 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hayes Brown – Tel: 703-628-9704 – Email: hayesb@starpower.net
Novelist Discovers Cure For Suicide
Silver Spring, MD (September 28, 2004)—Out of sheer desperation, twenty-nine year old Hayes Brown quit his job as a policy writer and drove across the country from Washington DC to Anchorage, Alaska, to put his fifteen-year struggle with suicide in the crosshairs of a novel. Ten years later, healthy, married, and happy, Brown has published BOOGA, his supernatural fable about how he escaped the darkness of suicidal depression to come out into the light. “Publishing the book,” Brown says, “gave me the voice to publicly talk about my ordeal. Suicide is often a silent killer with those left wondering why. When I finally told my family, my father said it explained my dangerous lifestyle. While analyzing the completed manuscript, I discovered that instead of writing by the traditional ‘Life is war’ metaphor that dominates American literature, film, and television, I was writing by the alternative ‘Life is a journey toward light’ metaphor. By adopting this life-affirming metaphor to view and pursue life, I was able to find the help I needed—20 milligrams of antidepressant—and to see each day as an opportunity to grow and learn.”
In BOOGA, readers take a wild ride with Boo Rasmuson as he quits his job, breaks his wedding engagement, and sets out on a cross-country farewell tour to tackle a short list of goals before killing himself. Along the way, Boo is joined by a band of fellow travelers who name themselves, “Booga,” short for “boomerang gang.” Booga propels Boo to reach his goal of becoming a world-class boomerangist before he dies. In the end, Boo must choose between his decision to kill himself and his new life. Using ample doses of humor, fantasy, and political satire, Hayes Brown strips away the veneer of traditional American values and beliefs to find a more peaceful vision of the future. BOOGA rises above one man’s salvation to reveal humanity’s ultimate purpose—to remake itself into a truly benevolent species. With praise from award-winning writers and book critics, BOOGA is poised to become a 21st century cult classic.