Battlefields

From the outside, the middle-class James family appears better off than many African-Americans living in Los Angeles-but what appears to be a fairy-tale home turns out to be a breeding ground for despair. Between his inattentive, alcoholic father and his abusive, emotionally unstable mother, Wilson grows up never knowing the selflessness of real love and the resulting void makes him vulnerable to a predator at the formative age of thirteen. Attracted to other males since childhood, Wilson now faces the added confusion of what constitutes true romantic love. Wilson continues to battle a growing web of secrets as he encounters more and more men wanting to use him for their own ends. But as author Vance N. Smith so deftly illustrates-it is the lies we tell ourselves that can do the most damage. Damned from day one, does Wilson have any chance of redemption? tells the raw and poignant story of a young man burdened with childhood misery, and held hostage by his own demons, who wants nothing more than to live happily ever after with the love of his life-his straight best friend.