Shadows of Shame-publication date September 16, 2016
Is this what it takes to get a story these days? Is the opening question in the mind of Harold Apple, the hero of Shadows of Shame. He is sitting on a bench in a holding cell in the basement of police headquarters in New York City dressed in the short-shirted uniform of a prostitute, complete with a platinum wig covering his short brown hair. Harold is a reporter for the New York World Journal and he is going undercover to expose rumored brutality in the woman's jail.
'Hazy light reflected off rhinestones and glitter on the hooker uniforms, making a muddy rainbow on the floor of the large cell. One of the girls, her long silk legs extending from a slinky black gown, shouted into the night. "Come and get me copper. Ha! A real man would know what to do."' (from Shadows of Shame, chapter 1)
Months later, after his adventures as a prisoner and his successful expose of jail conditions, he received another assignment from his editor, Arnold Aaron, which would test his acting ability. Harold was to pose as a German immigrant and join the German American Bund, the self-described Nazi Party of America. Aaron wanted him, with his perfect German, to take a room in Yorkville, the section of New York which was the center of the Nazi Bund movement. The reporter was eager to take on the job even though it meant leaving his long-time girlfriend in The Bronx, Sally Schwartz.
'Aaron went on. His wire rim glasses moving up and down the slope of his nose as he bobbed and weaved like a fighter in the ring. "I've been jonesing to expose the stinking Nazis for months, before they amount to anything. Hitler was a joke in Germany for years before he won the election. We've got to nip them in the bud. Corkwright approved the story, but only if I give you the assignment."' (from Shadows of Shame, chapter 1)
Shadows of Shame is my first big book, my first book for adults, my first book that I haven't self-published. And it is being published on my 70th birthday. Yet I have been writing for over 40 years. I love creating something out of nothing, especially something good. Much of what I've done is good but Shadows is the best. I have to thank Acorn Publishing who gave me the opportunity and my friends who stood by me.
'I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do—the actual act of writing—turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.' (Ellen Shriner in 'Anne Lamott Is Right,' published in Brevity Blog, September 2, 2016, and reprinted in The Whole Megillah, September 3, 2016)
Some of my friends gave me permission to tag them in this release: @Patrice Brown, Sam Backman, Cindy Cutright, Pick Peuser, Anthony Michael, Sue Karren, Debbie Kritzer, Howard Frank, Judith Lee Johnson Jones, Joan Edelman, Carol Rosenberg Spolter, Claire Cassens, Cynthia Jones-Donovan, David I. Kasse. Ann Coren, Ed Schamel, Mari Sash Harris, Christa Yelich-Koth, Judy Goldschmidt, Gail Wasserman Hart, Sande Boritz Berger, Sara Naphtali Krumbein, Judith Berman Carlisle, Mike Finer, David Pfeiffer, Barbara Krasner, Sandra A. Pihana, Holly Kammier, James Cassedy, Nicole Elizabeth Oliver, Mike Hamilton, Toby Eisenberg, Mike Miller, Paul Cassens, Darlene McClurkin, Cynthia Fox, Sally Caldwell, Ellie Shemtov, Michael L. Lawson, JAdele Plotkin, Lloyd Wolf, Laura Larsen, Bob Coren, DeAnne Blanton, Ben Cooper Jr., Ed Aymar, Linda Kotz, Sandra Geritano, Robert Shapiro, Bonnie Miller. I thank everyone who is interested in my work.
