Umbra

 Umbra

I murdered someone today. I’m sure of it. I remember    nothing, but I know it happened. I can still hear the resounding crack of the gun shot, again and again, pounding away like a clenched fist to my skull. I should feel something, but I don’t. But it’s never physical pain that plagues me. I’m beyond pain. What plagues me isn’t pain but the knowledge that I can still cause others pain. 

I try to remind myself that a man doesn’t have to remember who he is to know he exists; and that a man doesn’t have to remember his past to know he has one. We all exist and we each have a past. And if I don’t remember mine, perhaps it’s better that way. A man only forgets because he has good reason to forget. 

UMBRA: a novel / completed 2006

Into every family a little insanity must fall, or so it would seem for the members of the Friend family; though it’s the fear of insanity that divides them and only the most deadly of confrontations that might bring them together again.

UMBRA details the strained relationship between two brothers, Sam and Jacob Friend, and the havoc which ensues from their failure to come to terms. Jacob, a successful television producer, has long since refused to so much as speak to his older brother Sam, a failed photographer struggling to ascribe some meaning to his many failures; however, Jacob’s apparent indifference has done nothing to deter Sam from wanting to make good what perhaps had never been good to begin with.

When events finally bring these two men face to face, their composure, all the more startling in light of the years of rivalry and mistrust fostered by their schizophrenic mother, gives way under the overwhelming weight of fear and self-loathing until only hatred remains. Nothing is certain, not even the sanity of a single member of the Friend family.

Told from the standpoint of five characters, UMBRA, examines not only failed family relationships but the nature of sanity itself. And just as unresolved feelings spill over from one generation to the next, perhaps insanity becomes the unwelcome and unavoidable inheritance of the past. Or does insanity, like failed relationships, arise merely from a failure to communicate? With the second generation of the Friend family poised to repeat the same tragedies of the former generation, is there any hope that the future will one day free itself from the past?

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Baron Brady Aims to Satisfy Independent Publishing Publicity Craving with Print-on-Demand Availability of Umbra at Lulu.com

LOS ANGELES, CA -JULY 20, 2007- Baron Brady offers a troubling look at madness and family life with the publication of Umbra in conjunction with Lulu (www.lulu.com), the world’s fastest-growing provider of print-on-demand books.

Into every family a little insanity must fall, or so it would seem for the members of the Friend family; though it’s the fear of insanity that divides them and only the most deadly of confrontations that might bring them together again.

Umbra details the strained relationship between two brothers, Sam and Jacob Friend, and the havoc which ensues from their failure to come to terms. Told from the standpoint of five characters, Umbra, examines not only failed family relationships but the nature of sanity itself. And just as unresolved feelings spill over from one generation to the next, perhaps insanity becomes the unwelcome and unavoidable inheritance of the past. With the second generation of the Friend family poised to repeat the same tragedies of the former generation, is there any hope that the future will one day free itself from the past?

Link to Publication*:http://www.lulu.com/bbrady or http://www.baronbrady.com/index.html

ABOUT AUTHOR

A practicing attorney, Baron Brady has written five novels and twenty-six screenplays over the last ten years. He graduated from Pomona College and has a J.D from Pepperdine University. This is his fourth novel. His other novels have also been published on Lulu.

ABOUT LULU

Founded in 2002, Lulu is the world’s fastest-growing print-on-demand marketplace for digital do-it-yourselfers.Please see www.lulu.com for more information.

# # #

MEDIA CONTACT:Baron Brady, baronbrady@gmail.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>