Nurture

by Rob Watson

Nurture is a story about how much of a positive influence people can have on the life of another person. The story follows Shelly and Frankie who at the beginning of the story are both fifteen years old and growing up in Warrington in Northwest England. Shelly’s Mum has cancer and she dies early on in the story, what her mother and no one else knew was that Shelly’s mother’s boyfriend has been raping her frequently for almost two years. After her mother’s death Shelly is put into foster care and her mother’s boyfriend disappears from her life. Frankie’s Dad and older brother are in and out of prison because of violent crimes, whilst his mother is an alcoholic and drug addict who prostitutes herself. At the start of the story Frankie is already heading down a life of crime himself, particularly stealing cars, and he is also suffering from psychosis, hearing his Dad’s voice in his head.
In both their stories there is a split and two parallel dimensions play out. One dimension sees them get no help at all, whereas the other dimension sees them get help from a few individuals just when they need it most. Without help both get caught in a spiral of negativity that never stops. It causes addiction, violence and time in prison.Each dimension sees Shelly and Frankie become a couple and parents. The influence of the people who helped them is felt by the next generation too.

605 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 2024

About the author

Rob Watson was born in Santa Monica, California. He is married and is the father of three children. He is the owner of Damaged Psyche Productions. He is a horror/sci-fi fanatic and has been ever since early childhood. He has been imagining and writing stories for as far back as he can remember. Some of his idols are Rod Serling, Steven King, David Cronenberg, Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Hitchcock, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and Dan Curtis. Rob studied film and creative writing at Long Beach City College and California State University, Long Beach, after which he spent a few years working on movie production crews (as set PA, second assistant director, boom, etc.). Since then, he has written almost a dozen feature length screenplays (mostly horror and/or sci-fi) as well as numerous short stories and scripts. He has two original screenplays currently in pre-production and has written several "work-for-hire" scripts.