Dirk Necessary

“A real loser’s loser”. This is “Kid’s” self-assessment. A lifetime of evidence points to the soundness of his conclusion. Smallest, weakest, cowardly-est, and given a girl’s name to boot all seemingly seal his fate.., he is better off not even attempting a journey from boyhood to manhood. A life-altering decision with dire consequences if Heather Locklear and the other 1980’s icons hanging in his bedroom don’t intervene. A rural desert town and ’80’s rock-n-roll culture set the scene for this humorous coming of age tale which tests the performative and ritualistic nature of modern man-making standards. Sardonically inspired by his family’s motto, “a bad day can always get worse”, he stumbles, at times strides, through the gauntlet of his man-making list. His ever-present horse, Balthazar, steadies “Kid” between an undaunted enthusiasm and an inherent blind eye to criticism ensuring that no man-making quest proceeds without examination. Dirk Necessary: A Man’s Man Journey reminds both men and women that transformation and self-discovery are messy and treacherous paths, but if not taken, leave us devoid of the power that comes with authenticity.

Author Biography

Kelly S. Ward is a man. Resist the urge to ask if he is Irish. He is not. Parental naiveté is the only good explanation for the name. A lifetime of impact, through an assumption that the world is not this cruel.Unsurprisingly, he writes about masculinity, believing that the overly simplistic labels of masculine and feminine fail as an explanation for our beautifully complex beings. Life under this dualistic regime denies us the opportunity to live fully within ourselves.He writes about the outliers. Those who call to us to resist the social demands that herd us into a narrow existence. Though scorned and rejected, these truth seers illuminate and enrich our lives. We are all outliers. It’s the universe’s gift most of us never unwrap. As a recovered political campaigner and government cog, he writes about the unseen and unnamed forces that shape our world. For him, The Matrix and Parks and Rec are documentaries. A tough reality for his idealistic mind to accept. However, admitting the problem was his first step to recovery.Dirk Necessary: A Man’s Man Journey, is his first novel. Rebekah Potter is an artist and gypsy whose escapades and projects have taken her from NYC to LA, from Japan to New Mexico and beyond. Her primary focus has been anthropomorphic textile art but her abilities include marketing, graphic design, paper maché light making as well as deep dives into the dreamscape of the esoteric. Her work has been shown at both the Mississippi and New Mexico Museums of Art. Potter currently resides in New Mexico.