From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for
answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The
following entry appeared in October of 2014.
I just found out a
week ago that I had sold my first novel. It’s a coming of age, urban young
adult book about a biracial boy who LIKES to fight and the realization that he
has to STOP if he wants to get ahead in life.
In my spare time,
I’m also a “first line of defense” – what’s called a first reader in the
publishing industry – for an online science fiction magazine. The editor’s wife
is also a breast cancer survivor, and they sent me a story to share with my
wife. It was witty and sharp – which is the way I prefer my humor (except for
the occasional slapstick routine that makes me laugh so hard I can’t breathe…).
It got me to
thinking: how much “breast cancer fiction” is there out there? I started a
novel here some years ago in which I was re-writing FANTASTIC VOYAGE – a novel
written by Isaac Asimov...based on a MOVIE script written by Henry
Kleiner...which was based on a STORY written by Otto Klement and Jerome
Bixby...(and because the novelization of the movie, everyone (myself included)
thought that Asimov had come up with the idea and written the novel from which
the movie was made – which was a lot of effort for almost no feedback.
I decided to check
and see in what works of fiction breast cancer appeared. So here’s my list and
except for the one story I read above and the one I’m in the middle of writing,
I can’t vouch for any of these.
According to
Amazon.com, there are 328 works of fiction that deal with breast cancer. I
notice on perusal that many of them are “self-published”. While this doesn’t
mean anything bad, it CAN mean that a manuscript was edited by an amateur and
have some of the problems that that implies. I have tried to stay with novels
released by other-than-self publishers.
Positively
Beautiful, by Wendy Mills – http://www.amazon.com/Positively-Beautiful-Wendy-Mills/dp/1619633418/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414237990&sr=1-1&keywords=breast+cancer+fiction
Before I Go, by
Colleen Oakley, http://www.amazon.com/Before-I-Go-Colleen-Oakley/dp/1476761663/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414237990&sr=1-2&keywords=breast+cancer+fiction
Cancer Vixen, by
Marisa Acocella Marchetto, http://www.amazon.com/Cancer-Vixen-Marisa-Acocella-Marchetto-ebook/dp/B00O02CAZC/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414237990&sr=1-7&keywords=breast+cancer+fiction
Love In Bloom, by
Sheila Roberts, http://www.amazon.com/Love-Bloom-Sheila-Roberts/dp/1250046475/ref=sr_1_46?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414238785&sr=1-46&keywords=breast+cancer+fiction
All That Glitters,
by Jennifer O’Neill, http://jenniferoneill.com/?page_id=570
And of course…
The Middle Place
by Kelly Corrigan, http://www.amazon.com/The-Middle-Place-Kelly-Corrigan/dp/1401340938/ref=zg_bs_4673_4
I MAY read these.
I may not. I MAY start my novel, A FANTASTIC BREAST CANCER VOYAGE again...I may
not. Even so, at least we know that there are people out there brave enough to
write about it. Now if only I can find a novel about a breast cancer
HUSBAND...hmmmm...
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