My Universe

3,000 Souls Down is where my new journey began.

The day after I was revived with Narcan, I realized something had changed. The overwhelming urge to get high was simply... gone. It has remained under control ever since.

That brief brush with death left me with a different need. I felt compelled to write—not because I wanted to become an author, but because I needed to take inventory of my life. I needed to understand where I had been, how I had arrived there, and who I wanted to become.

What began as a deeply personal exercise gradually became something much larger. Somewhere along the way, it stopped being notes to myself and became a book that I believe is worth reading. It is the foundation of everything that followed and, I hope, a companion for fellow travelers who may be searching for their own way forward.

After completing the seventy-first draft of 3,000 Souls Down, I needed a break from the ghosts in my closet.

Writing my memoir awakened long-forgotten memories. Some were comforting. Some made me smile. Others brought tears. The most unexpected discovery was remembering that I had once had friends, a career, and a family. Those memories came flooding back faster than my recovering mind could sort through them.

In the process, my imagination began stitching together fragments of the past. Traits, conversations, and personalities from real people merged into a handful of fictional friends who had never actually existed.

As it turned out, I really liked my new imaginary friends.

So I wrote a book about them.

I called it Supernova.

I was walking my pup, Bella. We were walking towards a corner that we would have to turn. She froze. I froze. The thought flashed through my mind, "Whoever you are about that corner, you had better be prepared to get through me before I let you hurt my little girl."  

The though was absurd. Why did I assume some nare-do-well was coming for my dog? Yes, I live in a shady neighborhood, but what would-be-assassin would want a 13 year old chihuahua?  And then it came to me as the cat came walking around the corner, stopping, staring back, and then running like hell. I should work on a comic-noir-absurdity.  

Here it is...

When I was young, I often escaped my reality by disappearing into a world of mystery, intrigue, and espionage. Jason Bourne, James Bond, and their companions provided temporary refuge, if only long enough for me to endure the reality waiting outside my imagination.

While writing 3,000 Souls Down, I became more aware of how often I had used fantasy to survive difficult moments in my life. That's when it occurred to me that one day I should write a political thriller of my own.

I'm still working on Wet, and I intend to finish it. God willing and the creek don't rise...

When Wet finally becomes a living, breathing artifact of my imagination—and of a drug-free mind—I think you'll find it worthy of a place on your bedside table.

I certainly hope so.