Twilight in York: Volume One

I recently wrote a book about the latter stages of drug addiction, before I got clean in 2007. It is creative nonfiction, a memoir, and it is my story. My story is full of struggle, perseverance, and hope. Overcoming adversity. My book demonstrates that there IS a solution to addiction, and my story is a testament to that fact. I overcame it, and now I must pass the message on to others.  If you are interested, please check it out on Amazon.

Readers and reviewers have compared my work to somewhere in the vein of George Orwell, William Kennedy, William S. Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller, and John Fante. I am a big Kerouac fan, and I have striven to recreate his writing style in my work.

It is both self-help and narrative nonfiction.

 Disclaimer: This first installment, volume one, has explicit drug use. It is a memoir about a lifestyle not easily digested. It is heavy, with nothing held back. Presume that everything that can happen to an addict on the street will happen to you by reading. 

Dive into the explosive, raw, and vulnerable story of a man’s search for sanity amid his increasing dependence on DXM (dextromethorphan), the active ingredient in Robitussin and other cough suppressant medications. In Volume One, you’ll enter the underbelly of York, PA as the narrator navigates the streets and his new normal.

Halfway through 2007, Ryan Gray started to come to grips with his reality: the point where an addict senses his own futility, his own demise, but remains powerless to his own craving for a drug. As things get

worse and he sees his own doomed fate, it opens the door to full and complete morbidity—Hell on earth.

Before this point, Ryan begins his life on the street like many others. He was introduced to the lifestyle by a native of York, whom he met on his first night on the streets. Soon, a whole new world opens up to Ryan.

His new friend, an experienced addict who has already adapted to the lifestyle, is very connected in the dark, underground street life of York and knows which drugs can be bought from whom. As he freely shares his wealth of knowledge with Ryan, the men become like brothers—always found side by side.

Still, Ryan was staring down the barrel of a loaded gun and knew it. Will he come to terms?

Twilight in York: Volume One encompasses a narrative about immense

suffering of a variety known only to the addict, the junky, or the dope fiend. It is raw, real, and relatable.

The original manuscript, simply called "Twilight in York" (once a single-volume work), was over 600 pages long! To make it easier on the reader (and myself), I decided to shave about 150 pages and split the manuscript into two volumes. The second volume flows seamlessly from the first, together forming one work (what was once one book has been partitioned and split in two (roughly).) Volume two is written, edited, proofread, and polished . . . ready to go! You can expect it to come out mid 2024. It should tie off any loose ends and answer all or most of your questions from volume one.