In preparation for the virtual cover reveal of Profane Beasts, I am ready to share the introduction of the novel. Below are the official first pages of Profane Beasts.
Virginia 1st District Court
Convention v Faulk
…. The following records in the civil libel case of Convention v Faulk are now unsealed for public viewing. These records include all emails, recordings, voice memos, and other relevant information that went into Mr. Faulk’s article posted on Medium titled “Strong Winds and Bloody Roots: The Dark Secret the Storm of the Century Concealed.” The case was brought to court due to “false” and “sensationalized” reports of the events surrounding Calvary Baptist Church both before and during Hurricane Ophelia. After careful consideration of the evidence, this court found that while the eyewitness testimony, email records, and voice recordings that Mr. Faulk used for his story are remarkable, we do not find that Mr. Faulk knowingly misrepresented any of his sources or showed blatant disregard for the truth.
The investigation by Mr. Faulk has revealed key information about the whereabouts of three missing people in the wake of Super-storm Ophelia. Alice Crenshaw, Kelly Harden, and Whitney Ellington’s bodies have never been recovered in the wake of the storm, and this court encourages opening new police investigations into their deaths based on the evidence that Mr. Faulk has revealed. While this court agrees that some of the more colorful pieces of Mr. Faulk’s reporting may flirt with the fantastical, one does not have to believe in the strangest accounts of the events surrounding Calvary Baptist Church in order to think that local police have more work to do in bringing closure to the families of Alice, Kelly and Whitney…
Author’s Note
Dear reader,
A feature of these documents that may immediately become clear to you is that unlike most evidence dumps from libel cases, these documents have been structured in the form of a narrative surrounding key people of interest such as Alice Crenshaw, Ernest Mobley, and others. In addition, the evidence is divided into three ‘parts’ with hymns or other lyrics attached to each ‘part’ of the story. This speaks to a design behind the presentation of evidence, and a final document set that reads more like a pulp story or tabloid than evidence dumps from an infamous court case.
Believe it or not, the submission of evidence in this manner was not my decision, but instead insisted upon by the people trying to ruin my name and my bank account. Their claim was not necessarily that I lied about the actual content of Alice Crenshaw’s voice memos or Ernest Mobley’s interviews, but instead that I had “put the documents together to imply patently false information about both Calvary Baptist Church and the Convention at large.” In response to the charge, I assembled the evidence together in the order that it appeared in the medium article.
As for the charge of misusing the evidence from Alice Crenshaw’s phone as well as the other interviews I’ve collected about what exactly hap-pened at Calvary Baptist Church while Hurricane Ophelia devastated the Hampton Roads area, I will leave that verdict in your hand’s dear reader. Believe Alice and Ernest or not, it’s up to you, but at least now you have the opportunity to hear their remarkable story.
Best,
-Kellan Faulk
‘P.S’. As you read, you will notice several important organizations, individuals, and entities are not named, but have instead been redacted from these documents distributed to the public. I hope you can understand that as someone who has just lived through one life altering lawsuit that took my job, my home, and almost cost me my marriage, that I hope to reduce the number of future lawsuits I am exposed to by as much as possible. I deeply hope to go the rest of my life without ever seeing the inside of a courthouse again.
Thank you,
-KF
‘P.S.S.’ Please be advised that the following documents include depiction and discussion of neglect, religious abuse, anti-queer hate crimes, severe night terrors, self-harm, suicide, murder, mutilation, and torture. Remember that at any point if you find these pieces of evidence too harrowing to look through, that the power is in your hands to put down the book, take a sip of a preferred beverage, and go on a brisk walk during a mild day. I truly believe that reading is one of the most consensual relationships a person can have to a piece of media, and if you feel yourself reaching your limits, feel free to put this upsetting document away for a time.
I do still encourage you to read it through the end, as I believe that encountering what is inside these documents in the comfort and safety of your bedroom, study, or coffee shop is important enough to face some psychic discomfort. Alice, Ernest and all the others never had the chance to just look away from what faced them at Calvary Baptist Church, you have the privilege to take a break and step away if it gets to be too much. I expect you not to waste such a generous opportunity.
-KF
Join me this Saturday at 7:30 on google meet for the official cover reveal and reading of another excerpt if you wish to dig to the bloody root of what happened at Calvary Baptist Church during the storm.
I can’t wait to share it with you all!
https://calendar.app.google/79PjDiJ7NrEgw7qY9: Profane Beasts – Sneak Peak!
Nathan Buchholz 