An incredible man Edward Vidaurre called me when I was at home last year, recovering from a serious illness. He said he became a publisher not for profit, but because he believed in the mission of publishing books that NEEDED to be published, especially Latinx, BIPOC & historically underrepresented authors.
For a publisher to call me at home & say, "even if I sell one copy of The Cruelty, that's all right, but it needs to be published" - was life-altering.
I have worked in publishing twice. Both times, publishers were usually pretty involved in signing authors who would sell & make them a profit. You can't blame them. But the system can be stacked against you if you are working-class or have some other challenge that makes it hard to say; buy 800 author copies, pay Amazon to promote your book, submit to awards, attend readings when you work double-shifts or have childcare demands etc. etc.
To hear from a highly-respected publisher that he stood behind my book, even if I was too sick to promote it, I was reminded, there are some incredibly altruistic people out there, who do incredible things & so often without receiving any credit.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Edward Vidaurre, Editor-in-Chief of FlowerSong Press & Avery Castillo & Priscilla Celina Suarez, for their faith in my book & their goodness as human-beings.
As a result, I now have a beautifully formatted & designed novel out there in the world. A very weird feeling for me, as I'm primarily an editor & psychotherapist, behind the scenes supporting others.
However, I stand staunchly behind The Cruelty because it addresses very necessary subjects. My time working at rape crisis centers, some of my own direct experiences & indirect too, with some fiction, go into The Cruelty & its themes of sexual-assault, kidnapping, Stockholm Syndrome, memory erasure, blackmail, sadism, rape & survival.
These are not easy subjects. But there is a history of 'avenging' characters in fiction & non-fiction that is ultimately redemptive. This was my goal. To craft a novel both true-story & part storytelling; a psychological thriller that seeks to highlight inequity & cruelty, whilst providing positive strong female characters & hope.
The Cruelty speaks to many things people like myself are familiar with. Be they immigrant, BIPOC, LGBTQi+, disenfranchised or similar. It may be a challenging book, but I believe that is a good thing. I really hope anyone who reads it will see what I am attempting to do & appreciate the necessity of talking about these things, at times viscerally.
It is when we look away that bad things perpetuate. When we name them, when we refuse to ignore them, they die in the light.
Thank you all very much for your support of The Cruelty & your support last year when I was so ill.
Candice Louisa Daquin
(If you are economically disadvantaged, I get it & I am offering a supportive-discount option, please get in touch with me directly to find out more).