“Mama’s Madness” – Re-Launch – June 21, 2018
One more time!
“Mama’s Madness” has been among my fourteen books my best seller, and I’ve changed the cover a few times. WHY AM DOING IT AGAIN?
Call me crazy, but this time I also did some re-writing, making some changes here and there – nothing major but enough, I believe, to make it even better. The old edition had some sixty reviews, most of them 5-STARS and 4-STARS, so maybe I am a bit nutty to be making a change again. However, I’m committed to this change and I hope that my friends and followers will help me with this re-launch…I’m awaiting proof copy and will be shooting for a June 21, 2018 publication.
The changes I’ve made to “Mama’s Madness” do not lessen the evil transgressions in the book. It is still a book that will shock readers, make them angry, make them not believe what they’re reading, but this book is inspired by a true California case some decades ago. When I read the newspaper clippings of this ‘mother’s’ brutal treatments of her six children, it made me angry, made me sad to the point of tears, made me think of my own children and their lives…thank God, they never suffered the beating, the dark-closet confinements (for days, NOT hours!), the unsavory introduction to sex, the eating of lard and their own retch. Because my kids did suffer the emotional stress of a divorce, they never suffered from a lack of love.
In short, I had to write this book!
No one needs perhaps to be reminded of the evil in our world, but the urge was so powerful to fictionalize this mother’s brutal and psychopathic behavior for my own inner compulsion but, hopefully, to also remind people people of their vigiliance and environments, to be aware of that solicitous smiling stranger in the park, that passing car with a weirdo at the wheel making gestures, the friendly co-worker who offers a ride home.
Yes, there will be some who see “Mama’s Madness” as a gratuitous penning of some lurid and sensational events. Those who feel that way will not have seen an author’s tears as he wrote some sections of the book.
“Mama’s Madness” will always be to me my favorite book, NOT so much because of the evil portrayed within its pages, but because it awakened me as an author, made me so much more aware of the events in our world, and the ultimate power of words.
May I ask of my friends and followers to assist me in getting this new edition of “Mama’s Madness” re-launched. It is a novel I believe to be by anyone’s writing standard a quality book.
“Mama’s Madness” was recently posted by Caleb Pirtle: “Five of 100 books you should read before you die.” https://calebandlindapirtle.com/five-100-books-read-die-2/efore You Die!
At the top you see the new cover for “Mama’s Madness” – Do you like it!
Any assistance you can give me will be appreciated – reblogs- suggestions.
You can read part of the ‘Prologue’ of “Mama’s Madness” here:
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PROLOGUE PORTION “Mama’s Madness”
“Help me! Please help me!”
It is a piteous whimper, lost in the black void of the narrow closet. The weak and eerie sound of her own voice chills her more fiercely than the cold. The thought brings an aberrant amusement. Her own small voice frightens her!
A sound! A creaking sound. Far off. A footfall! Is it?
No. It is not a footfall. It’s just one of the strange noises that comes in the night.
Is it night?
Time is lost. Time is gone from her world like a chunk of youth. The black hole draws her toward an uncertain vortex. She must close her eyes. But, not so tightly. She sees less with her eyes lightly closed. There is better control of her quivering body. With eyes open, the blackness comes alive with trickery.
Some crawling thing moves along her upper arm. That is her perception. She shifts and finds a wooden wall protrusion. A vertical beam. She moves her arm and body in back and forth rushes to accommodate the itch.
Her wrists are painfully numb and raw. The handcuffs seem now natural extensions of her hands.
Her shoulders ache in their sockets. They are taut from the pull of arms bound behind her back.
How long? God! It seems an eternity! A small lifetime she has lived in this palpable darkness. Maybe, it has been two days. The air has no texture or stir. It hangs there, stale and dank.
Her face is flushed with fever. It feels stiff and crusty from the tears running over her abrasive wounds. She squints and contorts. She opens and closes her mouth. There are sharp responses of pain. Her entire body feels leaden and bloated. When she moves there is a burning chaff between her thighs. A complacent soreness pervades. It no longer matters. Nor does the stench from her body’s waste matter.
It is her mind which throttles her. Whisks her off in searing flashes, abates, lingers amid the blackness. A fragile sentry. Both enemy and friend.
It is all happening again! She is next to die. Just like Celia. Was it a year ago? Two? Time, again, is elusive, lost. What does it matter? A year or an hour ago! Sarilee knows she is next. Just like Celia…
End of ‘Prologue’ portion…
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Again, thank you for helping me in this re-launch. I’m trying for a pub-date of June 21, 2018. Any suggestions you have will be welcomed, as will any and all re-blogs. If you have comments about the cover, please let me know.
Billy Ray Chitwood – May 21, 2018
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Looking good, Billy Ray. I like the full moon as a symbol of madness.
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My thought, too, John. Thanks for affirmation. Appreciate your support on this;. ♥♥
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Looks great Billy Ray and when it is available with the new cover will make sure I change in the bookstore…. xx
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Thanks so much, dear Sally. You are terrific! ♥♥♥
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Bill, as you know I’ve been a big fan of “Mama’s Madness” for years now. It’s so visual that I think it’d make a good movie. I like your old cover of bloody photos, but I like this new cover as well (the full moon is a good suspenseful image). As far as marketing goes, as always I’ll continue to recommend it (Five stars for sure!), but I’m pretty clueless about how to spread the word other than telling social media friends that if they want their heads to explode and perhaps even need to sleep with the lights on then “Mama’s Madness” is for them. Good luck on the re-launch!
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Thanks, good friend. I so much appreciate you! Yell if you need anything from me re your new blog… It is a very nice, sedate, and lovely blogsite… ♥♥♥
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Congrats, Billy Ray! Would you like to be featured on my blog when the book launches? ❤️
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Of course, I would love to be featured on your blog! Were you really expecting a “No”? Do I have to work? Nolikadework! ♥♥♥
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Looks great, Billy Ray! Happy to promote your relaunch any way I can. Cheers! 🙂
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Thanks so much, Natalie… June 21 is the target date of publication. ♥♥
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Billy Ray it sounds like a great, and worthwhile book. I’m glad you’re sending it out again. Too many people refuse to believe that a mother could do evil things. (I’ve had that comment right to my face, the few times I’ve told people my own story. I just don’t tell it any more.) I want to tell them that there’s blood on their hands, because that attitude enables abusers, molesters, and murderers.
So yes, I’m sure it will shock people… but they need to be shocked. 🌩️
Good luck and huge hugs.
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Bless you, dear Teagan, you are so very supportive, I wish I could be close enough to give you a soft squeeze, Support from a wonderful author like you means so very much. ♥♥♥
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Hugs back, my friend. Have a beautiful holiday weekend.
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You, too, dear Lady Teagan! ♥
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I like the cover a lot, Billy Ray. Best of luck with your re-launch of an already successful book!
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Thanks so much for your lovely comment, fellow alum! Wishing you a most Happy Memorial Day! ♥
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Good Lyco news (for me). I’ve been interviewed for the Lycoming Magazine (summer issue, perhaps?) on an article about three of us alum working together to publish my children’s book Birds of Paradise. Can’t wait to see it! I’ll let you know when it arrives (or you do the same for me). 🙂
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That’s Terrific! You bet I will! I’m still on Alum List, I’ll be on the lookout! Congrats on the Children’s Book collab…. ♥♥♥
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This is not my usual genre, Billy Ray. I tend to like Jane Eyre type books. I am going to read it. I am sure it will be great although it will distress me.
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Thanks, Robbie. After reading the newspaper cliippings about this mother, I had to write the book. Yes, it will very likely distress, but, hopefully you will enjoy the read. My best wishes. ♥
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Congratulations! I wish you many more sales and reviews. ❤
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Thank you, Colleen, for the lovely comment. My best wishes to you. ♥
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