Showing Simple Simon by William Poe

SIMPLE SIMON is a touching, thoughtful look at one man's search for family, self-acceptance, and the ability to love and be loved.

The winner of the 2016 IR Discovery Awards in LGBT fiction, Simple Simon is the story of Simon Powell, a young gay man struggling with his identity as he recovers from drug abuse.

As part of his therapy, Simon is told to write out his life story, and his feelings about his past. His reminiscences begin with his troubled childhood in rural Arkansas, where his discovery of his own homosexuality leaves him feeling rejected and irreparably separate from his family and friends. Finding solace and family in Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, he becomes a leading fundraiser and provider of spiritual guidance - but he must deny his own sexuality in order to hold on to his secure place in the church, and the resulting conflict, along with internal church conflict, leads him to lose faith. Embroiled in drug addiction and despair, can Simon ever learn to love himself as he is, and accept the love others have for him?

Simple Simon follows the novel, Simon Says (ISBN: 0615559573), which recounts Simon's success as a motion picture distributor in Hollywood at a time when Simon is haunted by the faith he surrendered in order to live as a gay man. Simon meets Thad and builds a relationship fraught with jealousies and betrayals, which they strive to overcome. Simon's decline into despair and drug use leads him into dangerous business affairs that threaten his relationship with Thad after leaving rehab. In an upcoming novel, Simon must face his past as Thad's life is put in jeopardy.

In addition to winning the 2016 IndieReader Discovery Awards in the category LGBT fiction, Simple Simon was a finalist in Clarion ForeWord Reviews 2013 Book of the Year Award Fiction Gay & Lesbian (Adult Fiction).