Authorpreneur Dashboard – Mary Wallace
Unburying Hope
Literature & Fiction
In this fiercely memorable contemporary romance, beautiful Celeste, the endearingly hopeful graffiti artist, and her hilarious, gay friend Frank search the decaying streets of Detroit for the meaning of love. Their sweet and poignant relationship twists when Celeste falls in love with Eddie, a battle-scarred Iraq War vet who is haunted by the horrors of war. Celeste and Eddie follow their dreams to start over in Hawaii, learning that the wounds we carry inside us can heal with time and love, even if they never leave us.
Book Bubbles from Unburying Hope
Waking up to your own beauty
Sometimes it takes a good friend to shake you out of your doldrums... I love Detroit and have watched from afar as it struggled since I was there in the late 70's as a student. It's hard to find beauty in growing breakdown, but you might like the documentary Detropia, which shows the beginning of another, yet another renaissance in Detroit. National Geographic Magazine's May cover story was about Detroit's revival. Just as we look deeply into ourselves for what is our own unassailable beauty, so we believe in the places in America that were once the heartbeats of our country. I hope to always be that kind of a friend to Detroit. I wanted Frank, who hails from the South, to help Celeste see herself in a larger, more loving way so that she has the courage she will need in order to make decisions in coming challenging times.
PTSD and Fireworks
When I was just out of college, I worked as a civilian employee at the US Army Presidio of San Francisco, with a Top Secret Clearance. I was surrounded by Reservists and Active Duty career military and was blown away by their integrity and compassion. Many of them hated fireworks. They had seen things, they told me, that no one should ever see. I could sense the hidden residual damage, especially those who had done time very young in Vietnam. One Sergeant told me something he’d never told another person, and 20 years had passed since he’d seen it in the jungles far from home. I watched as he told me, struck more by the relief on his face than by the unconscious shaking of his head. After that, I studied PTSD and I believe that we owe our military an equal “un-boot camp” to even out the time spent in boot camp. Boot camp prepares a soldier to give up individual thinking and to work in a team, under command. We need to reteach individuation and allow our soldiers a safe environment to unravel the trauma of war before or as they re-acclimate into home society.
