Outskirts Press, INC.

“I thought as a start, I should reintroduce myself since it’s been almost 40 years since we last communicated. My name is Will Magnuson, and you were my tennis coach at an excellence program for more than three years in the mid-1970s. During this time, you helped with my groundstrokes, improved my serve, and assisted in my overall skills to make me a better tennis player and key member of the tennis team. You also sexually abused me.” Bullied at school. Misunderstood at home. Desperate for connection. Will thought he found hope with his mentor, an up-and-coming tennis coach with an unparalleled excellence program for junior athletes. The excellence program brought him the respect and attention that Will needed. It also led him to dangers and horrors he couldn’t handle. At 14, he was sexually abused. When he was 15, Will knew what it was like to be a teenage prostitute. At 18, with his father’s death imminent, he almost committed suicide. That was just the beginning. He survived the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, while watching his friends die. He spent time in—and out—of the closet for years. He married a woman. Had two children. Had several male boyfriends and lovers. Moved to the suburbs. Almost lost everything during the Great Recession of 2009. Abused drugs and alcohol. Went to rehab. Attempted suicide again. Hid all his secrets, and buried all his horrors. Until it was all too much. And then he met Zachariah. His therapist, 25 years his junior. A strapping straight white man from rural Indiana. Years and worlds apart. But perhaps, a connection, too, that can help Will finally find his way. Based on true experiences and real therapy sessions, “The Other F Word” is fiction, but also rooted in reality, uncovering deep horrors and shocking revelations—while also looking for honesty, compassion, and in a strange way, hope.