New Book: Books of Daniel
In my only other post for today, SPAM. Yes, I'm releasing Books of Daniel.
Daniel Rafferty is an apartment handyman and ex-con who helps a pair of delinquents living in his complex. His efforts to straighten out Patrick and Matt Campbell also draw the interest of their sister Miranda. Her interest grows as she learns that Daniel is a writer. Miranda thinks falling in love is no big deal, but Daniel knows better. But even knowing the truth, he still can't push her away.
This is labeled as a tragedy, although on Smashwords there is no tragedy and I was forced to use transgressional instead because they both start with the same letters. And besides, it is actually transgressional in the right context, and it features the least amount of plot devices possible to present a story about bad people making bad choices.
The main character is an ex-con who went in for statutory rape, and the family he moves in with are drug dealers. Anybody buying this book going in and expecting a positive moral message is living so far in denial that they should be able to swim in it. I will cheerfully ignore reviews that attack the book for promoting anything that actually goes on in the story. I'm. Just. Telling. The. Story. Slowly, and using lots of boring scenes that will annoy people looking for action and fast resolutions.
Probably going to get some deserved accusations from this one too, and one of the charges may be…head hopping. This, for once, is an accurate charge. At times I couldn't seem to decide if I wanted the narrator to be omniscient or not. Multiple revisions still can't completely wipe the head hopping effect, so at this point, I'm giving it up and moving on to other projects. I try to keep the POV pinned from scene to scene, but sometimes my narrator goes all psychic on me for some reason. I totally apologize for that, and reviewers who hit on this or any other legitimate writing problems, it's a fair cop. Also, I think I'll get hit for "stilted language." Another fair cop.
And I never said directly that Daniel is mildly retarded, so some people might not get why he still behaves like a kid in some scenes and then displays maturity in others. I didn't want him to explain that his condition came from constant head injuries, because I wanted to give the idea that Daniel isn't aware of the full extent of his brain damage. I hope I implied his mental illness well enough with the flashbacks of Daniel's abuse. But some of you people and subtle pass each other like strangers in the night. So I fully expect to see some people complaining that Daniel's childish behavior is unrealistic. Those people, I will also ignore. But that's just me being childish.
Finally, in the sake of full disclosure for the prudes, this book features goo-goo eyes, cheek touching, hand holding, hot kissing, and a one sentence sex scene that would make Nabokov proud for its visual obscurity. There is not one hump and grind or molest, but this still does not mean what's going on in this book is all good. Even if at times, it seems to be saying "It's all good." There's a nasty punch line at the end, which is what makes this a tragedy, and that makes all of these mistakes lead to a logical conclusion. And then, I dare to suggest that after the tragedy, life goes on, even for evil people. Dreadful, shameful stuff.
You won't buy it either, I know. But there it is. And if you think this book is terrible, just wait until I drop A Penny for Your Debts. There's some other books in between here and there, though.
You probably won't buy any of those books either.
