My philosophy can best be summarized by this exchange between my character Father Joseph, a Catholic priest, and his earthly father in Necessary Sins:
“There is no need to be vulgar.”
“Life is vulgar, Joseph—and sublime.”
If you’re looking for “clean reads,” look elsewhere. My novels portray real life uncensored on an epic scale. I’m as forthright about the sex scenes as I am about the medical procedures and historical violence. Please be advised that these warnings will be SPOILERS.
Book 1, Necessary Sins
Violence: Decapitation, arms mangled in a machine, a man’s head bashed in, implied infanticide, mass hanging, a man shot in the head. Implied rape of a minor. It’s the Haitian Revolution and slavery, after all. I don’t dwell, and I try to have the worst violence happen “off-screen,” but my point-of-view character finds the bodies. Surgery without anesthesia because it wasn’t in use yet. Breast cancer. Multiple miscarriages. The deaths of children and young adults. The past was a dangerous place to live.
Sex: Consensual bondage and cunnilingus, although the young person who glimpses said act doesn’t understand it was consensual for some years. “Impure” thoughts and wet dreams.
Language: A few carefully selected uses of the n-word, mostly direct quotes from 19th-century sources.
Book 2, Lost Saints
Violence: Death by striking one’s head after falling. Ritual self-torture (a Cheyenne Indian cultural practice). A badger is killed and disembowelled in a Cheyenne ritual of divination. Domestic violence. Off-screen marital rape.
Sex: A Catholic priest engages in sexual acts with his very willing soulmate.
Language: Sexual parts and terms, mostly poetic.
Book 3, Native Stranger
Violence: Rape of a minor within the context of slavery. Incestual voyeurism. I use these hideous acts to illustrate how powerless women were in the antebellum South and what they were facing in order to take that power back.
Sex: A young woman who is underage by 21st-century U.S. standards (seventeen years old) engages in consensual sexual acts. Masturbation. See also “Violence” for rape.
Language: Damned. Ass. Cunt, cock, prick, fuck (used with reference to rape). More poetic and creative terms for the consensual sex. A few carefully selected uses of the n-word, mostly direct quotes from 19th-century sources.
Book 4, Sweet Medicine
Violence: Incestual rape. A man’s face is bashed in. Suicidal ideation. A woman is stabbed. Killing and butchering antelope and bison for food and hides. Eating puppies (a Cheyenne Indian cultural practice). Ritual self-torture. Anaphylactic shock.
Sex: Most of the novel is a sexual healing journey involving multiple intimate scenes. Masturbation. See also “Violence” for rape.
Language: Damned. Ass. Cunt, cock, prick, fuck (used with reference to rape). More poetic and creative terms for the consensual sex. A few carefully selected uses of the n-word, mostly direct quotes from 19th-century sources.