I,
Kidney
By
Chris Six
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Joe
Zizzi's childhood in the 1950s had everything a kid could want--pro
athlete dad, wonderful mom, cool big bro. When the '60s kick in, this
ideal life is violently shaken: a car crash claims his mother's life
and his father's career, and brother Matt becomes distant and
disturbed. Over the years, Joe learns to cope and carves out a niche
for himself as a college sports star, and later as a coach and
writer, but he can't quite shake the family legacy. Diagnosed with
kidney failure, the semi-pro husband and devoted dad has
life-and-death decisions to make--and life wins, though perhaps only
by a slim margin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
Dr.
Fabian—his first name, nobody uses his last name—referred Dad to
Dr. Reilley, a nephrologist. Reilley’s got a brogue a mile wide and
recognized Dad’s name from the Bruins.
First
visit, he asked general health questions, kidney questions, and
hockey questions, ending up by giving Dad an orange plastic urine
collection jug in which to insert 24 hours’ worth, which has to be
kept cold until next week’s visit. Imagine being confronted with
this baby when you open the fridge for your juice.
Dad’s
kidneys are functioning at thirty percent.
Next
visit, Reilley reads the blood test results and gives Dad the list of
the six foods to stop eating.
Bananas.
“What?
I’ve eaten one every day since birth.”
Orange
juice.
“What
do I drink with breakfast?”
Potatoes.
“You’re
not making this easy, doc.”
Avocados.
“Wait,
I’m still working on the spuds. Okay, I’ll eat yams.”
That
includes yams. Chocolate.
“Doc,
you trying to kill me?”
And
tomatoes.
“Doc,
you know I’m Italian, right?”
And
he told him to lay off fried foods. Dad said, “As a frequent fryer,
I’m gonna find this difficult.”
Outside:
“How do I manage? How do I survive? He’s got my five basic food
groups.
What
was the sixth thing?”
“Avocado.”
Dad
patted me and chuckled. “Good thing you’re not the patient.”
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Chris
Six is a writer, the chief everything officer of The Chris Six Group,
and the recipient of somebody else's kidney: "I narrated the
story onto tape before I ever wrote a word. I even brought my
recorder to dialysis and upset the technicians. Nowadays, I'm in awe
of indie authors doing hands-on marketing. I couldn't imagine doing
this even five years ago."
facebook.com/TheChrisSixGroup
@TheChrisSixGrou
Amazon
buy link to come
www.thechrissixgroup.com
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeletethank you for the excerpt, i enjoyed reading it
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Lisa! When this family isn't making you smack your head, they're making you laugh. And then they break your heart, of course... Thanks for making us part of your day!
DeleteGood morning! Took me a while to find myself on the site--I now have a great urge to see Peter Pan and The Lion King...
ReplyDeleteThanks for spotlighting I, Kidney, which officially ushered in the holidays for me--it came out on Thanksgiving. Hope everyone who comes in today enjoys the excerpt, and anyone who wants to see more has two more places to look: www.thechrissixgroup.com and the Look Inside feature at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0989918246.
Hey, wait--this is a shopping site, too? Allow me to introduce the other titles from The Chris Six Group: Ska St. Julian's quirky fantasy The Basket of Seeds, political/sports satire New York Brain by Kew Stapleton, and Raanan's Geberer's story collection Moish and the Mob and Other Short Fiction. Read excerpts at thechrissixgroup.com--and on Amazon!
ReplyDeleteWe've been informed that the magical characters from The Basket of Seeds--the dream beings, the Mystery Cats, and especially the floateens--are working on all the avid readers out there to come check out this post. Thanks to Fuzzi, Baby Bud, Cevestee, and especially Goldenbeak Sparklie, who even has her very own Facebook page here on Earth!
ReplyDelete"So, Mystery Cats, what happened to all those avid readers?" / "We gave them a nap instead!" / "Oh, okay."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Three Partners, for spotlighting I, Kidney today, and to our kind readers who checked in--and to those who turn up later. Happy holidays and happy reading to all!
I liked the excerpt best. This book sounds like an interesting and intriguing read. I will definitely be adding this book to my "to-read" list.
ReplyDelete