Alcoholism and its effects on one family’s history are integral to the story being told in my novel, Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace. The Pierson family portrayed in the book has suffered the blight of alcoholism for at least four generations, with two of the children, Kay and Paul, forced to confront their dependency. The point of this subplot is to not only illustrate the character’s flaws, but to acknowledge that the problem of chemical dependency is a far-reaching and can affect anyone. But Kay and Paul’s struggles are meant to give the reader hope; hope that it is possible for addicts to reclaim their lives, finding grace or salvation in sobriety.

When Kay suspects Paul’s drinking has reached levels that point to dependency and abuse, this is not the first time those concerns have been expressed by the Pierson family. After his first wife’s death, Kay recognizes Paul’s attempts to salve his pain through alcohol. Never actually confronting him, the Pierson family believes Paul has found redemption in Pamela, and they push their fears aside. The Pierson family makes the mistake that many families confronted with chemical dependency do - they rationalize that the problem was only temporary and has been dealt with satisfactorily. But as Kay and her Mother realize Paul does have a problem, Kay recounts the Pierson family history and its path of devastation.

For Kay and her brothers, it begins with underage drinking as it does for many individuals. Underage drinking has reached epidemic status in the United States, with an estimated 10.8 million youth engaging in some level of alcohol consumption. These huge numbers of young Americans engaging in both illegal and risky behavior is behind the Surgeon General’s March 2007 report, the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. While Jack manages to escape the ravages of alcoholism, Kay and Paul’s battles with chemical dependency as adults are not at all unusual. According to the Surgeon General’s report, 40% of adults who began drinking before age 15 experience chemical dependency problems. With almost half of adults who begin drinking as teens suffering chemical dependency related difficulties later in life, Kay and Paul are far more typical than many may realize.

The relapse that Paul suffers after three months sobriety through attending Alcoholics Anonymous is also quite common. According to a study published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in 1989, nearly 90% of recovering addicts are likely to relapse at least once during the first four years of their sobriety. What triggers Paul’s fall - an argument with Kay regarding his ex-wife - is not an unusual response. Two other triggers leading to high risk behavior in recovering addicts include social pressure and interpersonal temptation.

It’s this episode that pushes Kay and her family to confront Paul with the knowledge that his chemical dependency is a problem they believe A.A. alone cannot solve. Kay gives Paul insights into the severity of her own battles with alcoholism by explaining her spouse, Tim, made it clear she had a choice to make. She could choose either alcohol or her marriage, but in the latter choice Tim demanded sobriety. Kay exhorts Paul to take a chance on sobriety, the only course of action that will allow him to discover who he really is as a person, reclaim his life, and find salvation from the ravages of chemical dependency.

Is recovery easy? Hell no. No one knows better than a recovering addict that real life is littered with temptation and good intentions gone awry. So an addict may relapse more than once, may hit bottom more than once, and may even lose their life to an addiction. When a fellow addict told me this about my alcoholic brother, I thought it was the cruelest thing I’d ever heard. When my brother died from his addiction, I suddenly understood.

As tough as getting and staying clean and sober is, no one knows better than a recovering addict that the saving grace offered by sobriety, of reclaiming a broken life and turning it into to something meaningful is well worth the sacrifice to achieve it.

As an author, I’m learning a lot through the Amazon controversy. And the biggest thing is this - Amazon isn’t the only option for authors to sell books. In fact, Amazon may unwittingly be doing authors of print on demand (POD) published books a big favor because there are a lot of other sites on the Internet where we can sell our books. 

Two that are quite prominent in their own right are Barnes and Noble’s online bookstore and Books-A-Million, both of which offer all of the same services as Amazon - a cover picture, synopsis of your book, reviews, and the opportunity for readers to buy. And there are many smaller sites across the Internet such as bookhitch and Once Written where authors can promote and sell their works.

Angered by Amazon’s attitude, some authors have pulled their books from Amazon and set up shop on other sites. Perhaps the biggest favor Amazon has done authors is to shatter the fallacy that writers need Amazon to sell lots of books. The reality is that authors don’t often sell that many copies off of Amazon. Instead, authors can invest in selling their books on sites that are better targeted towards the audience they want to reach. For example, Shades of Darkness is available on all the sites listed above, and I intend to make sure these are promoted properly. One way to do that is to make sure positive reviews find their way to other sites beyond Amazon.

Another option is to get involved on author sites such as Author Nation, Nothing Binding, and Author’s Den. These provide a great opportunity to not only get the word out regarding your work, but to hear from other writers about their work, get constructive feedback, and follow the book publishing business.

Whatever a writer chooses to do one thing is certain - Amazon isn’t the only option after all, just one of many waiting to be discovered by savvy authors.

Earlier this week, a study was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research that indicates even a small amount of alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer, particularly estrogen-receptor and progesterone-receptor positive breast cancer.

Since Shades of Darkness includes the topics of alcoholism and cancer, I found the correlation between even moderate drinking and an increased breast cancer risk intriguing. While previous data has suggested that consuming alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer, precise mechanisms had not been clarified.

The new study followed 184,000 postmenopausal women for an average of seven years. The study found that women who had less than one drink a day increased their risk of breast cancer by 7 percent compared to teetotalers. Women who consumed two drinks a day had a 32 percent increased risk, and those having three or more glasses of alcohol per day increased their risk to 51 percent. The risk was similar whether women consumed beer, wine, or spirits. However, the risk was seen mostly in those 70 percent of tumors classified as estrogen-receptor and progesterone-receptor positive.

Other researchers urged caution in interpreting the results, but women can learn more about breast cancer at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Additionally, women, especially those over the age of 40 need to be sure they are getting regular mammograms. For a recovering alcoholic such as myself, discussing an increased risk due to past behavior with my physician is something I will pursue.

The debate over Amazon’s tactics requiring POD publishers to use Amazon’s POD provider BookSurge if publishers want their books to continue being sold directly on the web site has ignited a virtual firestorm on both sides of the issue.

I belong to an organization called bookhitch, whose main purpose is to connect authors and readers without a middleman. The organization asks the question, “What if Amazon had no books to sell?” Then what would they do? Amazon derives its merchandising power from selling lots of books - both traditionally published and by POD authors. In protest, many authors are removing their links to Amazon, taking their books off the site, and rallying together. But bookhitch believes it will take a concerted effort of publishers, authors, and readers to truly affect Amazon’s bottom line and force a change in policy.

Some of the major organizations that have commented on Amazon’s policy follow:

PMA (Independent Book Publishers Association):
“Amazon’s new policy “imposes a significant financial burden on tens of thousands of small and independent publishers who can least afford it. Without the opportunity to benefit from competitive pricing, small publishers risk at best an expensive and needless overhaul of their manufacturing process, and at worst, the loss of their livelihood.” - Terry Nathan, Executive Director

ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors):
“With these grabby, strong-arm tactics, Amazon negates all that — and the years of goodwill it has built up with writers, who ultimately will bear the brunt of any price increases in the printing of independently published books.” - Russell Wild, President

Author’s Guild:
“We suspect this maneuver by Amazon is far more about profit margin than it is about customer service or fossil fuels. The potential big losers (other than Ingram) if Amazon does impose greater discounts on the industry, are authors - since many are paid for on-demand sales based on the publisher’s gross revenues - and publishers.
“We’re reviewing the antitrust and other legal implications of Amazon’s bold move.”

SPAN (Small Publishers Association of North America): 
“It is fair to say that almost all of our publishers and authors who use POD to distribute through Amazon.com will be negatively affected by this new policy. It is because so many of our members will be adversely affected that the SPAN Board is going on record as opposing Amazon.com requiring all publishers using POD distribution through Amazon to print with BookSurge.” - Scott Flora, Executive Director

Others believe this is strictly a business decision Amazon must make in order to streamline their processes. The argument is that it costs Amazon a great deal of money to offer free shipping on books and other products, and those costs must be covered somehow. As a recently published author of a POD book, I’ll continue to monitor what Amazon does next. Any author considering POD publishing should do the same; as such decisions may greatly impact a book’s success.  

Alcoholism is a central theme in the novel for a number of reasons. As a recovering alcoholic with a lengthy family history, I know first-hand just how destructive that abuse can be. Alcoholism’s toll includes damaged relationships, lost jobs, health problems, legal consequences, financial hardship, and a host of other issues. 

Some statistics to consider during Alcohol Awareness Month:
Hazardous drinking behavior (five or more drinks in one sitting) accounts for more than half of the alcohol industry’s $155 billion market and more than 75% of the beer industry’s market.

Underage alcohol consumption is more likely to kill young people than all other drugs combined. More than 1,700 college students in the U.S. are killed every year as a result of alcohol-related injuries.

Forty percent of adults who began drinking before age 15 experience chemical dependency problems later in life.

Nearly 14 million Americans - one of every 13 adults - abuse alcohol or are alcoholic. Fewer than 25% who need treatment get it in a given year.

Some 75% of husbands or wives who abuse their spouses had been drinking prior to the attack.

Alcohol is implicated in the deaths of an estimated 85,000 Americans each year, making it the nation’s third leading cause of preventable deaths after obesity and smoking.

Drunk driving accounts for approximately 16,000 alcohol-related deaths each year, which amounts to 25% of all alcohol-related deaths.

Alcohol-related problems including illness, premature death, and crime cost the U.S. economy an estimated $185 billion a year in lost productivity and earnings.

Some of the health risks of drinking heavily include increased incidence of cancers of the liver, esophagus, throat, and larynx, as well as cirrhosis of the liver, immune system problems, brain damage, and heart disease.

If you or someone in your family suffers from alcohol-related problems, there are a number of chemical dependency organizations and groups listed on the Resources page of this site.

The Sunday Minneapolis Tribune carried an article by renowned journalist, Brad Zellar, Great Minnesota Books. While many great authors have come from Minnesota - F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Judith Guest, Garrison Keillor, and August Wilson - to name but a few, most never wrote about Minnesota specifically.

The majority of books featured in the article are of the non-fiction genre and cover an extraordinary range from the state’s varied history, spectacular natural beauty and wildlife, colorful local characters, and mythology. Where else would you find a mystery-suspense novel titled Wind Chill Factor, but one set in Minnesota?

At the end of the piece, Zellar laments that too few works of fiction take place in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, which makes me extremely glad I chose to set Shades of Darkness in my native state. The point was not just to use Minnesota as a backdrop for the novel, but to incorporate this great land as another living, breathing character within the story.

The news that Amazon is forcing Print On Demand (POD) publishers to use BookSurge, owned by Amazon since 2005, to print their books if they want to sell them through Amazon blew across the publishing industry like loose pages from a poorly glued paperback.

Having just released a POD book through iUniverse, the news gave me cause for great concern. Would my book still be carried on Amazon, or would the “Buy Book” button be turned off, as a rumor racing across the Internet indicated? In the midst of my book tour, I immediately contacted my marketing team. Books already published such as Shades of Darkness are safe - for now. That doesn’t mean things can’t or won’t change in the future.

The story first broke last Thursday on Writers Weekly and the reaction has been swift. AuthorHouse/iUniverse announced on Monday they have reached an agreement with Amazon to have BookSurge print their books. Lulu followed suit a short time later. One large POD publisher, PublishAmerica, is refusing to bow to Amazon’s demands.  

If you’re an author considering self-publishing, you need to familiarize yourself with the controversy and understand what’s at stake. Besides Writers Weekly, additional blog postings on Author Marketing Experts clarify the issue as it stands right now. Again, that could change.

Writers’ Weekly sums up why this is so very bad: Less money for publishers plus less money for authors plus less money for book buyers equals more money for Amazon. Of the Seven Deadly Sins, Greed has got to be the BIG ONE. Amazon, an organization built on selling books written by authors seems suddenly to care only about the money, never mind how many get stepped on in the process of raking in the dough.

A key sub-plot in Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace centers on the Pierson family history of alcoholism, and Kay and Paul’s struggles to confront and overcome that abuse and dependency. April is Alcohol Awareness Month, designated as a way to shatter stereotypes of who is affected by alcohol abuse, provide education on the immensity of the problem in the U.S., and offer screening to determine if a person’s drinking habits may be risky.

The family depicted in Shades of Darkness is based on real people with a devastating family history of alcoholism. They are upper-middle class, educated, working in a successful business, and enjoy a close-knit family relationship. One of the things I wanted to demonstrate is that alcoholism or other chemical abuse truly shows no prejudice and can affect anyone.

How big is the problem? In 2003, the last year for which statistics are available, almost 21.6 million Americans were found to abuse alcohol and have issues associated with dependency. April 10 marks the annual observance of National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD) in the U.S. At locations across the country, people can be anonymously screened to determine if they are engaging in risky drinking behaviors. The organization also has an extensive web site under Screening for Mental Health where readers can also take the anonymous self-assessment.

Besides the availability of screening, there are warning signs of potential abuse. If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, you may have a problem with alcohol and should consider seeking help.

Do you drink alone when you are feeling angry or sad?
Does your drinking ever make you late for work?
Does your drinking concern your family?
Do you ever drink after telling yourself you won’t?
Do you ever forget what you did while drinking?
Do you get headaches or have a hangover after drinking?

Prior to getting sober 20 years ago, I could answer “yes” to every single one of these questions. Had I not gotten help, I most likely would have ended up as one of 85,000 Americans who die from alcohol abuse each year. If you suspect you may have a drinking problem or know someone who abuses alcohol, contact the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) at 1-800-729-6686. More resources can be found on this site under Chemical Dependency.