Author's Note From Sideshow

 

The new Nick Forte novel, Sideshow, may be the most personally important book I’ve ever written. Enough so that I decided to include an author’s note, something I’ve never done before.

 

 Here it is:

 

No straight, cisgender person can fully understand what it’s like to be a member of the LGBTQIA+ community; the best we can do is empathize and treat them with the same respect and courtesy as we do everyone else.

The years have brought me closer to this too-often marginalized community. Among the handful of best friends I’ve ever had is a gay man. My only child’s godmother is a lesbian. I have a transgender step-daughter; my brother has a transgender sister-in-law. I once dated an intersex woman. If I can safely say one thing that encompasses them, it is that they all want the same things everyone else wants: to be left alone to lead the happiest lives they can find for themselves.

I’ve rewritten this author’s note several times, trying to describe exactly how I feel. I finally found a couple of quotes from people far more qualified to express them.

The actress Jodie Foster said: “Being gay is like being left-handed—some people are, most people aren’t, and nobody really knows exactly why. It’s not right or wrong; it’s just one of the many natural ways to be. The world works best when everyone gets to live as they truly are. So if you ever feel out of place, remember: you're not broken, you're just beautifully different—and that’s something the world needs."

That’s how I see it. I am six feet, one inch tall and a little overweight. My hair is gray and my eyes are brown. Jodie’s quote applies to me as well: It’s not right or wrong; it’s just one of the many natural ways to be.

Transgender care therapist Dr. Collette Lord is credited with the phrase, “The existence of intersex people is proof that nature doesn’t see gender as a binary.” As Hamlet said, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Indigenous Americans have long understood gender is not binary. The idea has arisen from Christianity’s efforts to make the world a neater, safer, and more understandable place than it has ever been, or can me.

This book is as important to me as anything I’ve ever written, and it vexes me to know I didn’t get it as right as I wanted. I hope I got it as close as a straight cisgender man can and that readers will understand anything I got wrong was not done out of malice.

I’ll close with a quote often incorrectly attributed to Morgan Freeman: “I hate the word homophobia. It’s not a phobia. You’re not scared. You’re an asshole.”

If you take issue with anything in this book, please feel free to contact me through my web site, danakingauthor.com. I learned a lot writing this book. Most of what I learned is how much I still don’t know.

My eternal thanks to Christa Faust for pointing out a flaw in how I approached gay characters, John Copenhaver for encouraging me to take this step forward, and especially to Robyn Gigl for taking the time to read critical sections and provide invaluable feedback even though she knew me for all of five minutes before agreeing. To all of you, I did the best I could. I hope it was close to enough.

 

Sideshow is available through Amazon in both print ($9.99) and e-book ($2.99) versions.

An Excerpt From the New Nick Forte Novel, Sideshow

Here’s an excerpt from the new Nick Forte novel, Sideshow, available on Amazon in print for $9.99 and as an e-book for $2.99.

 

Beth Bryant got right to business. “How many men have you killed?”

I saw no reason to sugar coat it. I was the guy paying for the hour. “Seven. That I know of.”

She paused her pen above the notebook. Added what I could tell from the motion of her hand was a question mark. “You’re not sure?”

“A year or so back I was trapped into a situation where I had to shoot at cars. It’s possible I hit a person. I know at least one man got hurt when I blew up a propane tank. Nothing in the papers about anyone dying and the cops never bothered me about it, but I suppose it’s possible someone could’ve been mortally wounded. It’s not like I visited people in the hospital or kept in touch with their families.”

“You think this is funny?”

I took a deep breath. “No, and I don’t mean to give that impression. You work with many cops?”

“Mostly retired. Those on duty tend to stay with in-house shrinks for their counseling.”

I liked her saying shrink. Last thing I needed was one with a stick up her ass. “Then I’m sure I’m not the first one to say something inappropriate. Cops see so much they’ll never unsee they have to make fun of it or go crazy. I wouldn’t be here if I thought killing all those men was funny. Come to think about it, that would’ve been an even better reason to come.”

“How do you feel about it?”

Someone once told me the difference between a good question and a great question was he knew the answer to a great question. This was a damn good question. I’d been thinking about it for years and the best I had for her was, “I honest to God don’t know.”

One of Beth’s eyebrows called bullshit.

“Honest to God. They’re all different. It’s safe to say the world’s a better place without them. Except maybe one, and he was an accident. The rest, they had to go. It was them or me.” Pretty much.

“Heat of the moment kinds of things?”

Deep breath. “Confidentially, right?”

“Unless you’re about to tell me you’re going to kill someone. Your past is safe with me.”

I took time to settle myself. Beth gave me all I wanted. “One guy. Russian gangster. His was a case of what I call prophylactic self-defense.”

“You killed him to remove a future threat?”

“You’ve heard it before?”

“The legal term is ‘preventive self-defense.’ It describes the use of force against a non-imminent threat.”

“This guy brought a whole crew to my uncle’s house to kill me, my cousin, and my uncle. Probably my aunt if he had the chance. I get the drop on him and he gives himself up. ‘Go ahead. Arrest me,’ he says because he knows he’ll be out the next morning. A week or a month or a year later he, or one of his buddies, would come up behind me and put two behind my ear. He had to go as sure as the ones who were actively shooting at me.”

“You said they’re all different. How does he compare to the others?”

I generally avoided thinking about ranking my kills as if they were college football teams. It wouldn’t be fair to Caroline for me to dance around it. I needed to either answer this question honestly or go home and face her.

I decided I’d rather tell Beth. “Between the two of us.” Not a question.

Beth nodded.

“Pulling that trigger is one of the five most satisfying things I’ve ever done.”

 

Sideshow is available through Amazon in both print ($9.99) and e-book ($2.99) versions. 

Sideshow is (Finally) Available on Amazon

It took longer than expected due to reasons I won’t go into – mainly because they’re my fault – but the eighth Nick Forte PI novel, SIDESHOW, is now available in print and e-book formats on Amazon; Kindle Unlimited readers also have access. This is the hardest book I’ve ever tried to write, as I had to think about things I never had when writing any other book and I wanted to get them as close to right as possible.

 

The story opens with Forte’s return to Lake City to meet with Johnny Osgood, a televangelist who preaches what he calls “prosperity gospel,’ assuaging the consciences of those who want more than they need. A young woman employee of Osgood’s Lakeview Church, Elena Morales, stopped coming to work a few days ago. No one can contact her and people are worried.

 

Why this job needs to be under the table pricks Forte’s radar, not enough to turn down the work. Finding Elena is not difficult, but what he learns, and some of what he doesn’t, bothers him enough to leave her with his card and an invitation to call him if she ever needs anything.

 

Of course, she does. (Wouldn’t be much of a book if she didn’t, right?) What she calls him about, and what happens because of it, are what you’ll have to read the book to find out. I can tell you that along the way Forte spends time with

·         His daughter Caroline.

·         His friend and “debt collector” Goose Satterwhite.

·         His cop friend Jan Rusiewicz, now a lieutenant in charge of Area Five Violent Crimes.

·         Bobby Catlett, a detective under Jan’s command.

·         Steve Miller, Osgood’s right-hand man.

·         A therapist.

·         An intersex woman.

·         A gay detective.

·         A transgender woman detective.

·         A bartender who may end up being more than someone who serves draft beer and chicken wings.

SIDESHOW took me longer to write than any other book if we don’t count the time spent researching the Western. I think it was worth the effort. You’ll have to be the judge of whether I’m right. It’s available in both print ($9.99) and e-book ($2.99) formats on Amazon.