Life Gets Better: An Angel Dad Reports Five Years Later

by Eric Trant

Grief is pestery

So, we’re doing this blog tour thing for my latest novel, RISEN, and I’ve been wanting to write about Dastan since May, which was the five-year anniversary of his death. I needed to figure out some blog topics, and this one kept pestering me.

See, grief and recovery are pestery little gnats. They buzz and buzz and you never can tell where they are, other than they are sipping the sap from your ears.

And we don’t like those bugs, do we?

I’m in a few grief groups, but I don’t post much there. Most of it is too depressing. I mean, they talk about losing their kids. Murder. Suicide. Crib death. Wreck after wreck. I lost mine to a seizure, meningitis at eighteen months.

See how depressing that is!

So, I opted out of the five-year post back in May. Then comes the blog tour, and nag nag nag, buzz buzz buzz, a few swats, I give up and here we are. I put the topic in my list for the bloggers to pick from, and it was not picked at first. Then someone picked it. It’s a Hott pick!

Get it?

Boom.

But you have to talk about the loss

And now I ~have~ to write about something I sort of gave up talking about.

See, it hurts me to speak it. It hurts others to hear it. But this is a topic that must, must, ~must~ be talked about, because there is strength in both the telling and the hearing.

My next book, WISH, is in the drafting stage, and it is modelled after the summer trip we had planned a week after Daz’s death. And WINK, my first widely published (and top-reviewed) book, revolved around Marty, the younger brother, the accidental pregnancy, who unintentionally shot his older brother in the head and left him in a coma in the guest room.

And the book I’m promoting, RISEN, revolves around a 19th century Sicilian boy who loses his mother during the birth of his little sister. It drives his father over a revolutionary edge, and Alberto becomes a pawn in his father’s attempt to overthrow the landowners, not to mention a captive for a demon and a hunchback in the hollows of a sulfur mine.

Now, I don’t mean to sound so promotive, and the point is not to depress the reader, but I want to express that in every book there is hope. In every book, there is perseverance.

In every book, there is ~VICTORY~!

Face your trials head-on

My books walk you through darkness, so you can better see the light. They portray loss, so you can better celebrate the win.

As an author, I place you beside broken souls, so you can better mend the cracks in your own heart, and so you can borrow strength from their unbendable resolve.

I do this by dipping you into their dark world, and lift you by your heel into the light. Now, having submerged yourself in those dirty waters, you appreciate the sun on your face and the moon on your scalp.

I want to arc the reader, and show you that suffering pales in comparison to the end-game celebration. I want to convince you, Dear Reader, that your trials can be faced head-on, and conquered, and on the far side of them you will emerge with your hands in the air.

As one reader said of WINK:

“I jumped up at the end of this novel, fist pumped and yelled ‘H-LL YEAH.’ That is the way to tell a story!”

That is what I want to relate to you as a reader, and to you as a person and human co-habitant of this little planet. There is loss in this world. There is suffering and brutality.

It gets better

But there is also hope. There is victory through perseverance, absolution through luck and divinity. We possess more strength than we give ourselves credit.

Five years ago, we lost our little boy. My other kids lost a sibling, and our newest toddler admires pictures of an older brother he will never physically meet. It is hard sometimes, but we tempered our spirits with the paths we walked, not always straight, not always perfect or healthy, but always forward, step after step.

It has not always been easy, but that is the point. Stick with it, keep your head up and press on. It will get better, no matter your trials.

Take it from someone who has been tried and tested. Life only gets better.

More…

Author Bio:

Eric resides in Dallas, TX with his wife and children, where he writes and manages his own business. His writing combines literary characterization with supernatural elements, all the while engaging the reader’s senses with constant movement and vivid settings. His books are designed to be one-sitters, meaning they can and should be read in one (or a few) sittings, owing to the fast-paced nature of the writing.

Visit Eric on his: Website or Blog!

Do you like my reviews? If you do, please, stop by and rate them at one of the bookstores or review sites.

Gina ~ Hott Books

** Many of the books I review are Advance Review Copies. These books are loaned to me for my review. I am in no way compensated for my time nor am I asked to give anything but my honest review. If you have further questions, please, review my FTC Disclaimer on my homepage.