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| Where You Belong |
For Detroit, Michigan resident Patrick Dilloway, the life of Frost Devereaux was one that screamed to be told. Orphaned at the age of three when his mother died in a tragic accident, Devereaux went on to write a series of successful young adult novels under the pseudonym Claire McGuffin. His world falls apart after his wife leaves him for another woman. He finds solace in the arms of his ex-wife’s brother, only to have everything come crashing down again. Only one thing prevented Dilloway from writing Devereaux’ biography.
Devereaux didn’t exist.
But in these days of bestselling literary frauds, such a minor detail wouldn’t stop Dilloway. For his novel, Where You Belong, Dilloway decided to give life to his protagonist by creating a copycat Wikipedia page (which Dilloway actually dubbed Wukipedia) complete with links to one of Devereaux’s short stories and other “Wukipedia” pages detailing Devereaux’s books.
“Devereaux is very much a product of our modern society,” explains Dilloway, “so it was important to give him a real presence. The idea behind the website, whoisfrostdevereaux.com, is to establish this character as a real entity, even if he isn’t a real person.”
An accountant by trade, Dilloway earned a degree in Business Administration from Saginaw Valley State University. He caught the writing bug early, winning his first writing contest at the young age of eight when he entered a competition sponsored by a local television station. Most recently, he sold the electronic publishing rights to his young adult novel Forever Young to e-publisher Public Bookshelf. Where You Belong is Dilloway’s debut novel in print.
Inspired by the works of John Irving, Where You Belong deals with the topic of gay marriage. Despite the dark comedic aspects of the novel, the message is a serious one.
“I was disgusted when Michigan made gay marriage unconstitutional,” says Dilloway. “The reason people object to it is on moral and religious grounds, but to me those aren’t legal reasons. There’s no legal reason that two consenting adults who aren’t related shouldn’t be allowed to marry each other. So I decided to write this story about a guy who fails spectacularly at marrying both sexes. The point being that marriages fail because of the people involved, not their anatomy.”
The book is available at Amazon.com.
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