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As a survivor, nothing paranormal was attributed with "causing" child abuse in my novel, Rarity from the Hollow. There is no excuse for abusing a child, or anybody else. 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. As a therapist involved both with victims, like myself, and perpetrators, these correlates cannot justify evil actions.

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 to my above comments if you follow the link. Complete copies of these and other reviews are available on request.

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 De Vault 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, Mad Verse, 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 Dot Com'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.

Lacy Dawn Adventures

Yeah, I mean, it all "seems" easier when you're younger with less responsibilities, until you really stop and consider it.

In elementary school, you basically just have to show up do what work they give you and it's not too difficult, but you don't even have a grasp on what you're missing.

In middle/high school, you sit around and generally work for eight hours, and pay others for the privilege. Due to your age you rely on others for just about everything, especially if you can't drive or have no car. I lived in a rural area and had nowhere I wanted to go anyways. Unlike a job, you can't even try to get the hours moved, it's 8 am to 3 pm ish or nothing. You have no power of any kind, no ability to change anything, and your body is going positively spastic due to puberty.

The funny thing is that you don't remember it. Those little extraneous details just melt away as you get older. You forget how uncomfortable that one desk in Earth-Sciences was, and how every time you'd sit down in it, you'd hit the bar with your shin. Then there was that Algebra class in Mrs. (insert math teacher's name here)'s class that was so cold you considered buying a jacket just for that class. Then there were the school lunches, where you'd run ravenously to the lunchroom and hoped they were serving pizza because, well, at least that tasted good.

Now? Now you buy whatever you want (as long as it's not too expensive), but you have to make it yourself. Or you can order it, if you can afford to eat out everyday. You can go where-ever you like (just make it to work on time). And no one can tell you how to dress (as long as you keep the blinds closed). The freedom has limits, but it's a better sight then being young ever was.

You set your hours, mostly. You watch and play what you want, if you can afford it. You have the freedom to make bad decisions, and then develop the good sense not to do it again. I never want to be young like that again. It was so restricting, and the freedom to make my own choices is irreplaceable.

Where do you old Boomers and Gen X's discuss childhood satuday morning cartoons, etc, on this subforum?

It feels more appropriate to necropost in an old thread here than to start a new thread about a 1983 cartoon.

Well, you have a choice of either necro-ing this thread or the decade-specific Nostalgia threads, and I'd suggest the latter. I think light necroposting in these parts is generally tolerated - after all, we're just a bunch of Crotchety Old Liches.

...wait, you mean I've been reading that wrongly all this while?

Hey you dumb adventurers! Stop wrecking my army of unspeakable horrors! Do you have any idea how long it takes to bleach a skeleton?!

Come on, the bleaching is fairly easy. You just animate them in bulk and command them through tanks of peroxide. It's the polishing that's the real bind. Good luck getting their fine control right to just leave it to them to do... Nope: that's a personal job, if you have no apprentices to farm it off to.

I don't want to say exactly how old I am, but the first TV shows I remember watching are, oh, Welcome Back, Kotter, All in the Family, Chico and the Man...

Eh the age range in this section is pretty diverse from late teens to "The Ancients/Precursors".

Finally, my company has paid a proper amount of my income tax and I don't have to screw around with bank transfers to the tune of $1 or, worse yet, $0.10.