Happy Pub-day, MENAFTER10!
I believe that a book-in-progress should be a writer’s best friend. Writing is a very difficult thing to do and for a book to be finished, it needs a committed writer that won’t give up on it. I began MENAFTER10 during the loneliest period of my life and allowed Chauncey, Brontae, Justin, LeMilion, Malcolm and all the other men of MENAFTER10 to be my closest friends when I was living in a city where I knew no one and was under the manipulation of a depression that made me feel like I, myself, was no one.
Today, I know that I am very much someone. Today, I’m a published author of a book that chose me to tell the story of what it’s like to live in a time when men like me are so free to be—Black and gay as they are—but still struggle to find love and connection among men who like men. It is the most personal story I will probably ever tell.
To the Black gay men that I hope will read it, I hope you understand why I felt the need to shine light on our darkness. Telling the truth and telling a story are not always two totally different things. I hope that you find some small piece of yourself somewhere in the beautiful, burdened Black men you meet in the book. What is left unresolved after its’ ten chapters, I sincerely hope we can one day resolve and make right.
To those that have supported me in the three years I spent writing this story and the year I spent trying to find a publisher during a pandemic, I thank you with my whole heart. Special thanks to Michael Nava and Salem West for finding me, an unknown, and offering me a seat at the literary table. To my dog Psyche, for loving me like only a lapdog could. To Thera Pitts and Jeff Balam, for making writing a little less isolating. To Glen and the Write Out Loud writers group of Los Angeles, for making writers seem a little less weird. To Earl, for offering me his home, his ears and his friendship. To Tori Harris, for not forgetting me. To Gar McVey-Russell and my press-mates Joe Okonkwo and Matthew Clark Davison for welcoming me to the publishing world in the way that only peers could. To Michael Ward, Hali West, Louvenia Garrison, Demarius Bryant, Rebecca Turner, and everyone else who showed support on social media or in real life. To Dave Burr, for recording me speaking some sex shit in the studio. To MENAFTER10, for choosing me to tell this story as only I could tell it. To the Higher Power, for making me a writer. And lastly, never leastly, to my damn self, for finally writing a book… because it was so fucking hard.
Love,
Casey Hamilton
Author
Order MENAFTER10 on paperback, ebook and audiobook here.
