Based on a true story

(To be adapted to screenplay)

Anthony Bodden, co-scriptwriter of the cult classic film, Belly, and several times published author, Ziana Bethune, join forces to write the novel that's sure to break new ground in inspirational reading material.

"What doesn't kill you will make you stronger...that's poor consolation to the dead."

David Synergy Samuels takes us on a compelling journey through his life as a former gang leader, a husband, a father and a survivor of parental abuse. Hitting the streets hard at thirteen, Syn quickly rises to the top of his game in a black NYC 'hood, where years as a street scrambler draw him deeply into the world of drugs, gang wars and crime. By the time he's eighteen he's married with a child, and most of his friends are dead or behind bars. Two are unknowingly written into a collective fate that would eventually unfurl in the dark, corrupted streets of Baltimore.

At twenty-three, a head-on collision with a truck crushes his world on impact. In a near-death experience, Syn his held accountable for the damages he's done. Woven into the tapestry of his story is the poignant, Cain and Abel relationship that Syn has with his brother, and the trials and tribulations of life with his eccentric father--relationships that are ripped with anguish and weighted with unconditional love.

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Harps & Violins

"I'm writing poems to a world that never writes back
despised by all not just whites but blacks
lost my soul to hold on to the flesh
hustlin’ sex as we stumble through the wilderness

Oh, God is pulling cards, let me try again
confess my sins while I'm harps and violins
strings pluckin’
too late for duckin’
the organ’s playing
and the scales are weighing my guts
in autopsy under the knives of the white’s hands
brain’s less then a pound, my heart nine grams
they chop a nigga down to his bloody liver
like cattle
game of life
and I lost the battle

Life goes jammin’ despite the famine
living against the fuckin’ grain like salmon
stayin’ focused on my spiritual
people gonna hear it till
I'm dead and gone and after lives on
my lyrical skills
I'm professional, give you little lesson
my Mama’s gonna play this at my funeral session."

~Anthony Bodden~

Read Chapter One