Burn This City To the Ground by N. Daniel - Book Tour - Book Release Video - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host N. Daniel and his new book, “Burn This City To the Ground,” here on FAB!!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with N. Daniel and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

Burn This City To the Ground

by N. Daniel

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GENRE:  Memoir/Creative Non-Fiction

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BLURB:

As Daniel recovers from a psychotic episode and months long mental health civil commitment, he befriends a youthful quadriplegic named Samantha who is dealing with life-threatening health problems. When cohabitation becomes necessary for Sam, caregiver and client both move to downtown Minneapolis to begin a new life together. Before they can get settled in, Daniel is diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and must undergo multiple surgeries. The two navigate the American healthcare system and work towards Samantha's eventual independence, however, their relationship becomes toxic when a global pandemic shakes the nation and George Floyd is murdered by Minneapolis police officers.

Based on the author's life, this endearing platonic love story is the gooey center of a turbulent world set aflame. Through the laughter and the tears, Samantha and Daniel play off each other like a tragic comedy duo that's hell bent on finding humor within the most savage aspects of their everyday lives.

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BOOK RELEASE VIDEO:

Check out N. Daniel’s book release video for his new book, “Burn This City To the Ground,” below:

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EXCERPT ONE:

I pulled into a gas station and had some trouble figuring out which side the tank was on. With some maneuvering I positioned the van next to the pump. Suddenly I realized that I didn't have any money for gas. I paged through the three-ringed binder holding the mileage log and found what looked like a debit card in a pencil pouch.

“That's the gas card, dear. You type in the mileage and the user code when you start the pump.”

“Oh, I get it. What's the code?” I asked. “Look at the back of the card.” There was a tiny piece of paper fastened to the back of the card with clear plastic tape. It read “3742”. Sam put her limp left hand on her forehead as though she was doing a facepalm. I entered the information into the pump and opened the side door so I could talk to her while it filled up.

“So, you have had problems with these sores before?”

“Yes,” she replied, callously.

“They can be pretty serious business, huh?”

“You know the guy that played Superman? Christopher Reeve?”

“Yeah, everybody knows him. He fell off of his horse and broke his neck, right?”

“Exactly,” Sam continued. “He broke his neck at the base of his skull, so he had even less function than I do. Poor Bastard. Do you know how he died?”

“No, how?”

“Just like this. He got a pressure ulcer. Felt fine, just peachy. He went into sepsis and before they could give him antibiotics he dropped dead.”

Sam pointed her hand at me in the thumbs up motion.

“I wish I had the balls to just refuse treatment, but I am too chicken****.”

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GUEST POST:

The Curse of Sam and the Physically Disabled Villain

For the past nine years I have been writing memoirs. I tell others who ask about my writing that I am both blessed and cursed with having survived special circumstances and ended with something worth mentioning. I recently wrote a book about my time taking care of a quadriplegic in Downtown Minneapolis and though I felt I was fair and honest in the writing, some readers were left loathing my disabled client. I will admit I did not hold back on her crassness, vulgar wit, and inappropriate behavior. That may have been enough to throw most people off. It seems showing the humanity beneath all of that negativity was the true challenge of writing my new book “Burn This City To the Ground.”

The character of Samantha is as divisive as they come. One part Will Traynor from “Me Before You” and the second part Marla Singer from “Fight Club,” Sam leaves little to the imagination about what she thinks and how she feels. She has no filter. She is blunt, brutally at times. Her idea of polite conversation is pointing out the obvious, sometimes taboo elephants in the room and then watching the people around her panic about an appropriate reaction. She is driven by her pain to pursue her own amusement at the expense of others, and who could blame her? Left paralyzed from the shoulders down and without the use of her hands so early in her life, she clearly has reasons to suffer. She is estranged from her young son which only compounds the anguish. It has caused her personality to become severe and offensive. So, my question after seeing both love and hatred for Samantha is, “Why are complex, difficult, physically disabled characters seen as villains if they don't have some sort of redemption arc in the end?”

Of course I hate to give the ending of the book away, and I am not going to do that. I will say that my conclusion with Samantha was unfortunate and toxic, which is how so many of these professional relationships end. When you live with some one you work for they become like family. The same rules, limitations and boundaries apply. Sometimes we cared for each other as grandparents care for their grandchildren. Other times we tore each other to shreds as in the worst sibling rivalry. If we are looking at a bitter fight between family members there is typically some one in the right and some one in the wrong but in the end both must resolve and love each other. After all they are family. So why is Samantha punished by my readership for being in pain, for being human, however wrong people think she is in her viewpoint? Why can't they resolve with her and see her true self? I of course blamed myself for this shortcoming.

In the end my character is not perfect. He is lazy, disorganized, untidy, so many things that would scare most paralyzed individuals away. These skills are a perquisite for accepting such a position. However, when I don't meet my expectations others have said that Samantha is being harsh to ridicule me. It is fascinating how easily readers relate to me, the good natured, loyal caregiver and loath Sam, the carefree wild child with a sharp tongue and painful history. Most people are conditioned to take things at face value. After all it is a faster way to process what is happening around us. However, to see past the armor Sam has gilded, which oftentimes seems to be made of lead, requires the most damaged hearts. It is almost as though we can't see her pain without having felt something similar ourselves. This is why I feel a lot of disabled folks in literature and cinema are misunderstood. I am not Emilia Clarke when it comes to my book. We don't fall desperately in love with each other. There is no convenient ending where all the loose ends are somehow tied up in a nice bow. More often than not life doesn't work like that.

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AUTHOR BIO:

N. Daniel works as a medical caregiver in the greater Minneapolis/Saint Paul Metropolitan area in the Winter and as a landscape laborer for his father in Winona, MN in the Summer. His debut writing effort, “Corners Untouched by Madness: A Personal Journey of Overcoming Mental Illness,” has enjoyed modest success in certain writing circles. The Author lives with his wife and two dogs just outside of downtown Minneapolis."

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CONNECT WITH N. DANIEL:

Website:

https://www.ndaniel.us

Email:

author@ndaniel.us

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/NdanielAuthor

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/MyUnsafePlace

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/MyUnsafePlace

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3f0ZT5FcPXd-7htjOiaC-w

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58923608-burn-this-city-to-the-ground

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19591790.N_Daniel

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58923608-burn-this-city-to-the-ground

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3GcH7SD

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/34n87RW

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3ALCwWA

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Burn-This-City-Ground-Daniel-ebook/dp/B09MBPV4K7

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Burn-This-City-Ground-Daniel/dp/195050249X

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/burn-this-city-to-the-ground-n-daniel/1140556887

Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Burn-This-City-the-Ground-N-Daniel/9781950502493

Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Burn-This-City-Ground/N-Daniel/9781950502493

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

N. Daniel will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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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.