Share the Love

This is a post by my frequent co-author, Dustin LaValley. I’ll save my own comments for later, below his.

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I’m going to spill some emotion here. So read on.I’ve gotten a reputation here in our little community for speaking up and out when I see wrongs. I do this not only for myself, but for everyone concerned and I have found that whenever I have done so, someone has taken my words and contorted them into something of hate. Believe me, if it were hate there would be no question and I would make it very straight forward. The plain truth is, most of the time I’m being outspoken is because I have crazy love for those I have befriended and I feel that as a friend, they deserve someone on their side willing to do something they themselves are not willing to do when they are wronged. Why? Usually they are afraid of ruining their reputation or they’re simply spineless. Many of my friends are spineless, they know it, I know it and I love them just as much as I love those friends with spines. I’ve always been the one to speak up. As my close personal friends know, I’m the very first one to jump into the middle of an altercation and either subdue it or get the shit beaten out of me. Not because I like it, but because of the love I have for my friends. There is a reason I’m the one who gets called at 3:AM from buddies outside of bars facing a beating by a biker gang: I’ll show up knowing I’m doing the right thing and knowing I’m going to lose. That’s right.If you do the right thing, you will lose.

No matter what it is; writing, fighting, loving, being among the living… you do what’s right and you lose. That’s why I am not a winner, I’m a loser. A lowlife underdog. (Get it?)

When I say, “Share the love!” I’m being myself and truly mean love. When I say “Thank you” or say that I appreciate this or that, I mean it. I’ve noticed lately that as I say, “Share the love!” or even mention the word, people are thrown off. I was raised by a mixture of men and women in the foster home. The men taught me to never let anyone fuck with me or my friends and if they did, to step in. And the women taught me to make cookies.

And after getting the shit beat out of you by the community for trying to right a wrong, cookies taste fucking great.

So, in summation: let’s stop dicking each other around and make some fucking cookies ’cause I’d rather we all cut the shit, drop the egotudes and come together and love each other as friends instead of secret foes.

Share the love!

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I admire Dustin for coming out and saying what so many others in the scene would like to, but cannot–either because they will get blacklisted, or are locked into contracts with people who don’t have their best interests at heart, or any number of other reasons. This issue spans all levels of publishing, all creative fields, in fact all areas of life. Stand up for what you believe in. Stand up for what you know is right. I know Dustin has suffered personal setbacks recently for voicing his concerns, and even just for publicly calling for unity in the scene. That really blew my mind. Who has a problem with somebody saying, “Hey, let’s work together. We can all make it if we pull together and get rid of the divisiveness.”

Perhaps it’s silly, but I’m hoping that spreading Dustin’s most recent commentary will help people. And to help Dustin in return I am posting links to his work, interviews, and so forth. Maybe you have the time to take a look at what he is up to, or to help spread the message of love yourself. A lot of Dustin’s work has been dark in the past, or dark humor, but having read his recent unpublished manuscripts I believe readers in general will be pleasantly surprised by the literary and experimental direction his work is moving in.

BOOKS & MOVIES:

Dustin LaValley’s Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Dustin-LaValley/e/B00A85RALO

Internet Movie Database page for Dustin LaValley: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2701027/

INTERVIEWS & FEATURES:
3:AM Magazine interview http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/five-for-dustin-lavalley/
Decibel Magazine feature http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/tales-from-the-metalnomicon-dustin-lavalley/
Horror Movie News interview http://www.horrormovienews.net/features-1046-Party_Girl_interview_with_Dustin_LaValley.html
Notes From Underground interview http://somenotesfromunderground.blogspot.com/2009/08/interview-with-dustin-lavalley.html
Shock Horror Magazine Book of the Year http://www.shockhorrormagazine.com/news/
Yahoo Voices interview http://voices.yahoo.com/author-dustin-lavalley-talks-filming-party-girl-3917580.html?cat=40

OFFICIAL AUTHOR LINKS
On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dustin.lavalley
Dust, In the Valley http://dustinthevalley.tumblr.com/
On Twitter https://twitter.com/dustinlavalley