When I was a little boy, I had a crush on a girl in my kindergarten class. Whenever I hear it I can remember what being a naive and romantic child sounds like...
When people I know reach out to me after reading this book, they immediately express a profound amount of empathy for Charlie. They want to hold him, grab him by the hand and run away from all the horrors of life, they want Charlie to be a kid, they want him to stay innocent forever. Admittedly, I’ve had a few emotional breakdowns over that. Charlie is a fictional character. He is the product of imagination. While I appreciate those sentiments? I can’t embrace them. Then I talked to my mother tonight, and she tells me that the book is scaring the shit out of her and she has had to put it down because she can’t fathom the things that have existed in my head. They scare her, but then she asked me…But god, how long have they scared you?” My mother then went on to mirror a lot of comments about how much her heart breaks for Charlie but one thing she had to point out. “Yes, this is fiction and these people aren’t real. However, your love for both of your sisters is…and even though those are Charlie’s sisters? Its Eddie Brophy writing about how much his sisters took care of him.” Charlie didn’t have a prayer in the world. People just looked at him and saw someone who came from a failed architecture. They called him a wuss, a loser, and ultimately let the lack of affluence or pedigree define both he and his character. I am not trying to pontificate about the macabre nature of child abuse nor am I trying to sit here and be an indignant writer who doubled down and bet the house on his (likely) only book. When you come from something so horrible? You just assume your life will be better if you have this, that, or the other thing. Then when you get them and nothing at all changes? You create a prison that you will likely die in. I know this because Charlie is me, and I was so fortunate to let him out of that prison. If I die in it? So be it, but not him. Charlie deserves to be loved, to be held, to be cared about, and for people to shed tears for. Its so bizarre, I have two very gorgeous sons who I feel that way about…but then I also have this imaginary son who people seem to love with their whole hearts and its vindicating. Not because its me, but because I was able to take qualities about me and construct such a lovely kid out of those things and show him the tunnel I have spent the better part of twenty years digging for him to crawl through. I may never get out of this prison, but I am rooting for Charlie. The success or reach of this book will define the distance Charlie can put between him and his past. He’s a great kid, and I hope you’ll take the chance to read his story. I am anticipating a shipment of books real soon. I was gong to use them as library donations, but I am hitting so many roadblocks with libraries due to the nature of being an independent writer. So, I plan to do a few giveaways and I’m thinking maybe 5-10 books I’ll give away in a promotional effort. This isn’t about money, and it certainly isn’t about fame. I do want Charlie’s story to be read. So, that’s where I’m at with it. Eddie Brophy has no idea where life is going to take him. However, Charlie’s life is an open book and hopefully the ending is a happy one.
Hurray for the child his makes it through....
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September 2021
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