Some
Are Sicker Than Others
Andrew
Seaward
In A.A. they say to
wait at least a year before entering into a relationship, the idea being before
you can love someone else, you must first learn how to love yourself. But what
if loving yourself just isn’t possible? What if in order to love yourself, you
must first know that you can be loved?
During a mandated recovery, Monty Miller, a young, suicidal
alcoholic, falls deeply in love with a cocaine addict named Vicky, who offers
him a reprieve from his life of self-sabotage. Against his sponsor’s warnings,
Monty hinges his entire recovery on Vicky, believing he can stay sober for her
rather than doing it for himself. But when Vicky is killed in a hit-and-run on
their way home from a meeting, Monty is forced to confront the truth; he didn’t
really love her. He was just using her as a way to cope without alcohol.
Filled with the guilt of this revelation, Monty embarks on a
mission to drink himself to death. But, his family intervenes and has him
committed to Sanctuary, a rehabilitation facility high in the foothills of the
Rocky Mountains. There he meets Dave Bell, a former all-American track star
turned narcissistic crack addict, and the driver responsible for Vicky’s death.
Can Monty forgive Dave for his unspeakable atrocity and
finally find the courage to forgive himself? Or will he follow his addiction to
its inevitable conclusion, using self-pity and blame as excuses to give up on
life?
Based on the author’s own personal experience with substance
abuse and addictive relationships, SOME ARE SICKER THAN OTHERS transcends the
clichés of the typical recovery story by exploring the incomprehensible
demoralization of addiction and the thin, blurred line between codependence and
true love.
Excerpt
Author Bio
"Monty bent his
head forward and started rubbing his eyelids, digging away the mucus
that was crusted in the corners of his eyes. As he brought his hands
down, he caught a whiff of something strong and chemical, fanning from
his fingertips and out beneath his nose. He knew what it was. It was the
acetaldehyde, a byproduct of the dehydrogenation of alcohol in the
blood. For a normal drinker, it hung out for only a matter of minutes
before being broken down by a substance in the liver called glutathione.
But for alcoholics, the chemical hung around almost indefinitely,
because there wasn’t enough glutathione to combat the massive amounts of
alcohol entering the blood. The result was a stench not unlike that of
vinegar or nail polish remover, emanating from the sweat pores like a
bad case of B.O. It was so strong that people would often comment on it,
but Monty usually just told them that he was trying out a new cologne.
Funny. It had been such a long time since he’d smelled it that only now
did he realize how much he missed it. Now, that it was back, it was
almost reassuring, like the sweet, apple scent of his childhood home. He
laid his right hand out flat in front of him then took a deep breath
in, his knuckle pressed against his nose. Ahh. It was sharp, strong,
pungent, and bitter…the smell of death like a spirit unfurling from his
skin. He smiled as he sank back against the headrest, his eyes focused
on the front entrance of the liquor store. Just then, he saw a hand move
through the front store window and flip the Sorry, We’re Closed sign to Yes, We’re Open. Thank God. It was about time."
Author Bio
Name a hospital in Pennsylvania; I’ve been there. A rehab in
Texas; I’ve stayed there. I’ve been strapped down to hospital beds, thrown into
drunk tanks, and locked in padded rooms no bigger than a broom closet. I’ve
woken up on railroad tracks, passed out on park benches, and even slept in a
dumpster once because I was too drunk to realize what it was. And for what? A
moment of numbness, a flicker of tranquility? No. I realize now, that the
reason I drank was because I was too afraid to admit who I really was. I’m an
artist. A storyteller. A writer. An author. It took me a long time to finally
admit this, and now that I have, I can’t stop.
My debut novel, SOME ARE SICKER THAN OTHERS, takes you on a
hellish journey inside the diseased mind of the addict. From a codependent
alcoholic wracked by an obsession to drink himself to death to a former
all-American track star turned washed-up high school volleyball coach with a
dependency on crack…the characters in my novel will haunt, taunt, and challenge
your preconceived notions of what it means to be an addict or alcoholic. Some
of you will laugh, some will cry, others will see themselves in the characters’
lives. Either way, I hope you enjoy the story, because, in the end, it’s not only
my story…it’s everybody’s.
Do you have a tag line: I used to think I was a pretty sick
person. Then my parents sent me to drug & alcohol rehab in Anaheim, CA.
There I learned a universal truth about addicts and alcoholics; though we may
all be sick…Some Are Sicker Than Others.
Welcome to TBR Andrew!
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