Mike Nemeth

Fiction can sometimes be a more effective tool than non-fiction in making a point or championing a cause or raising awareness about a social issue. In Defiled I wanted to make many points while entertaining the reader with a suspenseful story. First, in many states divorce laws are outmoded at best, prejudicial at worst, and not always biased against men. Second, the criminal justice system can be a crapshoot as all the actors pursue their individual goals and lose track of the search for truth. Third, our mental healthcare system would be a mess if it even existed but, for the most part, it is nonexistent. And, fourth, harkening back to Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience, I wanted the reader to see that laws and authority must be challenged if we are to improve our democracy. Lastly, a by-product of challenging authority is the realization that civilization, law-and-order, only succeed when all our citizens willingly submit to it.