Award-Winner Fiction:
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2013
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The intimate and
dramatic confessional of a gay ex-cult member as he battles substance abuse
in his desperate search for love on the darker avenues of Hollywood Simon Says on Facebook "Stark
and gritty, Poe's story about the search for self-discovery is a sobering
testament to the author's own personal journey through Rev. Moon's
Unification Church, which makes the story resonate that much more." - Publisher's Weekly
4/22/2013 "A coming of age story of finding what
really matters, Simon Says is a choice read, not to be overlooked." - Midwest Book
Review "Simon Says is a journey of self-destruction,
self-discovery and ultimately, redemption. And while Poe depicts a familiar
story of downward decline, his novel has more complexity than the traditional
"downfall tales" we've come to know. While Poe's Simon begins at a
low point--the reader knows almost from the start that he's destined for a
fall--there is also an inevitable and heart-warming rise that makes this a
book worth reading." - Rebecca Nichloson for IndieReader Goodreads
reviews for Simon Says |
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Description A
gay man escapes the cult of Reverend Sun Myung Moon after ten years and
becomes a successful movie distributor in Hollywood. But the deep
self-loathing that brought him to the Reverend Moon’s congregation leads him
down a dark path of drugs and broken relationships until one final, traumatic
moment defines whether he will live or die. A profound journey of
self-discovery and acceptance, William Poe’s latest novel is a probing look
into the darker reaches of the human psyche. Simon
Powell has spent ten years of his life as a member of the cult of Reverend
Moon. Unfulfilled, he breaks free of the Unification Church and returns home
to Arkansas only to be rocked by the death of his father. In desperate need
of feeling grounded, he ventures to Hollywood and reconnects with a former
lover and the lawyers he once hired to defend Reverend Moon on income tax
evasion charges. Before long, however, he splits with his lover and embarks
on an unending series of soulless, drug-filled nights and broken
relationships. Just as his money is running out, however, he gets an
interview that just might get his life back on track. Quickly
becoming a successful movie distributor, Simon’s drug problem merely spirals
into the dark abyss. Cocaine gives way to crack as he spends money faster
than he can make it to feed his drug and sex habit. But they both fail to
fill the void deep inside and his life careens hopelessly out of control.
Finally convinced to enter rehab, the continued abuse for being gay drives
him towards one final, desperate decision that will leave his life hanging in
the balance. Exploring
the struggle of reintegration into society of a gay man after years of
self-denial and repression, Poe’s newest is a fascinating portrait of
cultism, drugs, the Hollywood gay scene, and the motion picture industry. A
masterpiece full of an aching longing and desperation, Simon Says is a
troubling, provocative, and ultimately triumphant look into addiction,
recovery, and our need to be loved.
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Gay man
battles religious cult, drug addiction in new novel William Poe
draws on his own experience with recovery and Reverend Moon’s Unification Church
to portray the life of a young man in over his head in “Simon Says” SILVER SPRING, Md. – In “Simon Says” (ISBN 0615559573),
William Poe writes the fictional life of a man whose destiny has not been so
different from his own. For nearly a decade, Simon Powell was a follower of
the Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his cultish and highly controversial
Unification Church. After breaking with the church, protagonist Simon returns
to his home in Arkansas where he is haunted by the personal struggles that
forced him to leave, including his drug addiction, his inability to accept
himself as gay and a painful breakup with a lover. While out drinking at a gay bar, Simon runs into a
former church counselor who reveals that Simon’s ex-boyfriend Lyle is out in
Hollywood living with Sandra, a lawyer who defended Reverend Moon on tax
evasion charges. Against his better judgment, Simon returns to California to
seek out Lyle and Sandra. They were his only friends outside the church, even
though they turned him on to cocaine. In Hollywood, Simon quickly begins to
ramp up his cocaine use, picking up men in seedy hustler bars and taking up
work for a shady European film distributor. For a time, Simon seems to develop a real
relationship with a stable man named Thad, but this too proves to be an
illusion, and after their breakup, Simon tailspins into freebasing crack and
laundering money for his boss through corrupt film deals. At a desperate end,
he flees to New York, only to quickly lose himself in an orgy of sex and
violence. With nowhere else to run, he returns to Arkansas for a fresh start. In the conservative South, however, he is ostracized
by group members for being gay and is driven to the very ends of despair. To
make his way out, Simon will have to draw upon inner resources he never knew
he had and friends and family who must push past their prejudices to save
him. With its examination of religious cults, Hollywood’s gay scene, drug
addiction and the seedier fringes of the motion picture industry, “Simon
Says” is a novel cinematic in scope and timely in its themes and message. “Simon
Says” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels. |
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MEDIA CONTACT William Poe E-mail: simonsays@poegen.net Phone: (240) 478-0232 Web: http://simonsaysnovel.com REVIEW COPIES AND
INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE |