Haig Shekerdemian:  

I have gone by "Ric Demian" for almost 30 years, but still answer to "Haig" from those who knew me as such. Born in Nicosia Cyprus, my first glimpses of the world were of an idyllic villa set on the hilly outskirts where my parents owned a villa-like estate, shaded by citrus trees. A large scar on my nose has sustained the recollection of an incident that took place before I was a year old. An early walker, I would explore our estate unattended. It must have been the first time I encountered a mirror by myself. Not yet fully distinguishing between my own and the reflected action, the reflection must have engendered competitive instincts in me, and I wound up taking it out on glass, precariously hanging on to wall. I came crashing down and flattened me -- a shattering experience. A glass splinter took a large gouge out of my nose, leaving a scar pronounced to this day. I would periodically ask my mother how I had gotten the scar, and she would rekindle my memory of this reflection of my childhood. tbc An excerpt from my first novel: "People are giddy, and most acutely during their teens. Hormonal eruptions are jarring. They can foment fantasies of climactic pleasure and nightmares of abysmal fear. Chasms follow peaks without warning. Teenagers can fill volumes with their wishes, hopes, and "can't-do-with outs". Cravings, though repetitive, take them by surprise and persist, leaving their captives helpless in setting let alone maintaining priorities. Impatience aggravates their inability to prioritize and confusion results; but confusion does not stand in the way of the drive to satisfaction, and neither does much else. The adolescent mind is a stage where icons from various media vie for center stage. Our story begins when the electronic media was gaining ascendancy in moving events and having an impact on youth. Radio, television, print and musical recordings bombarded the young populace with the impact of geniuses, their shock craft mimics, their detractors and their destroyers: Civil libertarians and the bigots who assassinated them; All time great boxing champions and the draft boards that KO'd them; Judeo-Christian gods and the German philosophers who killed them; Immortal guitar legends and the accidental overdoses that fatally poisoned them; Divine saviors and the songs of how the the devil was around when they had their moments of doubt and pain and of how the authorities crucified them, and the children who lost faith in them; Psychedelic compositions evoking visions of deep space and...Expand for more