Virtual Book Tour + #Giveaway: Off Season by E.S. Ruete @EdwardRuete @GoddessFish

Off Season: A Novel of Healing

by E.S. Ruete

GENRE: Fiction

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.

Excerpt:

“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.

Interview with E.S. Ruete

Have you ever had an imaginary friend?

No, not really. Not until Dottie.

Do you have any phobias?

I am horribly claustrophobic, which sounds strange coming from a submariner. I especially have problems when the way out is blocked by people coming in. I also have frequent claustrophobia dreams, and have to get out of bed and walk around until the feeling leaves me.

Do you listen to music when you're writing?

No. For me music is either something to focus on or a filler when I’m doing something that doesn’t really engage me. Writing fills my head and my heart.

Do you ever read your stories out loud?

I have read parts of Off Season out loud. One I have read a few times is Pastor Allen’s Christmas Eve sermon. It’s funny because when I preach I always stand in the pulpit and practice, and I usually wind up revising my sermon. I found that Pastor Allen obviously didn’t do that with the Christmas Eve sermon.

Tell us about your main character and who inspired him/her.

I started out with Glenda, a character that was inspired by a story told by a friend who is an innkeeper in the Berkshires. But within a couple of pages Glenda introduced me to her partner, Dottie, who by chapter 3 had become the hero of her own story. Dottie is my age, which made it easy to relate to her sense of history, and loves women and one in particular, which we also have in common.

I think she might in part be inspired by my friend Russ. Watching how Russ’s relationship  developed with the man who is now his husband, seeing how it went through the same steps as my relationship with my wife, gave me the insight that love is not different just because the gender is the same.

 AUTHOR Bio and Links:

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: (The book is $0.99 during the tour) http://www.makingspaceconsulting.com/Publish.html

Twitter ~ Facebook

Buy Link:

Amazon

Giveaway:

$50 Amazon/BN GC

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