My sister and I were
devouring a sizable, delicious breakfast at a local eating establishment when
the proof of my suspicions walked up to us and announced, "I need to talk
to the two of you." Such a statement, even when spoken somewhat kindly,
puts my defenses up, so I was prepared for the worst, as was my sister.
"I heard you
wrote a book," the proof of my suspicions stated with an acceptable amount
of surprise. Considering past encounters where someone is all initially
nice, but quickly transforms into a not-very-nice-word, this statement put me
even more on edge-of-disaster preparedness than usual.
"Yes," I
responded tersely and directly, allowing the proof of my suspicions to take the
lead.
"Is it
historical?"
"No."
"Is it a
romance?"
"Mm..." I
wavered because there is a romantic element, "...it is more of a soap
opera, sort of. It is a dark and twisted tale."
"Oh," the
proof of my suspicions declared. "It is probably not something I'll
want to read."
"Probably
not." I couldn't argue with blazing truth, especially with what was
illuminated next.
"I like to read
books where the girl gets the boy or the boy gets the girl in the end, and
everyone is happy."
"Well, that is
not what my book is." Then I added, as evidence, "It is titled Dark
Excursions."
The proof of my
suspicions confessed to knowing this, and then talked about various other
things before departing with, "Good luck with your book."
Once the proof of my
suspicions had left the building, I faced my sister and exclaimed, "There
is the proof of my suspicions!" I then felt obligated to reiterate
my suspicions, as if my sister hadn't heard enough about them already.
"Even before the
day I saw Dark Excursions displayed on the library shelf, I
suspected that some people in town, who remember a shy, soft-spoken, and
generally well-mannered boy, would make the erroneous assumption that this
adult freakboy would write a sweet story full of innocent characters who do
nothing wicked and live happily ever after. I also suspected that some
people would expect my book to fall under one or more of the following
genres...historical fiction, historical non-fiction, western, traditional romance,
inspirational fiction and/or inspirational poetry...because 9 times out of 10,
if a local writer within a 100 mile radius publishes a book, it often belongs
within those categories. There is nothing wrong with those genres, it's
just Dark Excursions isn't one of them."
My sister completely
agreed and we finished our sizable, delicious breakfast. I felt full from
the food and full of a weird pride from finding proof of my suspicions.
Freak Out,
JLH
P.S. For more
info on my not-so-sweet and far-from-innocent darkness, please click on WHIPPING OIL.
