You can now officially pre-order ‘Check Mates’ – a collection of fiction, poetry and artwork about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, by People with OCD. It is a project conceived and developed by genuine sufferers and survivors of the condition, who met via a social networking website dedicated to OCD.
The book is now listed on Amazon, in preparation for its official release on 11 May.
If you’re in the UK, you can pre-order it now, by clicking on this link: http://ow.ly/11jvV
If you’re in the US, it does not seem to be available for pre-order yet, but you can sign up to be notified when the book becomes available, by clicking here: http://ow.ly/11jyw and clicking the ‘sign up’ button on the right-hand side of the page.
The price on Amazon.co.uk is currently £14.95, but this will go down nearer the release date. In the US, the RRP will be $16.95, but again, Amazon will be selling it for cheaper!!
Look around and you’ll find that usually such books are either medical or autobiographical accounts of the subject – which makes ‘Check Mates’ truly unique.
It has been kindly endorsed by OCD author Jeff Bell, OCDTribe.com and OCD-UK (the leading national UK charity for the condition).
OCD-UK also published an extract from one of my own contributions to the collection, ‘The Royal Bank of Scotland’, in their members magazine back in October 2008. A portion of all profits from the sale of the book will be going to this and other OCD charities.
The aim of the project is to help others struggling with the condition realise they’re not alone and they’re not strange for it – they don’t need to feel ashamed or suffer in silence.
We also want to make people aware of the truth behind the stereotypes of this often disabling condition. OCD seems to have taken on a ‘trendy’ persona these days, due to people like Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz coming out with their condition. While we love that more people are recognising this condition and becoming aware of it, there still seems to be a definite lack of understanding of how deep it goes. It’s not just about counting and handwashing – there are dark, intrusive thoughts that go with it, thoughts that permeate every aspect of existence and can often be severely disabling – and yet, there is still always hope.
And don’t forget – we have a social network, http://conditionalpublications.ning.com, we’re on Twitter as ‘NeuroBooks’ and be sure to join the Conditional Publications fan page on Facebook!
In time, we hope ‘Check Mates’ will touch people’s lives and that this venture will build up into the important niche publishing house we believe it can become.
