Hello
lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host E.S. “Ned” Ruete and his new
book, “Off Season: A Novel of Healing”!
For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click
on the banner above or any of the images in this post – except the Available at
Amazon picture.
Be
sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes
and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back
daily to interact with Ned and to increase your chances of winning!
This
book is on SALE during the book tour for ONLY $0.99 during the book tour!! See below for more details.
Thanks
for stopping by! Wishing you lots of
luck in this fabulous giveaway!
Off Season: A Novel of Healing
by E.S. Ruete
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GENRE: Fiction
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BLURB:
Dottie
woke up wondering where she was and why she was so cold. The first thing she
noticed was that she must be outside – she was lying on cold ground and snow
was hitting her in unusual places. That’s when she noticed the second thing.
Her skirt was pulled up past her waist and her panties were gone. Damn those
bastards. It started to come back to her.
Dottie
is now on an odyssey; a journey not of her choosing; a journey of healing,
integration, and reconciliation that will involve her partner, her friends, her
enemies, her church, her whole community. And her rapists. As she fights her
way through social stereotypes about rape and rape victims, she also finds the
strength to overcome society’s messages of who she should be and lays claim her
true self. But the memories, the loss, the anger – and the fears – never go
away. No woman chooses to be raped. I asked Dottie why she chose to tell me a
story of rape. She said that millions of women, hundreds every day, have
stories of rape that never get told. She told her story because she could.
Because she had to. Because maybe people would hear in a work of fiction a
Truth that they could not hear in any other way.
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EXCERPT THREE:
“Look
to your left. That person has divinity inside them. Look to your right. That
person has a divine spark. Now tap the shoulder of the person in in front of
you. When they turn around, say, ‘Namasté. I honor the divine spark within
you.’
“As
you prepare to celebrate Christmas, as we prepare to invite one another to the
communion table, think on this: Mary was an unwed mother, but she was not
unclean. Joseph was a lecherous old man, but he was not unclean. The shepherds
lived in the fields with the sheep, but they were not unclean. The Magi were
heathens from a pagan land and probably not circumcised, but they were not
unclean. And Jesus was born among the donkey dung and slept on top of a cow’s
supper, but He most assuredly was not unclean.
“Let
it be so.”
As
Pastor Allen spoke, Mandy sat with her arms folded across her chest and her
legs pressed together. When others were looking left and right, she didn’t
move, and when she was tapped on the shoulder, she didn’t turn around. She just
pursed her lips into a tighter line.
But
those who sat near her thought they saw the least glimmer of a tear in the
corner of her eye. Whether it was for her church, or for the Pastor, or for
herself, no one could guess. Even Mandy didn’t know. But part of her, a part
she was afraid of, a part she was trying to ignore, thought that maybe, just
maybe, it was for Dottie.
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GUEST POST:
Why Did You Write About Rape?
The
first question people ask about my book is usually, “What's it about?”
Naturally. How are you going to ask anything else about a book when you don't
know what it's about?
When
I say, “ It's about one woman's healing journey after rape,” the second
question is usually, “Why did you write about rape?” The clear implication is
that a man isn't supposed to write about rape. There must be something in my
life that makes the subject personal to me. Many people have explicitly asked
if there was someone close to me who was raped. While statistically the answer
to that question is undoubtedly “yes,” in fact only a few friends have let on
that they have a story and none of them have shared that story with me.
However,
that doesn’t mean that I have no reason, no place writing about rape, about a
woman's healing journey. I remember watching the Civil Rights Marches in the
60s. As I looked at the faces in the crowd, I thought, “Until those faces are
seventy percent white, we'll still have a problem.” Until half the people writing
and talking about what men do to women are men, we will still have a problem.
Some
people would disagree, on both points. Some would claim that both women and
people of color have to claim their own power, that that’s not something white
men can give them. And I heartily agree. But white people are the purveyors and
main consumers of racist ideas, and men are the source of genderism and
gender-based violence. Until we join them in their struggle, we will be
passively or actively complicit in their oppression.
Joss Whedon is often asked,
“Why do you write such strong woman characters?” In one media blitz he was
asked 48 times in one day. When he
talked about this in his acceptance speech for one of his many awards, he shared
many great answers. But when he gets tired of answering the question, he just
says, “Why do you keep asking me that? I would think you’d ask 100 other
writers why they don’t.” Why did I write about a woman’s healing journey? Go
ask 100 other men why they don’.
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AUTHOR BIO:
E.S “Ned” Ruete is an
author, speaker, group facilitator, women’s rights activist, LGBTQIPA+ ally,
lay preacher, guitar picker, and business analyst. He is the author of Seeking
God: Finding God’s both/and in an either/or world and Lead Your Group to
Success: A Meeting Leader’s Primer.
Now
retired, Ned lives in Niantic, Connecticut with his second wife. He continues
to offer pro bono group facilitation and facilitation training to schools,
churches, community groups and not-for-profit organizations. He has led
strategic planning retreats for United Action Connecticut (UACT), Fiddleheads
Food Co-op, and ReNew London. He is actively involved in LGBTQIPA+ advocacy and
annually attends and presents sessions at the True Colors Conference. He is a
member of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) formerly served
on the Association Coordinating Team (ACT, the IAF Board of Directors). He was
associate editor of Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal and
has contributed articles to Group Facilitation, The Facilitator, and other
publications on group facilitation and management consulting.
Off
Season is Mr. Ruete’s first fiction work.
See
his consulting products at MakingSpaceConsulting.com
(http://www.makingspaceconsulting.com/default.html) and
his books at MakingSpaceConsulting.com/publish: (http://www.makingspaceconsulting.com/Publish.html).
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CONNECT WITH NED:
Website:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINK & BOOK SALE INFO:
**Off Season is on SALE during the book tour for ONLY $0.99!!!**
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Ned will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a
randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
