabe male model, is facially disfigured and leaves the United States for Brazil to learn to fly from an acquaintance who works as a jungle pilot. Still, steel bars and distance can't keep the two apart and Boyd and Marcie find an especially risky way to build a romance. Meanwhile, Aimee's life—initially as promising as her friends'—is falling apart. To numb memories of her assault she's become self-destructive and loses a fiance'. Realizing they must do something to help her, Boyd and Marcie must forget about themselves and come up with a plan to save Aimee from ruin. What they don't realize is all three of them together are vital to an even more important plan. As a result, they soon become the focus of nationwide attention, all set in motion years earlier by a mysterious American Indian legend. And keeping Aimee alive is just the beginning.
Sleeping in Snow with Bears is a novel of suspense, action and a touch of romance. It is available in e-book and paperback formats through most major booksellers.
March 7, 2014
New Video Book Trailer
I've just added a second video to my Book Trailers page.
For now, you can see it here on the front page. It is a reading of selected of passages from Sleeping in Snow with Bears . Thanks Google+ Writers Discussion Group for the idea!
PS Sorry that the guy in the bottom of the screen is such a stiff. Maybe I should make his lips move.
For now, you can see it here on the front page. It is a reading of selected of passages from Sleeping in Snow with Bears . Thanks Google+ Writers Discussion Group for the idea!
PS Sorry that the guy in the bottom of the screen is such a stiff. Maybe I should make his lips move.
February 28, 2014
Just Like Big Publishers - Indies Can Set Up Pre-Orders Too
Have you ever wondered how a book that has only been released days earlier manages to shoot to the top of the best-seller lists immediately? I always have, until now.
Recently, I watched the roll-out of a well known author's new book. It was interesting to watch because even before the title was released, there was tremendous marketing buzz. I thought it peculiar because one would think it better to be promoting a title when it was available, rather than before so. That's when I learned about pre-ordering - a concept that was entirely new to me. The promotions for this new title were not in vein at all but rather a great marketing tactic to get high sales numbers right off the blocks on the day the title is released.
I wondered, is that something I could take advantage of? As an independent author, I had my doubts. It did not appear that I could do that until I learned that Smashwords has such a program. Mark Corker, head guru at Smashwords has put together a presentation entitled, "Hit the Ebook Bestseller Lists with Preorders ... A Guide to Preorder Strategy". Follow the link for the online presentation.
Thanks, Mark! I plan to follow these words of wisdom with my next independent release.
Recently, I watched the roll-out of a well known author's new book. It was interesting to watch because even before the title was released, there was tremendous marketing buzz. I thought it peculiar because one would think it better to be promoting a title when it was available, rather than before so. That's when I learned about pre-ordering - a concept that was entirely new to me. The promotions for this new title were not in vein at all but rather a great marketing tactic to get high sales numbers right off the blocks on the day the title is released.
I wondered, is that something I could take advantage of? As an independent author, I had my doubts. It did not appear that I could do that until I learned that Smashwords has such a program. Mark Corker, head guru at Smashwords has put together a presentation entitled, "Hit the Ebook Bestseller Lists with Preorders ... A Guide to Preorder Strategy". Follow the link for the online presentation.
Thanks, Mark! I plan to follow these words of wisdom with my next independent release.
January 13, 2014
kindle matchbook - a Belated Christmas Gift
A couple months ago, I, like most others who have physical books and ebooks for sale on Amazon.com, was invited by the company to participate in their new "kindle matchbook" (no caps, catch) program. Upon reading about the program, I had some decisions to make. This post discusses how I made these decisions.
"kindle matchbook" allows the publisher to have special ebook pricing for people who purchase a physical book (from Amazon). i.e. if you bought the physical book, the ebook may be discounted below the original ebook price.
There was a lot of discussion on the inter-tubes about how best to approach this? Should digital copies be priced the same? Discounted? Deeply discounted? Free?
After some consideration, I realized that my readers most definitely ought to be rewarded for purchasing the physical book and that it costs me nothing other than an unlikely lost digital book sale to give these readers a digital copy of my work. Besides that it makes the text more accessible, which is my ultimate goal in getting people to read my work.
For that reason, anyone who purchases the Sleeping in Snow with Bears paperback version can order a FREE digital copy of the book through Amazon.com.
Thank you readers! I had intended to post this just before Christmas-time, as a gift to you, but I never got around to it. I hope you all have a terrific new year!
"kindle matchbook" allows the publisher to have special ebook pricing for people who purchase a physical book (from Amazon). i.e. if you bought the physical book, the ebook may be discounted below the original ebook price.
There was a lot of discussion on the inter-tubes about how best to approach this? Should digital copies be priced the same? Discounted? Deeply discounted? Free?
After some consideration, I realized that my readers most definitely ought to be rewarded for purchasing the physical book and that it costs me nothing other than an unlikely lost digital book sale to give these readers a digital copy of my work. Besides that it makes the text more accessible, which is my ultimate goal in getting people to read my work.
For that reason, anyone who purchases the Sleeping in Snow with Bears paperback version can order a FREE digital copy of the book through Amazon.com.
Thank you readers! I had intended to post this just before Christmas-time, as a gift to you, but I never got around to it. I hope you all have a terrific new year!
October 30, 2013
A Spooky Short Story for Your Enjoyment
It's that time of year when I present my Halloween appropriate short horror story. Here's the pitch ...
What can happen when a highly anticipated celebratory biography you've just published is entirely wrong? A Civil War historian excited about his just published book is haunted when he discovers new information.
It's FREE and downloadable to your PC or digital device. Enjoy!
What can happen when a highly anticipated celebratory biography you've just published is entirely wrong? A Civil War historian excited about his just published book is haunted when he discovers new information.
It's FREE and downloadable to your PC or digital device. Enjoy!
August 9, 2013
AHP is on the Radio "Doing Well By Doing Good"
AHP is on the radio!
Last week I was invited to speak about my novel, "Sleeping in Snow with Bears" , during a radio program. The topic was "Doing Well by Doing Good," and it was hosted by the Cancer Support Community (CSC), formerly Gilda's Club , which supports people struggling with cancer. There's a cancer support tie-in to my novel (though the novel is NOT about cancer) and I'm interviewed for about 15 minutes during which, among other things, I explain why I chose to partner with and donate a portion of sales to CSC.
If you're interested in checking out the show, it is now available as a digital stream. Download it or listen directly on your favorite digital device. See embedded link below.
Thanks in advance to anyone who spends 15 valuable minutes (or more) listening to this show. If you'd like an incentive to listen, besides the other two more polished guests who have some nice products you will want to hear about, you might get a good laugh comparing my segments to way the pros do this. I'm clearly out of my element (I wish I was being humble ... I'm not).
If you like what you hear, or know someone who may benefit from their services, please consider supporting CSC.
"Doing Well by Doing Good"
Listener note: I'm the third of a panel of three guests and each of our parts was split into four
segments. My parts are at the 7:50 mark, 24:24 mark, 38.51 mark and 52:39 mark.
Last week I was invited to speak about my novel, "Sleeping in Snow with Bears" , during a radio program. The topic was "Doing Well by Doing Good," and it was hosted by the Cancer Support Community (CSC), formerly Gilda's Club , which supports people struggling with cancer. There's a cancer support tie-in to my novel (though the novel is NOT about cancer) and I'm interviewed for about 15 minutes during which, among other things, I explain why I chose to partner with and donate a portion of sales to CSC.
If you're interested in checking out the show, it is now available as a digital stream. Download it or listen directly on your favorite digital device. See embedded link below.
Thanks in advance to anyone who spends 15 valuable minutes (or more) listening to this show. If you'd like an incentive to listen, besides the other two more polished guests who have some nice products you will want to hear about, you might get a good laugh comparing my segments to way the pros do this. I'm clearly out of my element (I wish I was being humble ... I'm not).
If you like what you hear, or know someone who may benefit from their services, please consider supporting CSC.
"Doing Well by Doing Good"
Listener note: I'm the third of a panel of three guests and each of our parts was split into four
segments. My parts are at the 7:50 mark, 24:24 mark, 38.51 mark and 52:39 mark.
July 1, 2013
"It's Always Something" - How I Wish Things Really Were
At its core, my novel, Sleeping in Snow with Bears, is about strong, inspirational women and how they got to be who they are. This post salutes one of the strongest real women and those people and organizations who have been inspired by her to continue her fight.
Great battles are known for their fighters who inspire others to fight too. In the battle against ovarian cancer – quite literally a battle of a lifetime – there is one woman who stands out particularly well.
Back in the early days of the television show, Saturday Night Live (SNL), there was a lead character actor named Gilda Radner. She had multiple talents but is most well known for her comedic genius. Few have ever been funnier ... really.
Among others, Gilda had two particularly memorable characters on SNL. One was named, Emily Litella. Emily was a meek, half-deaf older woman who kept her hair pulled back in a tight bun. Her schtick was to complain, in a quiet, polite librarian-type way about some particular issue of the day that got in her craw. The other character - the antithesis of Emily - was Roseanne Rosannadanna. She was a tough, raised in the streets, unkempt young woman known for using gross-out humor and having zany, memorable lines, like "It's always something" (Not funny yet? Keep reading).
Both characters would come on during the "News" portion of SNL (separately of course) - in Emily's case, when the broadcast let citizens from the community speak their mind; and in Rosanna's case, during the "Commentary" portion of the program. You may have seen short features like these on your own local newscasts from time to time. Get the picture?
Anyhow, meek Emily (Gilda) would go on and on and on, getting riled up about her chosen community issue. What was funny, was that she was always wrong. And because she had misunderstood something simple, everyone including the audience was in on the mistake except for Emily who would keep going right on and on and on with her polite rant. Finally, the camera would pan out to the newscaster sitting at the news desk beside Emily who after considerable effort to get Emily's attention, manage to point out her error. Emily being meek Emily would then listen politely, sit quietly for a moment considering the correction she had just been told, and then timidly say,"Oh. (dramatic pause) Never mind." Gilda's comedic timing was perfect and this especially made everyone laugh (occasionally even the SNL cast).
I always wished Gilda could have done one of these skits about ovarian cancer, combining her best Emily and Roseanne Rosannadanna as one. I'll explain.
It would start out with the street-tough Roseanne spouting off some lines about how she'd just been told by "some phony baloney doctor in a white coat" that she had ovarian cancer. Just imagine. She'd continue, "It's always something." Then she'd go on and tell - in her best exaggerated nasely upper-mid west accent - all about the symptoms. How "the cancer makes you feel rotten all over", how "it makes you curl up like a ball of cat puke and you feel like you gonna die."
In my dream skit, Gilda (the combined Emily Roseanne) would be there on the set doing her (their) thing, getting all riled up and the newscaster would lean over and say, "No, Emily-Roseanne (one person in my dream), that wasn't a doctor in that white coat, that was a chef. And he didn't say you have ovarian cancer, he said you have 'onions 'n capers.' "
Emily Rosanne would then pause for an awkward moment and think about what she had just been told. And then she would timidly say, "Oh .... Never mind."
The sad thing is, in real life, Gilda couldn't say, "Oh .... Never mind." She couldn't because she didn't have "onions 'n capers". She really had ovarian cancer. While still a strong young woman, with a loving supportive husband at her side and millions of fans in her corner, Gilda succumbed to the disease at age of 42.
What we, the public, didn't find out until after her death was that during her struggle with her illness, Gilda was a frequent participant at The Wellness Community, in Santa Monica, CA. She mentions in her book, It's Always Something, how much she loved making people there laugh and how it helped her find her role again. At one point during a brief remission, Gilda made a surprise TV-short repeating Mark Twain's famous quote, "Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."
More seriously, she said in her book, "I have the highest regard for the work of The Wellness Community. I wish there were a thousand more of them."
In Gilda's memory, her husband, Gene Wilder (also an actor) and a group of her friends delivered her wish by starting Gilda's Club, in New York City, based on the support-model Gilda loved so much. Since then, both Gilda's Club and The Wellness Community have thrived and in 2009 they decided to join forces. Today, they are known collectively as The Cancer Support Community – A Global Network of Education and Hope (some go by the name Cancer Support Community or CSC, others are called Gilda's Club or The Wellness Community).
Gilda's story is touching, but it is near to my heart for another reason – my mother had an ovarian cancer scare. Fortunately for Mom, her's was diagnosed early. She survived. Many are not so fortunate. As I type this, countless women are fighting this great battle – a battle for their lives. I can only imagine what it is really like – the pain, the uncertainty, the fear. Then add in the huge and important decisions one must make for one's family and oneself; and especially that primary one ... whether it's even worth fighting at all.
In the opening pages of my novel, Sleeping in Snow with Bears, we meet a character, Aimee, a young woman dealing with her own ovarian cancer crisis. She's already made up her mind. She doesn't know how to fight, has lost the will to try and is about to kill herself. The story is of the circular variety. It goes back in time and we learn cancer is but one of several huge problems she has. She thinks she is alone with nothing to live for, when actually she couldn't be more wrong, for there are reasons – far greater than she understands – that she must live. Her best friends, who are facing serious life-threatening danger themselves, are doing all they can to get to her before it is too late, and before long it is a race against time and all the obstacles that stand in their way.
Obviously, while "Bears" celebrates one fantastic approach to how a fictional dying woman dealt with her real life demons and finds meaning in her shortened life, and my imagined Gilda skit is of a crazy blended character who turns out to have made an even crazier mistake, both of these stories are imaginary. ... I wrote this short essay because these portrayals are how I wish cancer really was ... just imaginary ... make-believe.
Sadly, ovarian cancer (and others cancers) is not make-believe. It is real ... too real. Sufferers can't say, "Never mind" and get a laugh. It requires a serious, real fight and somehow, even if its victims don't know how to fight, they may have to learn how – a struggle all its own.
Gilda supported The Wellness Community because the emotional and social support of people working and being together really can make a difference in ways far bigger than individuals can on their own.
No one has to fight alone. Organizations like The Cancer Support Community exist because they are effective. They really work.
The CSC network today delivers about $40 million/yr in free services including a telephone hotline and and a full suite of online services to anyone (patients and families) touched by cancer. I invite you to visit the CSC web site or contact them directly if you have any questions or have need of their services.
In closing this essay, it is my sincere message for everyone who is struggling with any cancer, and for the people who know someone who may be, to please remember this ... you/they never have to be alone.
* * * * *
As part of the fight against ovarian and all other cancers, and to support those in need during their struggle, twenty-five percent of the sales revenue I receive in calendar years 2013 - 2014 from my novel, Sleeping in Snow with Bears, will be donated to Cancer Support Community . Please join me in making this donation as large as possible.
Pro-Tip to maximize contribution – Due to production costs of printing on paper, shipping, etc., lower-priced ebook purchases actually maximize the donation size (and minimize your cost).
Representatives of CSC are aware of this promotion.
