Dewey Reynolds was born
and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. At six months old, he was
abandoned by both parents who were involved with criminal activities.
After his abandonment, he 
was
left in foster care and became a permanent ward of the state.
Years following his release from foster care, Mr. Reynolds attended
a community college and decided to research the history of foster
care in America. He found some statistics that were absolutely
startling. The extremities of abuse that he read about in foster
care were very similar to the same abuse that he suffered at
the hands of his brutal foster parents. With careful preparation
and endless research, Mr. Reynolds has written a disturbing and
provocative story about the misuse of sex and power within the
foster care system. In The Care Of Evil offers insight into the
complex world of one foster child. Dewey Reynolds currently resides
in Kansas City, Missouri. Visit Dewey's books online at Amazon.com
or Xlibris.com.
Pageonelit.com: Where did you grow up and
was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest
influences and why?
Dewey Reynolds: I grew up in a very impoverished
section of Kansas City, Missouri that became legendary for it's
crime, which earned the nickname of "Devil's Playground".
Reading and writing has always been an integral part of my life
because I knew early on life that these very tools allowed me
to explore the world without even having traveled to distant
places.
My early influences were Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., Oliver Wendall Holmes, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison,
John F. Kennedy, and Eleanor Roosevelt. These were people of
courage, people of special ability, people who dared to be different
and shaped the world into never being the same.
Pageonelit.com:Why did you write IN THE
CARE OF EVIL? Tell us about this book-- How long did it take
to write?
Dewey Reynolds: The reason why I wrote IN
THE CARE OF EVIL is because it was sort of a healing process
for myself. Having endured severe abuse and neglect while living
in one particular foster home for more than fifteen years, I
decided to enlist my expertise of writing about my horrifying
experiences.
IN THE CARE OF EVIL is a compelling account
of the brutal experiences that a group of foster children and
handicapped men encounter in a foster home. The home is very
unsanitary and is surrounded with large rats and 
cockroaches
and maggots. The diabolical foster father beats the children
and handicapped men with electrical cords and foreign objects.
He brutally rapes a fourteen year old foster girl and impregnates
another seventeen year old at the home. After the equally sinister
foster mother suffers a fatal stroke, the appropriate child care
services are notified and their foster parenting home is forced
out of business. The tumultuous lives of these foster children
and handicapped has been powerfully captured with the controversial
and provocative book, IN THE CARE OF EVIL.
Gathering research material for about two years,
and taking the book through several different revisions, I spent
about seven years before arriving at the finished product.
Pageonelit.com: Where did the title IN
THE CARE OF EVIL come from?
Dewey Reynolds: The title, IN THE CARE
OF EVIL, came from having been left in the care of two foster
parents who displayed acts of evil towards the foster children
and handicapped men.
Pageonelit.com: What has been your feedback
from readers and book reviewers? What do they say to you about
their interpretations of IN THE CARE OF EVIL? What do they like
about the book?
Dewey Reynolds:Well, the feedback from the
ones who've read the book is quite encouraging. The book is rather
lengthy, actually broken down into two books, and some of my
readers have said that they finished the book in two days. Not
bad for a very thick book. All of them are waiting for a sequel
to the story. So far, I haven't gotten much feedback or response
from reviewers.
Their interpretations of IN THE CARE OF EVIL
is how one particular foster child triumphed over tragedy, overcoming
extreme odds. Some interpret the story in different ways. For
instance, one of my readers said that they were hoping that something
tragic would happen to the insensitive foster father and were
highly disappointed when he walked away unharmed. Another reader
said that they were wondering what had happened to the other
foster children who had been taken away from the home.
There were many things that my readers said they
liked about IN THE CARE OF EVIL. I received several calls
from people who said that they enjoyed the realism of the characterization
and dialogue that I displayed in the story. They told me that
they felt as though they were there while the events
were taking place. As the story unfolded, they explained how
things became heartpounding. For instance, one of the central
characters, the evil foster father, was portrayed in the story
so well until some individuals called me up and used a lot of
obscenities while describing him. When a writer can accomplish
this in their story, then I know their story has merit.
Pageonelit.com: Tell me about your publishing
experience -- The good, the bad, and the ugly...
Dewey Reynolds: First, trying to get a major
publishing house in New York to read your manuscript, let alone
getting it published and shipped out to bookstores and other
outlets, is a very daunting task. More than three million manuscripts
flood into New York City every year, which makes the competition
brutally fierce. I realized that many big name authors opted
to self-publish and because of their perseverance, they succeeded.
I want to stay in the race and continue to persevere. The good
part is that I published my book with Xlibris Corporation, a
print-on-demand, so now interested readers can order the book
from Amazon.com and barnes and noble and Borders Books and other
local bookstores throughout the country. The bad and the ugly
is marketing and promoting your book in the midst of the one-hundred
thousand books published every year. As an author, I feel as
though you have to prove that you can stand above the competition.
I personally have tried to get reviewers and prominent people
to take a look at my book and haven't had much luck. One thing
that I've learned is that if people don't know what you're selling
then they won't buy it. I have to continue to try and push the
right buttons until many people learn about my book.
Pageonelit.com: Are you working on a follow
up? Or something totally different?
Dewey Reynolds: Yes, I'm almost finished
with a sequel to IN THE CARE OF EVIL, a story entitled,
HEAVEN'S FORGOTTEN SON, which chronicles the life of the
same foster child who endured the fifteen years of horror after
leaving that foster home. I have other material besides that
I've been working on over the last few months.
Pageonelit.com: What was the last book you
read?
Dewey Reynolds: The last book that I read
was, THE SKY IS FALLING by Sidney Sheldon. Excellent book!
Pageonelit.com: Do you have any hobbies?
What are they? How do they enhance your writing?
Dewey Reynolds: Yes, I have several hobbies.
My hobbies include rollerskating, cycling, reading, writing,
traveling, and researching history. My writing is enhanced by
exploring past events right here in my hometown of Kansas City,
Missouri. I have been working a story about a Kansas City mafia boss who orders the murder
of a special FBI agent who is sent to Kansas City to investigates
the Teamsters Union's alliance with organized crime. Living everyday
life and the things that I witness firsthand enhances my writing
tremendously.
