Blog Archives
Life is Unpredictable
Until It Was Gone follows a woman who has left her marriage of forty years and sets out to try and reconnect with their estranged daughter and her grandchild, whom she has never met. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I was a marriage and family therapist for over thirty-five years, so all my novels focus on families and how they traverse life’s problems and demonstrate their resilience. In this novel, I wanted to show how contemporary problems interact with a family trying its best to solve their problems and move forward. Among these difficulties are COVID, marital separation, mass shooting, parent/child estrangement, adult survival of childhood sexual abuse, and abortion. Despite the weightiness of these problems, the story is often very humorous.
What character did you enjoy writing for? Was there one that was more challenging to write for?
I enjoyed writing Gretchen most. She is a tough woman with a big heart who has faced the tragic loss of her husband. She is curmudgeonly and yet tender. She also has the most important monologue in the book, a scene that took considerable time to write.
Laney was a challenge mainly because she is a lead character and is female. As a male writer, I work hard to avoid female stereotypes and, instead, emphasize strength and independence and resolve.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I am always interested in family dysfunction and how families address it. All families have some degree of dysfunction. How they draw on their basic connectedness to support one another and make it through the dilemmas they face is often what defines a family.
I am very interested in family/life transitions, periods when family members and the family, as a whole, must make adjustments and changes (often ones they don’t want to make) so that family members can grow. All transitions involve some degree of loss. Members have to let go of what was in order to discover what will be.
I find that another theme that runs through most of my novels is how we deal with the randomness of our lives, the things that cannot be predicted or prevented. A death, an illness, an unjust law, the sudden end of a relationship. How we think about and cope with the eventuality of death often defines how we will live.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
My next novel is entitled, Last Alive. I am almost finished with the first draft. It might appear in 2025. The phenomenon of roadside memorials (crosses and other objects by the side of the road, that are remembrances of loved ones lost in automobile accidents) drew my attention and plays a significant role in the story of yet another family.
Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Instagram | Amazon | Website | Book Review
Laney leaves for the Oklahoma panhandle in search of Roz, their estranged daughter, who left home at sixteen, and the nineteen-year-old granddaughter, Maggie, Laney has never met.
Shortly after she leaves, Franklin contracts COVID which morphs into long COVID. His episodes of fogginess and disorientation awaken memories of abuse at the hands of his father. His sister comes to take care of him, but she needs to return home soon for the sentencing of a mass murderer who killed her husband.
If that weren’t enough, Maggie becomes pregnant and, due to medical complications, needs an abortion, but she lives in a state where it’s outlawed. What will she do? Where will she go? Will the family find the resilience to come together for everyone’s sake?
Until It Was Gone tells of a family trying to make life work while being pummeled by the exigencies of contemporary society. It celebrates the thin strands of hope that hold us together and move us forward.
Until It Was Gone
Francis and Laney Stafford’s 40th anniversary meant to celebrate their enduring love, instead marks the beginning of a tumultuous period in their lives. This milestone sets the couple on a challenging journey to repair severed and estranged relationships. Along the way, they confront personal struggles, face a modern illness, and unearth long-hidden secrets. As they navigate their complicated relationships and confront their turbulent past, hope seems elusive—until a life-changing accident shifts their perspective. Will this pivotal event bring their fractured family back together, or is fate steering them toward a different outcome?
David B. Seaburn’s Until It Was Gone offers a nuanced exploration of marriage and family, skillfully weaving subtle tensions into the fabric of everyday interactions. Seaburn draws readers into the complexities of long-term relationships, illustrating how past mistakes and unspoken struggles shape his characters’ lives. His portrayal is both thoughtful and authentic, revealing the layers of emotion and motivation that drive his characters. Seaburn’s strength lies in his restrained handling of emotion. He steers clear of melodrama, opting instead for a genuine approach that makes each experience feel real and impactful. The emotional moments resonate deeply without overwhelming the narrative, striking a careful balance between realism and sensitivity. The plot is engaging and multi-layered, with enough twists and revelations to keep readers hooked. While occasional flashbacks may momentarily disrupt the pacing, they add depth to the characters and enrich the overall narrative. These reflective moments help to illuminate the characters’ motivations, adding complexity to their relationships. The novel concludes in a bittersweet yet fitting manner. Rather than tying everything up neatly, Until It Was Gone offers a realistic portrayal of resilience and connection, leaving readers with a lasting impression of the unpredictable nature of life and relationships.
Until It Was Gone by David B. Seaburn compellingly portrays family dynamics and personal struggles. Readers who appreciate realistic, emotionally charged narratives will find this novel both engaging and rewarding.
Pages: 308 | ASIN : B0DBHYF11G
More Of An Evolution Than An Inspiration
Give Me Shelter follows a group of people living through the Cuban missile crisis and a number of other personal struggles who must rely on each other to get through. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I was thinking about the pandemic at the time and assumed lots of writers would be writing about it. So, I decided to write about a parallel experience, a time when something that seemed beyond our control posed a significant risk to millions of people. I grew up in the 1960s and remember the Cuban Missile Crisis very well. I was almost 12 and, much like Willie, I experienced high anxiety as the crisis unfolded. That is where I got the idea for the story. In fact, the first chapter, where Willie is hiding behind a couch with his dog during an air raid drill is something that I actually did at the time.
What was the inspiration for the relationship that developed between the characters?
This was more of an evolution than an inspiration. When I started, I had the title, Give Me Shelter, Willie and nothing else. Since my novels are character driven, I started thinking about who would be important people in his life. I gave him an older brother who was leaving home for college. I gave him a grandfather who took the boys in after an awful tragedy. I also wanted Willie to have friends that he was close to, Lucy and Pres (who then had their own stories). That helped me develop the coming-of-age aspects of the story. While I am writing a novel, other characters appear, for lack of a better explanation. I didn’t plan on Lucy’s mother, Trish, being a character, but then I got interested in what her life story was about, so I broadened her characterization. I created Robert, the neighbor, because I wanted to have a character that represented that segment of the population that was so convinced nuclear war was coming that they built bomb shelters in their basements or backyards. I assumed that Denny, because of the tragedies in his life, would be sheltered, inexperienced when he went to college. As a consequence, he might have trouble meeting people. Then he runs into Becky, who is lively and unique. I wanted her to have her own story and not just be an appendage to Denny, so I thought of a disability that she would be addressing throughout the story.
Usually, when I am creating characters, I want to do two things. First, I want them to be connected in some way to the central plot of the book. Second, I want them to have a story of their own, a rich subplot. This novel had two main stories—the missile crisis and the mystery about what happened to Wille and Denny’s parents. All the subplots had to have a life of their own, but still be connected in some way to the two main stories. I think this process gives my characters believability and makes for a richer story.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The key themes in the Give Me Shelter are loss, coming-of-age, friendship, uncertainty, danger, second chances, and the need for some form of safety or shelter.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I have recently started writing a novel entitled Until It Was Gone. I am only about 50 pages in, but I am enjoying the characters I’ve created so far. In the opening scene a husband and wife are at a restaurant celebrating their fortieth anniversary when the wife announces “I’m leaving. Forty years is enough.” That scene gave me a lot of options for what could come next. My books usually come out every two years, so I anticipate this one coming out in 2024.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Willie, Denny and their grandfather, Pop, have lived together for nine years, ever since the boys’ parents died in an accident that remains a mystery to the boys. Denny reluctantly leaves for college, while Willie enters sixth grade, fearful of the menacing missile crisis and curious about his parents’ fate.
Willie’s best friends are Lucy and Preston. Lucy wonders about the ‘man in the suit’ who seems to be everywhere she goes. Her mom, Trish, grapples with unemployment. Preston is burdened by the trauma his father is experiencing due to his military service. Denny meets his first-ever girlfriend at college, Lucy, who has one leg that’s shorter than the other. Good neighbor, Robert, is building a bomb shelter in the back yard. Muriel, his mother is a shoot-from-the-hip older adult with dementia.
Over time, the connections between them create the shelter they need for their common journey. Seaburn again tells a story of human vulnerability, endurance, secrets, truth, loss, humor, resilience and love.
Give Me Shelter
Set against the backdrop of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, this emotional story follows the lives of Willie and Denny, two boys who live with their grandfather after the mysterious death of their parents. Their lives are separated when Denny heads off to college, and Willie’s friend tells him about “The man in the suit.” This sends them on a journey that will have them cross paths with a whole host of others, all trying to live, survive and figure out a world on the brink of collapse. And if they can’t do it alone, could they do it together?
Give Me Shelter by David B. Seaburn is a beautiful story about human connection and condition. It follows the story of Willie, a sixth-grade schoolboy. His life changes after his parents mysteriously die, and he and his brother are sent to live with his grandfather. Things change when his brother leaves for college and then change again when a mysterious character arouses the suspicion of his friend. Together, they embark on a journey to find answers to some very strange questions. They must rely on themselves and others to prevail.
I liked this story. It was a simple read but engaging. Seaburn’s character development was outstanding. I was able to relate to all the characters and form an attachment to each one’s story and plight. The settings were all described with enough detail I felt I was there with the characters but not overwhelmed with minute information. What I particularly liked about it was that it was such a humorous story told in such a turbulent time. The characters in this story could be obliterated by a nuclear warhead at any moment, but yet, there is still joy there. I think this is achieved through the use of good writing and clever character development. Each character stood out and added something to the story. There was no waste. A good book that will fill you with emotion throughout.
Give Me Shelter is a well-written coming-of-age story that will have readers of family life fiction turning the pages to see what happens to all the memorable characters. This is one of those books that will leave the reader thinking about the characters after the book is finished, remembering things they have done or said, just like an old friend.
Pages: 350 | ASIN : B0B99F72SD
LITERARY TITAN 