Series in Compulsive Behavior
Books in Compulsive Behavior
Dolly's Trash & Treasures
“Dolly’s Trash and Treasures” was written for an original audio anthology, The Sounds of Crime, published in the UK. The story’s only print appearance to date has been in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Dolly, as you’ll see, is a person who finds it hard to let go of those things she holds dear. . .
Evolve Your Brain
Take Your First Step Toward True Evolution Ever wonder why you repeat the same negative thoughts in your head? Why you keep coming back for more from hurtful family members, friends, or significant others? Why you keep falling into the same detrimental habits or limiting attitudes—even when you know that they are going to make you feel bad? Dr. Joe Dispenza has spent decades studying the human mind—how it works, how it stores information, and why it perpetuates the same behavioral patterns over and over. In the acclaimed film What the Bleep Do We Know!? he began to explain how the brain evolves—by learning new skills, developing the ability to concentrate in the midst of chaos, and even healing the body and the psyche. Evolve Your Brain presents this information in depth, while helping you take control of your mind, explaining how thoughts can create chemical reactions that keep you addicted to patterns and feelings—including ones that make you unhappy. And when you know how these bad habits are created, it's possible to not only break these patterns, but also reprogram and evolve your brain, so that new, positive, and beneficial habits can take over. This is something you can start to do right now. You and only you have the power to change your mind and evolve your brain for a better life—for good.
In For a Penny
“In For a Penny” was written in response to a late-1990s invitation from the BBC. Could I provide a noirish story to be read over the radio? I could and did, and EQMM published it after it had gone out over the airwaves, and I subsequently collected it in Enough Rope. I don’t know that it was written any differently because it was intended for performance. Much more recently, I wrote “Dolly’s Trash & Treasures” for an audiobook anthology, and deliberately limited the text to dialogue and internal monologue. With “In For a Penny,” I was less concerned with style than substance, and my attention was centered on the embattled protagonist, just trying to get through the days. And nights.
The End of Boys
A powerful memoir “about a difficult childhood . . . tough stuff, honest and real”— The Oregonian Peter Hoffmeister was a nervous child who ran away repeatedly and bit his fingernails until they bled. Home-schooled until the age of fourteen, he had only to deal with his parents and siblings on a daily basis, yet even that sometimes proved too much for him. Over the years, he watched his mother disintegrate into her own form of mania, while his father—a scholar and doctor who had once played semi-pro baseball—was strict and pushed Peter particularly hard. He wanted only the best from his son, but in the process taught Peter to expect only the worst from himself. In the midst of his chaotic home life, Peter began to hear a voice—an insistent, monotone that would periodically dictate his actions. When Peter finally entered public school he started to break free from his father’s control—only to fall sway to the voice more and more. His obsessive-compulsive behavior morphed into ruthless competition in sports and, ultimately, into lies, violence, and drugs. The End of Boys follows Hoffmeister to the very brink of sanity and back, in a harrowing and heartbreaking account of the trauma of adolescence and the redemption available to us all, if only we choose to find it. “Peter Brown Hoffmeister calls every sense into play, providing rich imagery, grounded reflection, and the tension inherent in a coming-of-age tale in which drugs, violence, and a genetic tendency toward OCD conspire.” — Los Angeles Review “The End of Boys takes no prisoners with its gritty, entrancing realism . . . a chilling and captivating read . . . a voice that is refreshingly new.” — Eugene Weekly