Paul Rousseau
Minneapolis–Saint Paul, MN
Disabled writer, essayist and author of Friendly Fire
BOOK COVER
BOOK DETAILS
Pub Date: September 10, 2024
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Harper Horizon
Page Count: 256
Format, ISBN, Price:
Hardcover / 9781400247950 / $29.99
Ebook / 9781400247967 / $14.99
Audiobook / B0CNBMCC4Q / $23.95
ABOUT THE BOOK
One month before his college graduation, Paul Rousseau is accidentally shot in the head by his roommate and best friend.
Friendly Fire is the raw, compelling true story of their friendship, the gunshot, and the aftermath.
At some point in the course of knowing Paul, Mark acquired—legally and with required permits—five firearms. Those weapons lived with them in the college apartment they shared. It was a non-issue for the two best friends. They were inseparable. They were 22-year-old boys at the height of their college experience, unaware that everything was about to change forever.
The bullet ripped through two walls before it struck Paul’s skull. Mark had accidentally pulled the trigger while in the other room and—frightened for his own future—delayed getting vital treatment for Paul, who miraculously remained conscious the entire time. In vivid detail, Friendly Fire brings us into the world of both the shooting itself and its surgical counterpoint—the dark spaces of survival in the face of a traumatic brain injury and into the paranoid, isolating, dehumanizing maw of personal injury cases.
Through phenomenal writing and gripping detail, we join Paul as he navigates the trauma of brain injury, the dehumanization of personal injury cases, and the pieces of a devastated relationship, revealing a compelling and inspirational story that unfortunately is an illustration of contemporary American life.
Watch the book trailer here:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Rousseau is a disabled writer whose work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Roxane Gay’s newsletter The Audacity, Wigleaf, Catapult and CRAFT, among others, and has been selected for Best Small Fictions 2024, the Wigleaf Top 50, as well as nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy. You can find more of his work online at Paul-Rousseau.com.
TALKING POINTS
- Accidental shootings and how they fit into the conversation about gun violence, gun ownership, and college campus safety
- Living with Traumatic Brain Injury
- The specific challenges of an invisible disability
- The enduring effects of trauma and violence
- Understanding when a friendship becomes toxic
- Literary writing as a method of cathartic expression
TIMELY TIE-INS
August
- Back to School – As millions of parents send their kids off to college
- National Friendship Day – 4
- We Love Memoirs Day – 31
September
- Self Care/ Self Improvement Month
- Are You OKay Day, National Day of Encouragement – 12
- Positive Thinking Day – 13
October
- National Book Month
- World Trauma Day – 17
- Invisible Disabilities Week – 20–26
March 2025
- Brain Injury Awareness Month
June 2025
- Gun Violence Awareness Month
- Wear Orange Day – 6 (To honor survivors and build community with those working to end gun violence)
PRAISE
“Unique and haunting…. A mesmerizing and unforgettable meditation on a stranger-than-fiction tragedy.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A powerful, gut-wrenching tale of pain, suffering, and recovery.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“One of the most riveting memoirs I’ve read in years, Friendly Fire unfolds with urgency and so much heart, and the magic lies in how effortlessly Paul Rousseau tells this wrenching story. This is a big-time debut from a big-time talent.”
—James Tate Hill, author of Blind Man’s Bluff
“This book is powerful, surprising, moving—and impossible to put down.”
—Austin Ross, author of Gloria Patri
“‘The words are simple,’ writes Rousseau, ‘I got shot in the head by my best friend at school.’ But this story is anything but simple: a shattered life, broken friendship, long recovery and loss of self. Rousseau writes this vivid, startling memoir the only way he can: fractured. And in that structure there is so much beauty, so much bravery, and so much stubborn elegance—this is a gorgeous book that cuts to the bones of American life and a terrible injury.”
—Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You
“Memoir writing at its best. Thoughtful. Vulnerable. Palpable. Empathetic. Hopeful.”
—SmokeLong Quarterly
BOOK DETAILS
Pub Date: May 17, 2022
Genre: Memoir / Christian Inspirational
Publisher: She Writes Press
Page Count: 304
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1647429003
Price: $15.99
