POLSON – At first blush the title alone might cause consternation and hesitance about purchasing Claudia Cunningham’s recently released book “Biting Back – A No-Nonsense, No Garlic Guide to Facing the Personal Vampires in Your Life.”
But it doesn’t take but a few pages to determine the metaphorical value of everyone recognizing the vampires in our lives, then deciding what to do about them.
That doesn’t mean, Cunningham said, that we must rid ourselves of them. But it does mean by just recognizing their presence, then deciding what to do about them and be redeeming.
“I’m hoping that people will find it bringing light to themselves,” she said. “It’s not punishing or shaming or blaming, it’s just seeing the truth so that they can make informed decisions. That’s where the power is.”
“It has to do with bringing light. The truth is just the truth. It’s nothing more than that,” said Cunningham. “Brutally honest? It’s just the truth.”
Cunningham’s first literary foray, which was published by Llewellyn Books, is a lively self-help paperback. It shares valuable tips to engage your own Dracula, if you choose.
“If you want to hang on to your vampires, by all means don’t let anyone stop you,” she said. “The thing is to recognize you have them and then determining that you indeed want to live with them.”
The 212-page book is based on a simple ancient principal: You have to invite a vampire into your house before they can suck your blood, which Cunningham first read in Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot.”
Whenever Cunningham found herself in a difficult situation or a bad relationship, she kept thinking back to that vampire metaphor of “what I had done to bring that into my life” and that prompted the book idea that was some seven years in the making.
Cunningham moved to Polson in 1990 and four years later began participating in a 12-step program because of an 18-year battle with alcoholism.
“One of the beauties of a 12-step group is you get to tell and hear your own story, which is something that a lot of us don’t get the opportunity to do,” she said. “Any time I repeat my story I learn more about it … For me it helps me to know who I am.”
But the book doesn’t preach.
“It’s like sitting in a room and having a conversation,” said Cunningham, 52, who was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after a publisher agreed to her book proposal.
Surprising to her, men also have been attracted to the book and have wondered aloud whether they were a vampire.
“It made them want to reflect on themselves … It was the coolest thing in the world. If it does that, it’s great,” she said. “What could be a more excellent response. That’s so exciting.”
Cunningham said the finished product is enough for her and everything else is, well, gravy. But Cunningham is also appreciative of the response from those who have purchased the book.
“I can’t explain how that makes your heart feel when somebody tells you that something you did helps them to help themselves,” she said.