Name: Brooks Eason
Book Title: Fortunate
Son - the Story of Baby Boy Francis
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: WordCrafts Press, Nashville, TN
Website: www.brookseason.com
Thank you for your time in answering our questions about
getting published. Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you
decided to become an author and pen this book?
Author:
I've always loved to write, from inappropriate limericks to short stories to my
two books. I got serious about it when I wrote my first book, Travels with Bobby - Hiking in the Mountains
of the American West. It's about hiking trips with my best friend and was
published by Lulu Press in 2015. It's available from Lulu, Amazon, and other
sites.
As
for this book, fifteen years ago, on the eve of the birth of my first
grandchild, a fascinating story fell into my lap. I was adopted as an infant,
had wonderful parents, never searched for my birth mother, and never would
have, but I was found as a result of litigation in four courts in two states
because I was a potential heir to a fortune from my birth mother's very wealthy
grandfather. My granddaughter and I were born under almost identical
circumstances. My birth mother got pregnant when she was a freshman in college,
my daughter when she was a sophomore. The circumstances were the same, but the
times were very different, and my daughter got to keep her child, who has grown
into an extraordinary young lady. I learned my name was Scott Francis for the
first year of my life on the day she was born. It was too good of a story not
to write.
Is this your first book?
Author:
This is my second.
With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional,
small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?
Author:
I chose a small independent publisher that was recommended to me by an author
friend. I self-published my first book and that was fine, but it created
limitations. I also didn't have the patience to try to find an agent to pitch
my book to a major press.
Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey? The pros and cons?
Author:
The journey was short. I did some internet research and got some advice and
decided a small, independent publisher was a good option. An author friend
recommended WordCrafts, I completed the submission a few days later, Mike
Parker, the head guy, emailed the next day and said he would love to publish my
book, and we signed a contract the day after. I've been very pleased.
What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular
publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?
Author:
Things are constantly changing, and new options are appearing all the time. One
thing I learned, and one of the reasons I chose a small, independent publisher,
is that an author who's not yet famous will have primary responsibility for
marketing the book no matter who publishes it. Nobody else is going to do it
unless you hire a publicist. I did nothing to market my first book, and the
sales volume reflected it. All five-star reviews on Amazon, just not many of
them. I'm doing more this time.
Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?
Author:
Definitely
What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?
Author:
Write for the love of it, not for the money, and choose a subject matter that
really interests you and you really want to write about and explore. You'll be
successful if you do your best work and it's fulfilling and readers appreciate
it. You probably won't get rich doing it, but bully for you if you do.
//////////////
Genre: Memoir
Author: Brooks Eason
Website: www.brookseason.com
Publisher: WordCrafts Press, Nashville, TN
Find out more: https://www.wordcrafts.net/books/fortunate-son/
ABOUT THE BOOK
On the eve of the birth of his first grandchild, Mississippi lawyer Brooks Eason learned the truth about a mystery he’d lived with for nearly fifty years: the story of his birth and his birth mother’s identity. Perhaps even more surprising was how the story was finally revealed: It turned out that Eason was a potential heir to an enormous fortune from his birth mother’s family. His original identity finally saw the light of day only as result of litigation in four courts in two states, initiated in an effort to identify and find the heir. Eason, who was raised in Tupelo by loving parents, found out on the day his granddaughter was born that he began his life as Scott Francis, which remained his legal name for the first year of his life. Fortunate Son – The Story of Baby Boy Francis is the story of how he learned the story.
And what a story it is.
A truth-is-stranger-than-fiction memoir that unfolds in the Deep South, Fortunate Son is a deeply personal and deeply moving story about families, secrets, and choices. Resplendent with intrigue, drama, and mystery—all the hallmarks of a blockbuster novel—Fortunate Son is a true story, unembellished, unpretentious, and at times almost unbelievable. Eason, a gifted storyteller with an incredible story to tell, delivers a gripping, satisfying, meaningful memoir. Told with candor, wit, and honesty, Fortunate Son is a thoughtful and thought-provoking first person narrative that will have readers turning pages.
Though Eason was ultimately not the beneficiary of the fortune, he is quick to point out that he received a different kind of wealth: knowing the truth and finally being able to dive headfirst into the story of his origin, uncovering fascinating blood relatives and stories along the way.
Much more than a memoir about birth and adoption, Fortunate Son is a long love letter from the author to the parents who raised him, a heartfelt thank you to the birth mother who gave him the whole world when she gave him away, and a moving tribute to his beloved daughter who faced circumstances similar to those his birth mother faced and bravely chose to keep her baby. A tale of two stories that unfolded in different times, Fortunate Son is an extraordinary story extraordinarily well-told.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brooks Eason loves stories, reading and writing them, hearing and telling them. He also loves music, dogs, and campfires as well as his family and friends. His latest book is Fortunate Son – the Story of Baby Boy Francis, an amazing memoir about his adoption, discovery of the identity of his birth mother, and much more.
Eason has practiced law in Jackson for more than 35 years but has resolved to trade in writing briefs for writing books. He lives with his wife Carrie and their two elderly rescue dogs, Buster and Maddie, and an adopted stray cat named Count Rostov for the central character in A Gentleman in Moscow, the novel by Amor Towles. In their spare time, the Easons host house concerts, grow tomatoes, and dance in the kitchen. Eason, who has three children and four grandchildren, is also the author of Travels with Bobby – Hiking in the Mountains of the American West about hiking trips with his best friend. Visit Brooks online at www.brookseason.com. WordCrafts Press is an independent publishing company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Visit WordCrafts online at www.wordcrafts.net.
EXCERPT
CHAPTER 1
It was a Tuesday morning in June 2004. The day had started like any other. I walked the dogs, ate breakfast while reading the paper, then drove downtown to work. I was in my office on the 14th floor of the Trustmark Bank Building when my phone rang. It was my father, Paul Eason. He rarely called me at work but had just listened to an intriguing voicemail. He was calling to tell me about it.
Daddy was 82 and lived by himself in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the home where I grew up. It was the only home he and my mother Margaret ever owned. She had died five years earlier in the bedroom they shared for more than forty years. I lived three hours south of Tupelo in Jackson, where I had practiced law for two decades.
The message was from a woman in New Orleans, also a lawyer. She said her firm was conducting a nationwide, court-ordered search for Paul Eason, age 46. I go by my middle name, but my first name is Paul and I was about to turn 47. I told Daddy I would return the call.
Why a court in New Orleans would order someone to search the entire country for me was a mystery. A theory occurred to me, but after all these years it didn’t seem possible. Because I didn’t know the reason for the call, I decided not to identify myself as the Paul Eason the lawyer was trying to find. I would just say I was Brooks Eason and was returning the call she had placed to my father. But when she came to the phone, she already knew who I was.
“I can’t believe we found you.”
“What is this about?”
“An inheritance.”
“Tell me more.”
* * *
That was the day I began to learn the story that had been a mystery to me all my life, the story of my birth and second family. In the days that followed, I found out that my name was Scott Francis – or rather that it had been – for the first year of my life. I was nearly fifty years old, but until then I didn’t know I had started life with a different name, much less what it was. My name, as well as the rest of the story, had been a secret. This is the story of how I learned the secret. But this story is about more than that. It is also about the wonderful life my parents gave me, about my exceptional daughter and granddaughter, who was born just days after Daddy received the voicemail. and about how times and attitudes changed from when I was born until she was born.
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