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My Jetta, of course, died...

If you have any questions about my ridiculous life - check here 1st:

http://www.nighttrainmagazine.com/contents/dunlap_int.php

and

http://smokelong.com/interview/murraydunlap28.asp

and

http://literarylab.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-if-you-forgot-everything-you-ever.html

and

http://www.lunataylor.com/JANmurraydunlap.html 

"We can choose to look at Murray as the poor writer who suffered a traumatic brain injury. We can choose to look at him as someone who lost the kind of life it could kill a person to lose. Or we can choose to look at him as a writer who went through some shit and now has another story to tell."                                                                                                             -Kristen Tsetsi (interview at Night Train -see above)

"I think you're clearly a writer who was in an accident (NOT an accident victim who happens to have been a writer). From what I've read of your work, both pre- and post-accident, your fundamental writer-ness is still part of you. You may be accessing it differently, and maybe are expressing it differently, but the thing that drives you to understand your own life and the lives of others via writing appears intact."                                                        -Susan Tasaki (former editor at The Bark)

Our book launch of "What Doesn't Kill You..." will be at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN on October 9

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*About this website:.

I was very nearly killed on 6-7-08 in a car wreck, so I'm trying very hard to put my life back together. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a complex injury with a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities. The impact on a person and his or her family can be devastating. And my memory-loss has to be the most frustrating component of this entire disaster. It is as if I woke up from a dream of a life to a nightmare of a reality.

But...

What didn't kill me made me a better writer.

"That's all we have, finally, the words, and they had better be the right ones..."                                                                        -Raymond Carver  -On Writing

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What Doesn’t Kill You…

… can sometimes be a car running a red light or seem like something as small and annoying as a gnat zig-zagging around your head. We all have our breaking points. Here, sixteen authors share stories of struggle with inner demons, fear, loss, fitting in, family, a psychotic neighbor, stereotypes, self-esteem, love, and, of course, a protective and possessive hound. Nietzsche said that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger. We hope that What Doesn’t Kill You… will grab your throat, your heart, and your imagination, and make you feel less alone, and maybe a little stronger, when dealing with your own struggles.  

 

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Drawing by my 7-year old niece, Allison Dunlap

 

"No head injury is too severe to despair of, nor too trivial to ignore."   - Hippocrates 


What Doesn't Kill You...

As an introduction to the anthology called "What Doesn't Kill You" that I'm helping Kevin Watson of Press 53 put together, go to Fried Chicken and Coffee and you will find my non-fiction story to be in it, called "Times I Nearly Died:"  

http://friedchickenandcoffee.com/2009/05/19/times-i-nearly-died-non-fiction-by-murray-dunlap/

It is a great collection! We've got some terrific writers in there, So do us all a favor and pick up a copy in October!    

And as an added bonus, this marks Press 53's 53rd title!

                   Go here:  http://www.press53.com/whatdoesntkillyou.html

                                  Press 53 begins a pre-order Sept. 1st....but:

      Launch is at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN on October 8th


Our cover was designed by Faiza Fraz, a graphic design student at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, NC.

                             http://murraydunlapwriter.blogspot.com

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                                "Found myself face down in a ditch
                                             Booze in my hair
                                              Blood in my lips
                               A picture of you holding a picture of me
                                      In the pocket of my blue jeans
                                     Still don't know what love means"
                                                                            -Ray Lamontagne, Jolene.


"Perhaps a sense of danger kept them huddled close--cars rounding the curve, drivers staring. In our defense, it isn't every day we pass a scene like this: belonging so palpable, it beats like a heart on the pavement."                   -Daisy Chain, from "Telling Tales of Dusk."    -- Terri Erickson


I hear a sad song behind a happy conversation / What a perfect situation, I could die like this…”                                                   -Molly Thomas, “Make Everything Bright”

                                                   

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The Golden Fish (matsya) were originally symbolic of the rivers Ganges and Yamuna, but came to represent good fortune in general, for Hindus, Jain and Buddhists. Within Buddhism it also symbolises that living beings who practice the dharma need have no fear to drown in the ocean of suffering, and can freely migrate (chose their rebirth) like fish in the water.

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