Book Title: Rarity from the Hollow (A Children's Story for Adults)
Genre: Science Fiction
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 284
Author: Robert Eggleton
Date Published: Due to be republished in July 2016
Blurb:
Lacy Dawn's father relives the Gulf War, her mother's teeth are rotting out, and her best friend is murdered by the meanest daddy on Earth. Life in The Hollow isn't great. But Lacy has one advantage -- she's been befriended by a semi-organic, semi-robot who works with her to cure her parents. He wants something in exchange, though. It's up to her to save the Universe.
To prepare Lacy for her coming task, she is being schooled daily via direct downloads into her brain. She doesn't mind saving the universe, but her own family and friends come first.
Will Lacy Dawn's predisposition, education, and magic be enough for her to save the Universe, Earth, and, most importantly, protect her own family?
Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction filled with tragedy, comedy and satire. It is a children's story for adults, not for the prudish, faint of heart, or easily offended.
Excerpt:
Excerpt
from Chapter 10, “One Moment, Please”
Scene
Prologue: In this scene, Lacy Dawn stands up to her
abusive father for the first time. Dwayne is a disabled Gulf War Vet who
suffers from PTSD, night terrors and anger outbursts. Her mother, Jenny, is downtrodden
and weak-willed. Lacy Dawn has just returned home from the android’s spaceship.
At this point, her powers were evident but not fully matured. She had been
negotiating extraterrestrial assistance to cure her parents of their mental
disorders, but rushed home after sensing an emergency there…:
…Three minutes later, Lacy Dawn
stood on the back porch. She was keen to hear a whisper. The yells could be
heard half-way Roundabend. She peeked through the kitchen window. Her mother was on the floor with her back
propped against the gasoline can that hid her GED study guide. Jenny’s nose bled.
“WHAT
THE HELL ………GIVES YOU THE RIGHT ………………TO THINK ……….…………….that you can THROW
AWAY …something that is MINE?” her father screamed.
Jenny
adjusted her position. So did Lacy Dawn to get a better view through the
window.
“Where’s
my SWITCH?” Dwayne left the
kitchen.
Lacy
Dawn felt for her knife.
I
hope Mommy runs for it.
Jenny
moved the gasoline can to cover a corner of her study guide that stuck up.
Dwayne had put the can in the kitchen two winters ago after he cut
firewood. At the time, snow on the path
to the shed had been deep. Jenny didn't complain about the can in the kitchen
because it turned into her best place to hide her GED book. It was convenient
and the mice stayed away because of the smell. When her GED book was hid behind
the refrigerator, it lost a corner to the nibbles. She repositioned her bra so
that everything was contained.
If
it's okay with him, I'll take it right here with my arms over my face. God,
I wish I’d worn long pants today. If he finds that book he might kill me. Maybe
that'd be better. I can’t handle anymore
anyway. Welfare would take Lacy Dawn and put her in a group home. She’d have
friends and stuff to do and decent clothes. That’s more than she’s got now. Who
am I kidding? I’ll never get my GED or learn to drive. I’d be better off dead. She'd
be better off. I ain’t no kind of decent mom anyway.
Jenny
pulled out her GED study guide. Lacy Dawn burst into the kitchen and, at the
same time, Dwayne appeared in the opposite doorway from the living room. Lacy
Dawn and Dwayne stood face to face.
“She
didn’t throw away those magazines, Dwayne. I burnt them all!” Lacy Dawn looked
him in the eyes.
I’ve
never called him Dwayne before.
“Well,
here’s my switch, little girl, and you can kiss your white ass goodbye because
it’s gonna be red in a minute.”
“I
told Grandma that you had pictures of naked little girls my age kissing old men
like you.”
“Well,
your grandma’s dead and gone now and it don’t make no difference.”
Dwayne
grinned at Jenny and resumed eye contact with Lacy Dawn. Jenny did not move.
The GED study guide was in the open. Lacy Dawn straightened her posture.
“Not
that grandma -- the other one -- your mom. I tore out a page and showed her.
She said the Devil must’ve made you have those pictures with naked girls way
too young for you to look at. She told me to burn them to help save your soul
before it was too late and you ended up in Hell.”
Dwayne
raised the switch to waist level. Lacy Dawn took a step forward.
“I
was sick of them being in the trunk under my bed anyway. I did what Grandma
told me to and now they're gone.”
“That
was my Playboy collection from high school. I bought them when I used to work
at the Amoco station before I joined the Army.”
Dwayne
lowered the switch and leaned against the door frame. Jenny sat up straighter
and slid her GED study guide back behind the gas can. Lacy Dawn maintained eye
contact.
He's
starting to lose it. Where’s my new butcher knife?
Dwayne
looked to the side and muttered something that she did not understand. He
raised the switch and then lowered it.
“But,
Mom knew I had them when I was in high school and never said nothing. Hell,
those girls were older than me back then. I bet they’re all wrinkled now --
with tits pointing straight to the ground, false teeth, and fat asses.”
Dwayne
muttered again. Lacy Dawn maintained eye contact.
I
must have hit a nerve. He always mutters when he's thinking too hard.
“Anyway,
you’re both still getting switched even if Mom told you to do it. But, I won’t
make it too bad. She wouldn’t like it.”
He
paused. The point of the switch lowered
to the floor.
Damn. I can't think of a new name.
"Tammy,
bammy, bo mammy…" Dwayne sang. (Dwayne named all of the switched that he
used on Lacy Dawn and Jenny to discipline them.)
“If
you even touch me or Mommy with that thing, I’ll tell everybody about Tom’s
garden. (Tom is a neighbor who grows marijuana.) I’ll tell Grandma, the
mailman, my teacher after school starts, and the food stamp woman when she
comes next week for our home visit. I’ll tell Tom that I’m gonna tell the men
working on the road at the top of the hill. I’ll tell all your friends when
they come by after the harvest. And, I’ll call that judge who put you in jail
for a day for drunk driving if Grandpa will let me use the phone. I swear I’ll
tell everybody.”
“Oh
shit," Dwayne said.
I
knew this day would come -- ever since she brought me those DARE to Keep Kids
off Drugs stickers to cover up the rust holes on my truck….
“Lacy
Dawn, drugs are bad. I don’t take drugs and hope you never will either.”
“Cut
the crap, Dwayne. This ain't about drugs. The only thing this is about is if
you even think about switching me or Mommy, that garden has had it -- period.”
“But
smoking pot is not the same as taking drugs,” he let go of the switch. Thirty
seconds later, Lacy Dawn picked it up and hung it in its proper place on her
parents’ bedroom wall.
“I
love you, Daddy,” she said on the way back to the kitchen.
Dwayne
went out the back door and walked to his pick-up. The truck door slammed. It
started, gravel crushed, and the muffler rumbled. He floored it up the hollow
road.
Things
will be forever different.
Lacy
Dawn sat down on a kitchen chair, did her deep breathing exercise, smelled an
underarm and said, "Yuck."
Things
will be forever the same unless DotCom can help me change them. (DotCom is
the name of the android, a recurring pun in the story.)
Jenny
got off the floor, sat on the other chair, scooted it closer beside her
daughter, put an arm around her, and kissed the side of Lacy Dawn's head.
The
muffler rumbled to nonexistence.
“Asshole,”
they screamed out the open kitchen window at the exact same time without cue.
“He
used to be a good man,” Jenny giggled and hugged…. (This phrase is an
intergenerational familial saying that Lacy Dawn turned into a chant and used
to magically elevate above the ground, and to travel back and forth between her
home and the spaceship without getting her tennis shoes muddy.)
Excerpts of Two Book Reviews – Gold Medal Awards
Awesome Indies :
“…a hillbilly version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, only instead of the earth being destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass, Lacy Dawn must…The author has managed to do what I would have thought impossible; taken serious subjects like poverty, ignorance, abuse, and written about them with tongue-in-cheek humor without trivializing them…Eggleton sucks you into the Hollow, dunks you in the creek, rolls you in the mud, and splays you in the sun to dry off. Tucked between the folds of humor are some profound observations on human nature and modern society that you have to read to appreciate…it’s a funny book that most sci-fi fans will thoroughly enjoy.”
Readers’ Favorite:
“…Full of cranky characters and crazy situations, Rarity From the Hollow sneaks up you and, before you know it, you are either laughing like crazy or crying in despair, but the one thing you won’t be is unmoved… Robert Eggleton is a brilliant writer whose work is better read on several levels. I appreciated this story on all of them.”
Purchase Links:
Author Interview:
1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I grew up in an impoverished household and would write stories to entertain myself and others. It was free recreation for me and my family. I shared my stories with others in the neighborhood, such as clerks in stores and service station attendants (gas stations used to employ people to pump the gas – lol). In a way, I guess that it was an early model of networking. My stories got better and my audience grew. In the eighth grade I won the school’s short story writing competition and began to dream of getting my family out of poverty by becoming a rich and famous author.
2. How long does it take you to write a book?
Rarity from the Hollow is my debut novel. It took about six months writing after work to finish to the point of being ready for professional editing. Of course, the editing took longer than the writing and continues to this day. The second edition of the novel is scheduled for release next month, so I guess writing is a never ending process until one moves on to the next project. The next full-length Lacy Dawn Adventure is Ivy. It took a couple of months to write but is pending the long process of editing until I build greater name recognition and feel comfortable with its release.
3. What do you think makes a great story?
What makes a great story is very personal. For me, the most wonderful stories are those that find the perfect balance between literary and genre – escapism with strong meaningful content that creeps into one’s consciousness long after the last page has been read. I’m usually disappointed with stories that are total escapism or that are so heavy that they are no fun to read.
4. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
I’m a retired children’s psychotherapist. For the last year or so, I’ve worked harder on my fiction than if I was working a full-time job. However, most of this work, unfortunately, has involved self-promotion. Rarity from the Hollow is a traditional small press publication. This means that while I didn’t pay for anything related to its publication I am responsible for almost all of its promotion. If I don’t, it doesn’t really matter how great a story that I’ve written because nobody will have heard about it and won’t read it. I don’t have a set work schedule, but that might be a good idea because I feel exhausted. I work until I’m tired or hit a roadblock, take a break, and then start again at all hours of the day and night. Thanks for the suggestion – a work schedule – I believe that such may increase outcomes.
5. How do you balance family and writing?
I’ve been married for forty-five years next month (help me remember my anniversary, please, lol). We have one grown son. Both are one-hundred percent supportive of my writing, but I still have to do my chores, like take out the trash. I’m a goal-oriented person. For me, this means that if I have something that needs to be taken care of, it interferes with my concentration until I’ve met my responsibility. Usually, I’ll divide it into smaller tasks, accomplish a piece, like part of dinner or cutting a parcel of the lawn, return to fiction writing or promotions, then take care of another part of the task. It’s hard to imagine how in the world some younger authors balance writing with family responsibilities, especially if they have younger children.
6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
I am so full of ideas for books that it sometimes feels annoying, possibly presenting an impediment to productivity. Looking back, as a debut novel, I believe that I tried to put too many ideas in Rarity from the Hollow. It includes serious social commentary about poverty, domestic violence, child maltreatment, substance abuse…treated with satire and comedy. While the novel has been well-received, a couple of book reviewers have found that it had too much content. On the other hand, the same thing was said about Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale gave it a mixed review, saying "the book's shortcomings lie not so much in its emancipation as in the fact that Heinlein has bitten off too large a chewing portion."
I had a vivid childhood – impoverished with a war damaged father; a dramatic adolescence = antiwar protests and corresponding incarcerations; and, over forty years in an emotionally charge field – children’s advocacy. My ideas come from my personal and even more personal professional experiences.
7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book/s?
I was surprised by two aspects of finally pursuing my dream of writing a novel: first, the words flow sooooooooooo easily; secondly, it is sooooooooooo hard to stop them.
8. How many books have you written? Which is your favourite?
Rarity from the Hollow is my debut novel. I love it, so have a bunch of other people, and I would love to say it is my favourite. A top Amazon book reviewer found:
"Rarity from the Hollow written by Robert Eggleton, to be fully honest, was much more than expected and a great read – semi-autobiographical literary work full of beautiful and ugly things, adventure, romance, pain and humor…."
But, my favourite novel that I’ve written is Ivy, the next full-length Lacy Dawn Adventure. I hope that it will be your favourite, as well. It is less convoluted and simply asks, how far will a child go to save a parent from addiction?
9. Are your characters based on anyone you know?
All of my characters are based on real-life people. I accentuate attributions for effect. Some are personal friends, most of having passed on to the great unknown. Other characters are based on my professional experience as a child advocate for over forty years: weak and powerful; victims and perpetrators; lovers and haters….
10. Do you have a favourite place you love to write?
I’m not sure that I would call it a “favourite” place to write, but I write best in the living room of my small house in a lower class neighbourhood. It’s where my computer is located. I’ll draft notes on a laptop when I go to parks, restaurants…. I can imagine a hundred better places to write, but, the proof is in the pudding. Do you know from whence that phrase originated? Email me and I’ll tell you what my grandma said that it means.
11. How hard is it to get published?
In my opinion, except for self-publishing which requires an author to make an investment, something that not every talent can afford, there is no publishing industry. So, given no actual industry, it would be next to impossible to get published in today’s marketplace. Sad.
12. What do your family and friends think about your books?
Also sad, I don’t have a large family and most of my friends have passed. I remember going to parties in my youth and when a step in any direction that was more than an inch would be on someone’s toes. In contrast, some authors, especially high school students, have a zillion friends who buy and submit book reviews to Amazon whether they have read the book or not. I waited too long to begin my journey into fiction for such an advantage.
Every member of my family, mostly nieces and nephews, is proud of me, but not necessarily because I wrote an award winning novel. They love and respect me for my contributions to family. As is youth, I’m sure that they would be more impressed if I had created an award winning video game.
13. What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I love vegetable gardening – can’t wait for my tomatoes to harvest – tons! I have an old Dodge truck that I’m enjoying as I rebuild it. (It was mentioned in Rarity from the Hollow.) Reading in all genres is a passion. I’m looking forward to WVU football, then basketball afterward. That’s just a sample. I like a lot of stuff.
14. Do you have any suggestions to help aspiring writers better themselves and their craft? If so, what are they?
I’m a novice with only one novel under my belt. I’ve read a couple of books on the craft of writing, as have most other aspiring authors. The phrase, “show don’t tell” keeps me alert when writing. With respect to the craft of writing, I believe that fine tuning the show structured under a headline is the art of the craft. For me as a reader, it would have to be an exceptional story to entertain me if it would be simply told.
15. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I was a weird kid. I never dreamed of being an astronaut or superstar when I grew up. When I was twelve, I went to work part-time working in a drug store. The first career aspiration that I remember was to become a pharmacist, but I think that was because Mr. Knight was the kind manager of the store who gave me the job. Frankly, and I have many fond memories of my childhood, I was a survivalist focused on doing what I could day by day to help my family stay together. With much regret, I kind of zoned out during school, which I mostly regarded as an obstruction to earning a little money. I went to college to avoid the military draft during the Vietnam War, fell in love in my sophomore year, and for the first time envisioned a brighter future. As an angry young man, I majored I social work as the best fit for “fixing the world.” From that point forward, with a goal in mind, I made perfect grades. I was awarded a Master’s degree in 1977, have been married for forty-five years, forty of which have involved a very successful career in child advocacy.
16. What are your favourite books and which authors inspire you?
I’m not sure that you have enough bandwidth for me to make a complete list of inspirations and favourite books, so here’s a few. Ferlinghetti, the poet of the Beat Generation, showed me how to enjoy my anger about political and societal issues. Similarly, Vonnegut’s anger in Breakfast of Champions helped me stay strong as a children’s advocate and as a writer, and how to experiment with my writing style outside of commonly accepted structures and formats. Nora Roberts knows how to get me in a romantic mood. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter series reinforced my faith in the potential of adolescent morality and the future of the world. Watership Down by R. Adams was such a sweet adventure that some of this element just is a necessary ingredient of even the scariest, saddest, or most erotic story. The versatility in cross-genre and the use of humour by Bradbury had to have been a subliminal inspiration, especially now that I think about it. Dean Koontz has been masterful. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by D. Adams and Another Roadside Attraction by Robbins pushed me into the wilder side of writing regardless of censorship, as did the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics. And, Stephen King’s use of everyday horror convinced me that alarming scenes can be created by using almost anything as a prop. Piers Anthony sure knew how to write a goofy pun and has always gotten me to giggle. There’re a lot more books and authors that I hold dear, a lot more.
17. For an aspiring writer what do you feel are certain do's and don’ts for getting their material published?
My recommendation for self-publishing is to never release anything without professional editing, or as close to it as one can afford. I believe that premature release has been the kiss of death for a lot of talented writers. It seems like a zillion come and go almost every month.
I’m not sure that there is a “do and don’t” list for achieving publication by a traditional publisher. They each have submission guidelines and warn that violation will result in discarding, but I have no reason to believe that it’s true, or that compliance with guidelines improves the odds of recognition. I’m a novice, so if anybody has a successful strategy, please le me know. I’ve read a lot of success stories, struggling authors like George Martin finally getting a break, and it mostly seems to boil down to luck. As I said before, I’m trying to gain greater name recognition before pitching my next novel.
A few authors, including a former Editor of Reader’s Digest who found that Rarity from the Hollow was the best science fiction novel that he had read in several years (http://warriorpatient.com/blog/2015/05/18/58/), have advised me to publish more books. Dog Horn Publishing, the traditional small press that I’m affiliated with has requested my next novel. I’m hesitant. If you spend ten minutes on Amazon, you’ll find a dozen authors that you’ve never heard of with huge backlists and low sales ranking. I’ve decided to take a little different path.
18. What are you working on now?
I’ve been spending a lot of time on self-promotions of Rarity from the Hollow. This has involved writing several articles and guest posts for book blogs, with a couple of assignments pending. Based on my experience marketing Rarity over the last year, I’m rewriting Ivy, the next full-length Lacy Dawn Adventure, so that it will be a little less controversial. There’s only so much shock that most readers can handle.
I’m putting finishing touches on a set of poems that I plan to submit. One of my poems won first place in a international science fiction poetry competition a few month ago. http://wildcat.wsc.edu/clubs/willycon/zine/poetry/2015/Our_Real_Warmth.php
I’ve submitted an academic styled essay on child maltreatment in fiction to a journal that is pending and a short story, close to YA, to a magazine.
And, I’m putting together a group of original psychotherapy exercises for teens that will either be a self-help book or a manual for professional who work with kids – I’m still deciding how to play it.
I’m always got a bunch of stuff on my plate. Thanks for asking and for your help by allowing me to tell your readers a little about myself and my debut novel, Rarity from the Hollow.
About The Author:
Robert Eggleton has served as a children's
advocate in an impoverished state for over forty years. He is best known for
his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were
published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through
1997, and which also included publication of models of serving disadvantaged
and homeless children in the community instead of in large institutions,
research into foster care drift involving children bouncing from one home to
the next -- never finding a permanent loving family, and statistical reports on
the occurrence and correlates of child abuse and delinquency.
Today, he is a recently retired children's
psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston , West Virginia
Author Contacts:
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