Thread: "Before I Die Tonight" . . . tense, haunting, heart-breaking

I had a
hard time getting through this story because it hurt me so much. I kept having to stop and start again. But I tend to be real sensitive about stuff like this. Maybe another person could handle it better.



There are some books that I read and never forget. They stay with me like movies. Like "The PigMan", by Paul Zindel. And "Dear God, It's Me Margaret", by Judy Blume. "Before I Die Tonight" is like that. I have a feeling that this little piece of manuscript is going be stuck in a corner of my brain years and years from now. It's one of those once-in-a-while reads that you
don't have to be a certain age or a certain color or a certain anything to appreciate. Never mind that most of the situations are unsettling. Reading this helped me to realize that people need to be moved and shaken ever so often.

Although I love sweet Briana like she's my own child, I don't know how to feel about Brandon. As a young man, when he struggles with the "red fire light", I don't know whether to try to help him or just kill him. It seems like the best way to help Brandon would be to kill him!

This book is also well-written. =D> The author either had a really good editor, or he/she is just really good at editing themselves.

I believe there's a paperback version, but I'm not sure. The version I read was downloadable, pdf. I'd have to go back to the web site and see if it's available in paperback. And speaking of the web site, I still remember the book's description . . . "Briana, an emotionally battered Black girl, and Brandon, a sexually abused white boy, meet each other while wandering through dying places".



But anyway, I found this book on the lulu web site. I actually memorized the address, www.lulu.com/itsalllockedup . The story had a kind of cliffhanger ending, which made me think that there may be a second book. I'm not sure, but I'd like to know what happens to Brandon and Briana. I'd like to know if they live. Will Briana continue to live without losing her mind again? And can Brandon live without losing himself?????




If I could say anything else about this book, I would say . . . it's a romance story and a suspense story, that feels like a movie, and reads like fantasy.









(I tired to delete those stupid stars and couldn't! I haven't actually decided how many "stars" I'll give the story. But it's worthy of anywhere between 3 to 5. )

Amazing, you've managed to get a book from Lulu (because you are most certainly not the author) despite the book's complete lack of sales rank.

And what's the deal with the formatting of this post? Is this a cut and paste job from Word for all the forums you are probably visiting to advertise this shit?

Spelling errors? Check.
Poor grammar? Check.
Rejection slip? Check.

I had a hard time getting through this story because it hurt me so much.

You're not kidding. My brain hurts just looking at it.

hmmm while that was harsh, im in agreement.

Originally Posted by strangedaze

hmmm while that was harsh

I think when people try to deceive you by making up lies then harshness can be acceptable. This author stated in their introduction post that they were a fifty-eight year old grandmother, yet took the time to set their date of birth as being in 1978 for their profile.

And, the fact that there is an advertising forum here makes me wonder why people like this feel the need to deceive us with false recommendations when they could easily just go to said forum and say "Hi, I've written a book". We're not going to buy it, of course, since it appears on Lulu but at least they are being frank with us.

Hey, I wrote a book so bad I could only get into print by going to Lulu.

Now I'm going to visit all the forums and pretend it's great in the hope that I can con some poor sap into parting with some money.

Reading between the lines. If the book is as dumb as the poster, it's got to be a humdinger. It probably gets stored in a vacuum to stop the stink escaping.

EDIT: Yup, I checked the preview on Lulu. Stinks like the corpse of a dead dog's arse.


Just in case that poster ever comes back again, try this tack:

Hi

I wrote a book, and it's available on Lulu. I think it's really good, but don't take my word for it, there's a preview on the website. If you like it, it'll only cost you a lousy $2.50 to read the whole thing!

See the difference?

Blatant Lie = annoying.
Honesty = endearing.

Also by the same author (for FREE download!)

Into the Hollow World:

"Traevonis Damar, a thirteen-year-old boy, and his best friend Delsalyn Glendale, travel into the Hollow World by means of a dimension portal hidden away inside of a neighbor's kitchen cabinet."

I guess a real low budget Narnia extravaganza?