Unjustifiable Violence

A topic close to my heart this month.

By L.C. Dean

Fifteen years ago, on an October night, a young man stopped to have drink in a bar. Maybe chat with a few people. Nothing big. Just have a little fun. There he met up with two other men, both seemingly friendly, who offered (or who he asked for) a ride home. He never made it back. A cyclist found him the 

next morning, beaten but alive, tied to a fence like some macabre Halloween decoration. The only spots on his face not covered by blood were the tracks of his tears. His injuries were so severe doctors were unable to operate. Matthew Shepard lived for six more days but never regained consciousness. His attackers had pretended to be gay to get him into their vehicle in order to beat and torture him simply because he was homosexual. Protestors picketed his funeral with signs reading “No Tears for Queers.” That one horrible and unconscionable placard has stuck in my head for a decade and a half.

Matthew’s death remains the most recognizable example of hate against a gay man in the United States today. His torture and subsequent death launched the campaign for a hate crimes bill. Eleven years later, President Obama signed The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/matthewshepard.php —better known as the Matthew Shepard Act—into law on October 28, 2009. (Byrd was beaten and dragged behind a pickup by known white supremacists until dead.) The Act expanded the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

This legislation now makes hate driven violence, no matter the recipient, a major crime. Still, across the nation brutality continues against those perceived as different or weaker somehow. Race, gender, sexual orientation, and a plethora of other excuses pop up again and again to justify violence against individuals or groups. There are laws in place to handle such issues, but stopping it begins with the individual. We live in America where free speech declares we all have the right to speak out against things which concern us. Hate should concern everyone.

No one has to approve or support the ideas, lives, and attitudes of others. But does anyone have the right to end a life just because someone is different? Free speech gives us the right to take a stand against hate. We can say no to violence and yes to acceptance. If you hear of or see such things, be the voice of reason, call the police, take a stand…but don’t ignore it. Had someone who knew Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson’s intentions intervened in some way, even to turn their thoughts to other things, perhaps Matthew would not have died. No human being, whether different from the majority or not, deserves to suffer this type of treatment. Martin Luther King, Jr. told us all of his dream,  and we have come a long way since then, but we have a long way to go until “all men are created equal” and are judged only by the “content of their character.” Love is love no matter what.

All my hope and friendship to readers, friends, and countrymen alike—please, remember those who have suffered or died at the hand of hate and help stop unjustifiable violence.

L.C. Dean

Matthew Shepard Foundation http://www.matthewshepard.org/

The James Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing can be reached at 888-656-6514 or by electronic mail at byrdfound@juno.com

Buy Too Hot to Handle HERE

Buy Mountain Claiming HERE

The Value of Short Stories

by L.C. Dean

I don’t know about many of you, but I remember my mother getting magazines with short romance stories or the first chapters of novels woven in amongst the practical advice and crafty ideas. Sometimes the stories filled just a few pages and other times they would be continued for a few months. Always they were readable over one or two coffee breaks. As a farmer’s wife, my mother rarely had the opportunity to just sit down and read. Many times a novel took her a month or more to finish as she would snatch ten minutes here or there. The short stories, however, provided a snippet of relaxation in the middle of her hectic life. 

As a kid, I always dreamed of writing the great romance novel – the one that readers would tuck under their bed and pull out again and again. And perhaps that dream will come to fruition one day, but for now I write shorts. Despite the reviews I and many fellow short story writers receive, which say again and again, “I wanted more,” there is a value to the short story that many overlook. As I type the end on a brief but (I hope) satisfying tale, I think of my mother and how she used to relish those little escapes provided by her women’s magazines, and I have to smile and think that perhaps I can offer that same sort of retreat to someone else.

Many women in today’s world work all day outside the home but still create a loving and healthy environment for their families. Finding time to relax can at times seem nearly impossible. Stories which can be read in twenty minutes to an hour are a positive. I have a friend who is a single mother and used to read only in the winter and only when her kids were not involved with school activities as her reading time was too often sacrificed to the needs/demands of family, job, and community. When I gave her a few 1Night Stands and a copy of Too Hot to Handle, she was thrilled. I had her read my upcoming EDGE series (Sturgis Rally Riders) as well. Although each of the four stories falls under 5,500 words, she enjoyed that she could read them over her coffee break or in the evening while waiting for a load of laundry after the kids were tucked in bed. Super shorts provide an ahhh moment that she cannot otherwise fit into her busy schedule.

So, while I do intend to write a full someday, for now I find joy in the thought that I and my publisher fill a niche – offering a bit of love, romance, or forbidden passion – in the lives of my readers. I hope you all find a moment to escape the mundane and enjoy a quickie now and again.

Blurb for Too Hot to Handle

Why the hell do I torture myself? Sitting in the sun and hiding a hard-on from his best friend is not Tucker's idea of fun. He’d rather drink beer and fantasize than destroy what he and Jase have.

A good fuck between friends, that the hell’s wrong with that? Heat and lust make a man do crazy shit, but Jase intends to prove he and Tuck can be lovers and friends.

When desire flares under the Texas summer sun, will it burn too hot to handle.

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