If child abuse was paranormal it would be easier to understand

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Robert Eggleton

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Jerit Adamson Fourman

Jerit Adamson Fourman

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I respond to first question of paranormal and child-abuse by posing question: What is ultimate source of abuse? The molester self-perpetuates in his victims. Maybe humanity's cruelty is such an echo from our creators. Tsarion's "Origins of Evil" is fruitful in this vein.
 
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Robert Eggleton

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Jerit Adamson Fourman said:
I respond to first question of paranormal and child-abuse by posing question: What is ultimate source of abuse? The molester self-perpetuates in his victims. Maybe humanity's cruelty is such an echo from our creators. Tsarion's "Origins of Evil" is fruitful in this vein.
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While evil may have an origin, a name, and is geographically vast on this planet and likely all others occupied by senient beings, it is our response that must be defensively focused and measurable. Evil's strategy is to overwhelm and then herd people into different groups of spiritual activists. Spirituality is a passive voice, kind and empathetic, but nonconfrontative. Lacy Dawn Adventures is a real action, with an accomplishable and measurable goal, within the the capability of any soldier, alive or otherwise, Earthling or otherwise, and like any good soldier expects, reinforced immediately by a few clicks of your mouse. See above to click.
 
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Robert Eggleton

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Rarity from the Hollow is free for Kindle Fire members on Amazon. Both the ebook and paperback (Lulu) have declined. I'm not sure if the hardback is still available through Dog Horn Publishing as its owner has been so involved in another project that I haven't heard from him for several months.
 
Night Templar

Night Templar

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Having provided "Protective Services", as a Clinical Social,worker, at a local County Dept. of Social Sevices, in North Carolina, where I worked for 2 yrs. before going back to get my Ph.D., I investigated reports of "child abuse" and "child neglect". If there was anything hard to comprehend and still is to this day, is how some parents can harm their children, physically and/or mentally. I later have treated patiernts in a state psychiatric facility who had a history of being abused and abusing their own children. Same held true for inmates I treated in the state max. security prison. "Paranormal" involvement, frankly, I never considered it. I was too busy dealing with pathological parents and alter patients. Great excuse but after 40 yrs. of treating the "mentally ill", human behavior is difficult enough to deal with without even going thru the "paranormal" doorway for answers or excuses.
 
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Robert Eggleton

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Night Templar said:
Having provided "Protective Services", as a Clinical Social,worker, at a local County Dept. of Social Sevices, in North Carolina, where I worked for 2 yrs. before going back to get my Ph.D., I investigated reports of "child abuse" and "child neglect". If there was anything hard to comprehend and still is to this day, is how some parents can harm their children, physically and/or mentally. I later have treated patiernts in a state psychiatric facility who had a history of being abused and abusing their own children. Same held true for inmates I treated in the state max. security prison. "Paranormal" involvement, frankly, I never considered it. I was too busy dealing with pathological parents and alter patients. Great excuse but after 40 yrs. of treating the "mentally ill", human behavior is difficult enough to deal with without even going thru the "paranormal" doorway for answers or excuses.
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Well spoken!
 
DEATH OMEN

DEATH OMEN

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Dealt with women who committed "abuse"as a Clinical Psychologist with women in prison for severely, even fatally , injuring a child or more of them BUT I have never hard of anything "paranormal" causing the abuse. The old phrase "the Devil made me do it" or "something did it", might make good, interesting print but study human behavior and the answer is there, not with anything "paranormal".
 
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Robert Eggleton

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Nothing paranormal was attributed with "causing" child abuse in the novel, Rarity from the Hollow. As Night Templar and Death Omen, both experienced in the field (thanks for your contributions), aptly noted, there is no excuse for abusing a child. There may be correlates relevant to treatment, such as mental illness of the parent (i.e. bipolar disorder), medication noncompliance by a mentally ill parent, past victimizations of the perpetrator, subcultural values ("spare the rod and spoil the child"), poverty (i.e., prostituting a child or selling a child to meet a family's basic needs), lack of familial support systems (overwhelmed parents most common in cases involving children with disabilities), as examples.

The paranormal aspects of the above cited novel related to treatment of child abuse, presented as fictional (but possible). After her death, Faith, Lacy Dawn's best friend, becomes a ghost who had to help resolve the above noted correlates of family dysfunction in order to remain eligible for continued existence within an absurd universe. An alien was required by Lacy Dawn to implement a successful family treatment plan before she would accept her predestined fate as the prototypical Savior of the economic structure of the universe. In reality, half of author proceeds from the Lacy Dawn Adventures Project have been donated to Children's Home Society of West Virginia (I worked there in the 1980s as the Director of Shelter Care -- emergency shelters for children.).

Following are some book review excerpts. The most recent review of Rarity from the Hollow was published last week and it serves as supplement my above comments if you follow the link. Complete copies of these and other reviews are available on request. Thanks again for your interest in this issue.

Book Review of Rarity from the Hollow by The Electric Review: A Universe On the Edge | Electric Review

In Baryonline 103, Barry Hunter concluded his review: "... I can almost hear a blue grass version of Metallica while reading this. I expect to see more from Eggleton and Lacy Dawn. Good satire is hard to find and science fiction satire is even harder to find." Mia, a book reviewer for Coffee Times Romance concluded her review: "...But I was surprised that as I read more of the book, the people had a way of touching a part of you that I was not expecting at all. A good read for any lover of satire and science fiction. A well written book." After stating that Rarity from the Hollow was one of the most unusual books that he had read in a long time, Darrell Bain, 2005 Fictionwise Ebook Author of the Year and 2007 Double Eppie Award Winner, closed his review with, "...You'll enjoy the ride with Lacy Dawn and friends and family, but don't expect the ride to be without bumps and enough food for thought to last you a long time."

Similarly, author William DeVault said in his review, "...one of those strange and exciting bits of literature that captures you with its uniqueness and then lingers on your mind, reasserting itself from time to time to remind you that your reality may not be everyone else's. A rich and original work, full of aspects and images that are certain to make it worth recommending to friends you wish to impress. Not for everyone, but for those ready to embrace the offbeat, a welcome surprise."

J.D. Nelson, poet, MadVerse, compared the writing to both Stephen King and Ray Bradbury (big compliments): "Eggleton counters the story's dark mood with touches of warmth and humor, � la Ray Bradbury. .. His frank and honest portrayal of poverty in rural Appalachia is reminiscent of Stephen King's use of 'everyday horrors'...."

Kevin Patrick Mahoney on Authortrek compared it to Dean Koontz (!!!): "...the subject matter is dark and strong, unflinching in its portrayal of human darkness, and not for the faint-hearted or easily offended. Robert Eggleton is not afraid of employing complex style and structure to fit the needs of his story. The mixture of sci-fi, gritty reality, humour, and the mode of thriller reminds me a great deal of Dean Koontz's writing, and Robert Eggleton may indeed have the potential to follow in Dean Koontz's footsteps."

Evelyn Somers, Editor, The Missouri Review didn't compare it to any works by others but echoed Mahoney: "Among its strengths are an ultra-convincing depiction of the lives, especially the inner lives, of the Appalachian characters. The grim details of their existence are delivered with such flat understatement that at times they almost become comic. And just when you think enough is enough, this world is too plain ugly, Lacy Dawn's father (who is being "fixed" with DotCom's help) gets a job and Lacy Dawn, her mother and her dog take off for a trip to the mall "out of state" with Lacy Dawn's android friend, now her "fiance" (though as Lacy's mother points out, he doesn't have any private parts, not even "a bump.") In the space between a few lines we go from hardscrabble realism to pure sci-fi/fantasy. It's quite a trip."

Adicus Ryan Garton, publisher of Atomjack Science Fiction Magazine said it was the Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum) and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) smashed together. I was elated as Hitchhikers is my favorite all time novel. Mr. Garton found that
"...There is so much to this story, and its writing is so unblinkingly honest…spares us nothing…her father beating her and her mother, the emotions…the dark creeping insanity that eats away at her Iraq-veteran father, and the life in general of people too poor, too uneducated to escape. In part, it is a grueling exposition of what children endure when …abused. …the only way…to escape is to learn that she is the savior… strong, tough, smart—all those attributes that any child should have—and she reminds us that children are survivors, adaptive and optimistic.

But don't think you're going to be reading something harsh and brutal and tragic. This book is laugh-out-loud funny at times, satiric of almost everything it touches upon…The characters from the hollow and from the planet Shptiludrp (the Mall of the Universe) are funny almost to the point of tears.

...It's absolutely fantastic…."


Now, my writing has been compared to Kurt Vonnegut's style! Please check out the above cited review. Thanks.
 
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