Tag: Ashkettle Boys Book Series

How One Author’s Books About Abuse and Neglect Reflect Real Life

AnneLeave a comment

I write books about abuse and neglect.

My books aren’t for everyone. In fact, readers either love them to death and follow them passionately, or they hate them in the extreme.

There is no middle ground.

As an author, as a describer of worlds, this used to bother me, but I’ve since discovered a hard truth pertaining to books about abuse and neglect: Some readers identify; others don’t, and it’s the farthest thing from personal.

Abuse and Neglect: Sticky Topics

For other readers, however, The Ashkettle Boys Book Series remains sticky. Sonny, Bo, and Dack linger in the minds of these readers long after the last page turns.

And that, my friends, is what writing books is all about.

These are my readers, and I appreciate them.

Everyone can never love you, but to a select few, maybe you’re doing a good thing.

A Fictional Series of Books About Abuse and Neglect

cropped-fb-cover-1.jpgThe Ashkettle boys are brothers. The series begins when Dack is just sixteen and trying to survive a life ruled by a cruel step-uncle. The opening scene is explosive, but satisfying, and it catapults readers into the worlds of Sonny, Bo, and Dack Ashkettle — devoted brothers fighting to save each other, regardless of the consequences.

The setting is cold — a mostly fearful community of neighbors in the reclusive Appalachian Mountains, reluctant to get involved. From the opening pages, however, the story warms. My favorite parts of these stories, ones that fought their way to life through the overwhelming powers of self-doubt and procrastination, are the passages that echo the love of a determined family to escape abnormality and find at least momentary peace, however fleeting.

How Books About Abuse and Neglect Reflect Real Life

Sadly, many children and teens live much like the characters portrayed in books about abuse and neglect. In fact, statistics from Childhelp.org are heartbreaking:

  • Five children die every day in this country from abuse and neglect.
  • We report an incident of child abuse every 10 seconds in America.
  • There are enough mistreated children in America to fill at least five football stadiums. These are only the ones about which authorities are aware.
  • Abuse and neglect in childhood can shorten your life expectancy as you grow older and leave you with mental scars that make life difficult to understand.

The last is a pervasive theme throughout the Ashkettle Boys Books, because keeping mental illness real and portraying it truthfully is important.

Meet the Ashkettle Boys

Thoughtful handsome. Handsome young man in full suit and sunglasses holding hands clasped looking thoughtful while sitting against grey background

In the Ashkettle Boys books, Dack is the youngest brother who took the brunt of the abuse and neglect for seven long years. He battles daily to control his mental state and to navigate life in a “normal” fashion. Luckily, he has his two older brothers to help.

Some people read my books and leave reviews stating that they’re exaggerated or unrealistic. Others say things like, “Yes. That’s exactly what happened to me.”

Unless you’ve experienced it, or you grew up with someone who experienced it, you’re probably not going to get it. And that’s wonderful. I wish that very thing for all my readers. Trendy young man in black shirt, portrait of sexy fashion boy lo

But if you do identify with books about abuse and neglect, you’ll find hope in the Ashkettle Boys books. These are books about abuse and neglect, it’s true. But these are also books about hope and redemption, books about moving on and letting go, books about finding your way in a dark so black it solidifies, forcing you to kick, claw and scream your way out.

Handsome man faceMostly, however, they’re books about the strength of family and the undefinable power of love. I hope you’ll begin reading with Ashkettle Crazy and work your way through:

  • Ashkettle Haunted
  • Ashkettle Fierce
  • Downers
  • Shaw’s Obsession
  • Sweet Cold of Winter
  • Ashkettle Boys: The Trilogy (Featuring books 1,2, and 3)

You know, if you identify with books about abuse and neglect.

Explore Ashkettle Boys Titles.

Sources

Adult Children of Alcoholics

Childhelp.org

Karen at the Helm

AnneLeave a comment

Did you know? Before there were the Ashkettle Boys, there were the Karen Stories. If you’re a reader of the Ashkettle Boys books, and you recognize phrases or passages, that’s because the Karen Stories eventually morphed into “Ashkettle Crazy.”

Enjoy 🙂

Karen at the Helm

foxtail-819490_1920

Karen talks to weeds.

It sounds strange, but she brings those weeds to life as she sits there on that well cap, circled by industrious honey bees. I sit there too, entranced by the stories Karen weaves around two sneeze-inducing stems of yellow foxtail, of all things. The weeds take on lives. They talk to each other, and they work out problems — boy problems, school problems, futures those weeds want that are so out of their reach.

They’re weeds, after all. Two tall, spindly living things tucked away in the hollow and having little impact on the world around them. It’s not like they’re tomatoes or even kale, and it’s hardly likely that they’ll ever become police officers or marine biologists.

Weeds like that grow wild and prolific in the Appalachians – common as topsoil — not a damn thing special about them.

But in Karen’s hands, they take on personalities and tell stories. They even affect speech impediments from time to time, and they always, always love Charles Bronson.

Sometimes, when Karen isn’t talking to weeds, she’s drawing volcanoes – little exploding mountains of ink. Tiny stick-figure people run from these mountains whenever they erupt. Those little people have stories too, and I can’t get enough of them. They have strikingly complicated lives for simple drawings. Some of them have husbands and children, even. Often, they’re well-meaning scientists who tragically miscalculate. Sometimes they’re contrary townspeople who stubbornly refuse to evacuate. Usually, those careless, inked characters end up covered in molten ink lava, but occasionally, they manage to escape.

The really lucky ones get rescued just in the nick of time by a stick hero who bears a striking resemblance to Charlton Heston.

On the very best days, Karen and I visit a forbidding and momentous pile of dirt in the woods, pushed there years ago when Grandpap cleared the land. Grass and bendy saplings have overtaken this place, and I think it’s shaped somewhat like the head of a rattlesnake. But Karen sees right away that it’s really more monster-like. She christens it Monster Head, and it’s immediately obvious that Monster Head is the perfect name for such a hideout. Karen plays there almost every day, and I play too. We pull plants up by their roots and hang them on tree branches. These roots sustain us during hard times like blizzards or earthquakes or invasion by vicious, wild dogs who cleverly disguise themselves as aging, limping beagles named Pancho and Alexander.

New disasters wait around every corner when Karen is in charge. You never know what’s going to happen next. Sometimes the whole world floods, and Monster Head is the only boat left anywhere, and there’s not a single hi-fi nor television antenna left on Earth.

And in times like these, it’s good to have Karen at the helm.

Copyright © 2015 Anne Goetz. All Rights Reserved.

Series Gets an Upgrade

AnneLeave a comment

Hey guys 🙂

Books 1-3 are getting cover upgrades! Let me know what you think of the new artwork that features full, wrap-around covers in paperback, as well as high-resolution images of the boys:

Revised Cover for Crazy jpg

Haunted Cover may 2018

The new covers feature reviews on the back and an inclusive theme that ties them all together so you know which series you’re getting and also, which book. Stay tuned for the revamped version of Fierce that’s currently in production. I’ll post it here as soon as it becomes available.

Hi Guys!

AnneLeave a comment

pexels-photo-366013Welcome to the official website of the Ashkettle Boys Book Series. I’m A.M. Goetz, author, but you can call me Anne.

If this is your first time visiting, let me first say thanks for stopping by. We’re just getting things up and running over here, and there’s still a bit of construction going on, so be aware of low overhangs and loose bricks.

And watch where you step.

Words have been known to teeter off edges around here, and you never know when a loose one could tip over and catch you right in the heart.

At least, that’s the plan 🙂

The gorgeous photo above was taken by Alecia Follett. It reminds me of Pop’s cabin in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. That cabin is featured prominently throughout the Ashkettle Boys Series because it’s where the boys initially found each other again after their desperate run through the wilderness, and it’s where they finally found refuge and safety from Merle.

If you’d like to find out more about the Ashkettle Boys, Visit the About Us page.

Happy Reading!

Image Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/adirondacks-camp-camping-hike-366013/

Read what people are saying about the Ashkettle boys!

Freebies Leading Up to Launch!

AnneLeave a comment

Jan cover 2Hey Guys!

Book four is slated to launch late March/early April, and we’re running freebies all month long to celebrate, beginning on March 2. So if you haven’t read books 1-3 or the short prequel to book 4, keep checking back for your chance to score a free Kindle copy.

Ashkettle Crazy, the first book in the series is free starting today and lasting up through Sunday. It’s a windy weekend read you’re going to love, so go …

 

GRAB YOUR FREE COPY TODAY 🙂 

 

Update on Ashkettle Boys: Book 4

Anne2 Comments

pexels-photo-754268

This week’s theme is Pop’s cabin. If you’ve read the books, you’ve probably envisioned the refuge that Sonny, Bo and Dack call home, but it’s always fun when you spot a setting or a character in real life! That’s one of the most engaging features of world-building, and it’s one of the things I enjoy the most. I was in a mini-mart one chilly day in October, and in walked the embodiment of Dack Ashkettle. He was alone, no brothers, and he bought a newspaper, just like Dack would have. He was wearing flannel, just like Dack would have, and he had all the mannerisms I’d envisioned in my character.

Surreal!

As he walked away, I wondered if he was on his way to Hege’s house, or if he might be heading back to Sonny’s bar, and I desperately hoped Merle or those evil McAllister brothers weren’t waiting to waylay him.

It what writers do 🙂

The lovely image above was taken by Adriaan Greyling for Pexels, and could easily be a variation of the cabin that Sonny made into a house specifically to house his brothers in comfort.

But on another note …

Ashkettle Boys: Book 4 is finally in the works. Hopefully, at least a brave few of you have been anticipating this announcement. Stay close for cover art reveals. I’m sure there’ll be at least two or three before the book actually releases sometime this spring. Covers are my Kryptonite, you know, and I’d love your help in choosing one that isn’t completely hideous. (and if you’ve seen the first edition of my first book, you’ll understand.)

Book 4 will pick up where the short story prequel, “Downers” leaves off. Read that one, and you’ll have an idea of what’s coming. There’s a big plot twist in “Downers,” that I admit was fun to write. Even I didn’t see it coming until it happened.

Those Ashkettle boys are tricky that way.

Book 4 will deal with addiction as well as life after trauma. Dack will find it difficult to function socially, he’ll struggle with dependence on both drugs and alcohol, and he’ll work to come to terms with the devastating revelation that took place in the prequel.

But, as always, his big brothers will be there to help him through it all.

Enough spoilers to pique your interest? I hope so!

More when I have it!

Image Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-house-near-pine-trees-covered-with-snow-754268/

Read what people are saying about the Ashkettle Boys!