Author Giving Away Book that Targets Gun Violence, Self-defense, Criminal Justice
Ashland, Oregon (PRWEB) September 01, 2016 -- As political candidates duke it out over gun control, author Ray Rhamey is giving away “Gundown,” a novel aimed at stimulating Americans to think about gun violence, self-defense, and the nation’s troubled criminal justice system in new ways.
He offers a grim reason for the giveaway: “Six Americans will die from a handgun bullet during the time it takes an average person to read ‘Gundown’.” Rhamey admits that his effort to fight gun violence with a novel is probably quixotic, but he says, “We need fresh thinking to break the gun-safety gridlock, and ‘Gundown’ is a thought-starter that could spark new ideas, new efforts.”
Besides giving away e-book editions, Rhamey also hopes to send paperback copies to Congress, governors, state legislators, the Administration, makers of guns and ammunition, and the news media. He has a GoFundMe drive to pay for the printing and mailing. Download links for free Kindle, epub, and PDF editions of “Gundown” are at gofundme.com/gundown, and the paperback edition is now available at cost from online booksellers.
Asked why a novel instead of nonfiction, Rhamey says, “As characters experience the world as it could be, so do readers, and they can try on for size ways to deal with these issues.” He stresses that the near-future story is not a sermon preaching to a gun-control choir. “’Gundown’ has food for thought for both opponents and proponents of gun control. And it is a thriller, not a polemic.”
State-subsidized defensive weapons is one thing readers get to try on for size, along with a unique approach to getting lethal firearms off the street, an understanding of the Fifth Amendment that requires an accused to testify, an “advocacy” system of justice to replace the adversarial system, and criminal justice that imprisons only violent offenders.
About the book
Not many years from now, guns are still everyday killers. Most Americans have no defense—except in Oregon, where reforms have self-defense on the rise and guns that kill on the decline.
To Oath Keeper Hank Soldado, Army veteran, ex-cop, and a good guy with a gun, his duty is clear—find a way to stop the gun-reform leader from taking away 2nd Amendment rights.
But, impossibly, the man’s freedom-destroying vision begins to feel like a way to turn America’s murderous gun impasse into self-defense, security, and safety.
Then treachery strikes, the vision is in its death throes, and Hank—Oath Keeper and good-guy-with-a-gun Hank—is the only one who can save it.
About Ray Rhamey
Writers around the world know Ray Rhamey through his blog, “Flogging the Quill,” where he critiques fiction submitted by writers, and through his monthly contribution to the “Writer Unboxed” writer’s blog. He has been teaching writing workshops at writers conferences from Massachusetts to Mexico since 2005.
In addition to editing and book design for Indie authors and small publishing firms, Ray is the author of “Mastering the Craft of Compelling Storytelling,” which coaches writers on writing and storytelling technique. He also has three other novels on the market: “The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles,” “Hiding Magic,” and “The Summer Boy.”
About the number of gun deaths while reading “Gundown:”
Average adult reading speed = 300 words per minute. There are 89,000 words in “Gundown” = 4.94 hours to read (rounded to 5)
FBI 2014 total handgun deaths by homicide and suicide = 10,947 (5,562 homicides and 5,385 suicides). Per hour, 1.25 people died by a handgun bullet in 2014. That means there would be 6.25 handgun deaths during the 5 hours it takes to read “Gundown”.
The FBI 2014 total for all gun deaths = 33,599. There would be 19 gun deaths during the 5 hours needed to read “Gundown”
Ray Rhamey, http://www.rayrhamey.com, http://www.crrreative.com/, +1 (206) 291-8758, [email protected]
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