Mad (adj. angry, insane) - Suzan Digh

This poetic form collection tells the story of a slide into and out of madness, in both senses of the word.

It is also a very dark queer - survival? coming out? coming forward? - story, loosely based on truth. It might be considered a conversion-therapy survival story.

"Mad" is an exploration of the... turmoil .... within the mind of a girl who struggled to be who she was while being instructed that her self needed to be corrected.

"Mad" also examines the struggles involved when coming to terms with many aspects of LGBT and queer identity: particularly, how does one, subjected to the idea that their self is wrong, make their way through their sexuality, their orientation, their very gender? How do they do this without drugs and alcohol? And, what does it look like when they can't?

It would be nice to believe this collection tells a story from the extremity of the queer experience, but, what if it doesn't?

"Mad" will resonate with readers who have struggled finding themselves, and, maybe - hopefully - it will bring awareness to the reality that queer is never a choice.

It might also stand as a horror story.

The purpose of telling this story is to take it from the dark closet of LGBT experience and expose it in the hopes that it will enable other LGBTQ+ people to find a path, to see themselves, to accept themselves, and to release the rage that swallows them.

Note: this poetic form story explores the use of psychiatric treatments (medications, psychiatric hospital confinement, and electroconvulsive therapy) and covers several possible triggering events (assault, suicide, alcoholism, drug misuse).