Using this site to promote my book and my other blogs

I had hoped to do a theme blog here but never pursued it.

http://reluctantrebel.blogspot.com/

http://benedictbentley.blogspot.com/

http://cookingfranco.blogspot.com/

http://didyoueverseeahorsegoby.blogspot.com

DID YOU EVER SEE A HORSE GO BY? A Coming Out Memoir by Frank DeFrancesco

In Did You Ever See A Horse Go By? A Coming Out Memoir, new author Frank DeFrancesco invites the reader into his personal tug-of-war and ultimate triumph over the psychological and sociological restraints that immobilized him for half a lifetime.

The author uses biographical events, old letters. unpolished poetry, and excerpts from his journals along with a few fictional composites to recreate memories and moods.

DeFrancesco pokes fun at his own naiveté, self-doubts, and Catholic guilt, as well as clueless therapists, Rome adventures, Woodstock, discos, and dead Bob to weave a compelling story that balances seriousness and sadness with humor and joy.

“While I’m not sure the world really needs another coming out story,” DeFrancesco says, “I feel deeply the need to tell it.

REVIEWS:

An Email “Review”

Dear Frank,

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed your book!… Of course I can tell you. It’s simple: “Wow, Frank, I really loved your book!” There.

I started it yesterday morning, blew off the gym, and read it all day and into the evening, finishing it late last night. I couldn’t put it down … I simply could not stop reading. I don’t know what took me so long to actually get around to it, but I am so glad I did.

So much of your story resonated with me. It’s well paced, you write very well, and the inherent truths behind your saga are authentic and wonderfully expressed. I also enjoyed your poetry. Just lovely.

Your book evoked so many of my own memories of that time (the 70s, the 80s) and the idiotic hang ups we all had. I’d always thought the title was odd, and it wasn’t until I got to the part that explained it that it suddenly made sense. And it was funny, to boot.

I could blab on for hours, but … I just want to tell you that I am so impressed with your achievement.

The only way I can express this is by comparing your story to my favorite movies … the “sleepers”… not the blockbusters that get all the attention. …Your book hit me like that. And I loved it.

            Richard Z

REVIEWS – AMAZON

5.0 out of 5 stars To not be able to freely express who you are and who you love, deeply affects the way you live your lifeOctober 30, 2014

By Laura S. Minor

Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This memoir is special. I’ve known Frank for twenty five years. During that time, I’ve known him as a compassionate activist who has worked on issues including HIV/AIDS and LGBTQI awareness and support. This very personal memoir helped me to understand the challenges that Frank faced from his family, his religion and society. To not be able to freely express who you are and who you love, deeply affects the way you live your life.

I encourage you to read this book at this amazing point in history where marriage to the person you love is becoming accepted yet homophobia still abounds. In a gentle way, Frank helps us to understand the importance of a society which nurtures youth as they realize that their sexual orientation is what it is. Gay or straight or bisexual, we need to love and accept each other.

I especially urge you to read the epilogue which is a powerful statement on its own. I’ve known Frank for a quarter of a century and have seen his impact as a comfortably out gay man. His book tells the story of his untapped potential during those years of struggling to hide from himself and others who he truly was. I think it is crucial for those of us who haven’t lived in fear of others discovering who we are, to read the stories of those who have. This book is important.

5.0 out of 5 stars Did You Ever See a Horse Go By? by … September 30, 2014

By WLS

Format:Paperback|Verified Purchase

Did You Ever See a Horse Go By? by Frank DeFrancesco, a well-written, thoughtful, and challenging contribution to gay memoir, is quite obviously the product of a lifetime’s joys, sorrows, certainties, and doubts. Bravo on a job well done.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sincere Coming Out and Coming of Age Story November 16, 2014

By Michael DeFrancesco

Format:Paperback

“Did you Ever See a Horse Go By” is not only a coming out story, it is one of the most provocative yet sincere coming of age stories I have read in recent memory. It might be just a bit of an exaggeration to put it in the same category as such coming of age novels as James Joyce’s “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, Hermann Hesse’s “Demian”, Kerouac’s “On the Road” or even “The First Third” by Neal Cassady himself and although most of these novels deal with some of the same issues as Frank’s book such as Catholicism, guilt, sex (straight, homosexual or bi), drugs, spiritualism, promiscuity, music, travel, adventure, friendships, alcohol, lovers, casual sex, masturbation, casual acquaintances and death, this book is nothing like any of those I mentioned. In fact, it is nothing like any other book I have ever read, not just because it is the only coming out story I have ever read, but mostly because it is genuinely told from the heart with a sincere, unrelenting, unafraid, bold passion, leaving no stone unturned, no tear unshed and no apology.

A true reflection of what I went through.

By Raymond Schuman on April 26, 2015

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

I’m still reading it. It reflects my life very closely and I can see that it’s written very honestly. I can directly relate to so many circumstance experienced by Fran, the author, as he was known to those around him.
I would love to discuss his experiences directly with him and wish that we had been friends years ago.
This is an honest description of what it’s like growing up gay and having no one in which to confide.

This book is well written; themes connect and provide …

By Jim Angelo on July 26, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

This book is well written; themes connect and provide a complete profile of the author. Frank has brought together all aspects of his personal experiences; religion, family and a myriad of social interactions, all of which make this personal history enlightening, inspirational and galvanizing.

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