The Cancer Club: A Crazy, Sexy, Inspirational Novel of Survival

Top-ten finalist in the Next Best Fiction Author Contest by Hampton Roads Publishing and Hierophant Publishing Significant inspiration for this book was provided by the writings and life of stage and TV actress and Jim Henson puppeteer Eren Ozker (1948 -1993)

Meet writer Marly Mitchellshe a successful late-30s writer who plans a healing journey with loving friends to her favorite vacation destinations in search of PEACE after recovering from a mastectomy. But right now she's finding it hard to focus on the future.

"Once I had dragged my strung-out self from the winged torture chamber and slumped onto a row of rock-hard, fake-Naugahyde airport chairs, people shied away from sitting beside me. And who could blame them? It wasn't a comfortable seat to sit on, and I wasn't a comfortable person to sit next to." Marley acknowledges.

Thank God for the angels of mercy, albeit with tart tongues and scathing truths, Marly calls the Cancer Club, who share and share alike their pain and fear in a way only fellow sufferers can understand. This poignant, sexy, humorous and inspirational novel is bound to become a book club favorite.

˃˃˃ Always finding love in the wrong places:

Luis; he was a primo example of that.

Marly met him at UCLA in 1973. He was sleek-looking, with hair the color of milk chocolate and skin to match. He sported a thin moustache and a delicate scar over his left eyebrow that I Marly referred to as his dueling wound. (Actually, it arrived after a flip off the old bicycle at age six.) He was a second generation Spanish-American with a passion for life and sex.

He always smelled great.

Then came Spring Break - that's where she met Sandy.

A social bunch, Marley's Dad invites Sandy to dinner. At 9 p.m. Luis showed up.

Flash forward - now on vacation with no desire of any entanglements, Marley is distancing herself from all former lovers. Feeling vulnerable and questioning if she can still be appealing with as she puts it, "missing body parts," getting intimate isn't on her priority list. But then she meets Chris ...

˃˃˃ The Cancer Club:

Marly was in the throes of an emotional breakdown. She scraped bare and was beaten down by her chemo treatment schedule. The word "cancer" echoed through her head during her waking hours like a death knell. She couldn't turn off the voice of doom in her head with alcohol or sex or food. She couldn't exercise herself into a deep enough oblivion to truly rest.

The strength of soul she'd come to rely on in her teens and had always regarded as her personal fail-safe had disappeared like smoke on a windy day. She didn't care to live. She didn't care to be. Before her fight against cancer, she'd had zero empathy for the reasons people gave up. She was smugly convinced that every human being could find the strength they needed if they only looked for it.

How wrong she had been.

Ah the Cancer Club - there truly is strength in numbers and how therapeutic to speak with others who understand and share similar experiences. It was there Marly learned to laugh again, to live and to find herself - her true self.

˃˃˃ a crazy, sexy, inspirational novel of survival

Join Marly in her journey as she rediscovers life by fighting for its survival. Those who have suffered cancer or have been with a loved one in the battle will relate to the rollercoaster of emotions that come with life-threatening illnesses as outlined in this story.

It's a novel of self discovery.