Authors: Brent Runyon
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my mom and dad and Craig for living through all of this with me and for keeping such good records.
To Gerry and Maggie Parseghian for their support.
To Julie Snyder, Jonathan Goldstein, and Ira Glass at
This American Life
.
To Lisa Bankoff, my agent at ICM, and Nancy Siscoe, my editor at Knopf.
About the Author
Brent Runyon graduated from high school with his class. For the most part he wanted to put the past behind him, but he would continue to explore this pivotal point in his life through art. During college he made films, splicing together old home movies with footage of himself in the hospital. After graduating from college, Brent worked in radio and created several autobiographical pieces for
This American Life
,
All Things Considered,
and other public radio programs. His first radio piece, “Fire and Ice Cream,” was about his trip out of the hospital with Tina, his favorite nurse. A second piece, called “The Burn Journals,” was an early version of the opening scenes in this book.
Brent's hope in writing this book was that, by setting down the thoughts and emotions of that time with total honesty and precision, he could explain—if only to himself—the hows and whys of his depression and his recovery, and finally put it to rest.
Brent Runyon lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water”
Copyright © 1969 by Paul Simon.
Used by permission of the publisher, Paul Simon Music.
Cajun Night Before Christmas
By Trosclair, illustrated by James Rice,
Copyright © 1973, used by permission of the licensor, Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.
“Help”
Words and music by Lennon & McCartney
Copyright © 1965 by Sony/ATV Tunes
“I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
Words and music by Norman J. Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Copyright © 1966 (renewed 1994) by Jobete Music Co., Inc.
All rights controlled and administered by EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc. on behalf of Stone Agate Music (a division of Jobete Music Co., Inc.) All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.
“Imagine”
Words and music by John Lennon
Copyright ©1971 (renewed 1999) by Lenono.Music
All rights controlled and administered by EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.
“In My Life”
Words and music by Lennon & McCartney
Copyright © 1965 by Sony/ATV Tunes
“King of Pain”
Words and music by Gordon Sumner (Sting)
Copyright © 1983 All rights controlled and administered by EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc.
“Tangled Up in Blue”
Copyright © 1974 by Ram's Horn Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission.
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Copyright © 2004 by Brent Runyon
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.
KNOPF, BORZOI BOOKS,
and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Runyon, Brent.
The burn journals / Brent Runyon. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Runyon, Brent. 2. Teenage boys—Virginia—Biography. 3. Teenage boys—Suicidal behavior—Virginia—Case studies. I. Title.
HV6546.R86 2004
362.28'092—dc22 2004005643
eISBN: 978-0-307-27695-7
v3.0