Coming in August, 2010, the expanded, book-length hardback edition of Counterfeit Dreams. More stories, more details, more revelations about the world behind the curtain of Scientology. Watch for upcoming announcements.

Thursday, May 27, 2010
Preface

From the Preface to the hardback edition of Counterfeit Dreams, available August 2010

This was not an easy book to write. For three years following my departure from the Church of Scientology, I was not able to write anything sensible about my experience. Then gradually, the onion layers of indoctrination started to peel off, one by one, and I began to get some distance and perspective.

I began writing my account as a blog, posting it chapter by chapter. I did this to put pressure on myself to continue writing, to finish the narrative. And partly to reach out to others who may have had similar experiences.

I knew that I could never tell part of the story; it had to be the whole story or nothing. When I would try to tell people about the abuses I experienced within the Church of Scientology, they would ask me one thing: why had I stayed so long? And understanding that meant telling the whole thing.

My blog account attracted an audience, and they kept the pressure on me to finish. Some of these were people, like me, who had left Scientology and they found in me a kindred spirit. Others, to my surprise, were people still actively involved in the Church of Scientology. They were shocked by my revelations as to what goes on at the top levels of Scientology, and, after reading my story, they began to re-examine their own involvement with Scientology. Hundreds of people have now left the Church of Scientology as a direct result of reading my story. And every week I get an e-mail or two from people who have newly left.

Once my blog account was completed, my readers and friends encouraged me to expand Counterfeit Dreams to book-length and publish it.

As I often have to explain to people, I am not anti-Scientology. While I am no longer a Scientologist, I have many friends who are and who practice the subject outside the Church. I wish them well. My objection is to the abuses of organized Scientology and it is these that I continue to expose and fight against.

I have also heard from many people who were never involved with the Church of Scientology. For some who have been trapped in an abusive group or relationship, my story resonates. If this book can serve as either a cautionary tale or a message of hope, it will have been worth writing.

Apparently if you publish a book you have to get into shamelessly tooting your own horn, something I’ve never been into, but so be it.

After I finished my blog account of my Scientology story, I was urged, encouraged, nagged (hi Sherry!) to put it into book form, which I have finally done. It ended up being a lot more work than I thought it would be. When I printed out the blog in manuscript form, I saw that it had a lot of gaps and omissions, not to mention misspellings. Over a period of many months, I expanded it with some much needed detail, explanation, and additional stories, to get it to the point where I was happy with it as a finished book.

I also added an index and a glossary. The glossary was entertaining to do as I took the time to explain how certain terms are actually used within Scientology, as opposed to the “official” definitions. This sparked a spirited and sometimes hilarious discussion on my Leaving Scientology blog about what Scientologists really mean when they say certain things.
Fortunately I have picked up certain skills over the years, among them graphic design and book design, and I was able to design and typeset the book myself, including the cover. And I added a photo section.

So, at last, it’s ready to go, and will be going off to the printer in the next few weeks. The publication date is set for August 12.

I set up a website, counterfeitdreams.com, so that people can advance order if they wish to.

Someone asked, on another thread, why they needed to buy the book as they could just read it for free online. The simple answer is, they don’t have to buy the book. The blog version will always be there, and will always be free for anyone to read.

But for those who want the book-length version in a nice hardback edition, it will be there as well. It will make a nice gift too – maybe for any friends still in the Church.

​Adding to Scientology's woes, some of the people who have been making defections in recent years are turning around and writing damning tell-alls.

Regular publishers won't touch these books -- even though some of them are actually very well written -- so the authors have had to go the self-published route.

Last year's killer I-escaped-from-Scientology narrative was put out by Marc Headley. His Blown for Good made for a gripping read, about a low-level grunt who spent years at Scientology's secret HQ in the California desert until he finally made a mad dash for freedom.

This year, we can report that Headley's book has been equaled. In Counterfeit Dreams, ex-Scientologist Jefferson Hawkins not only provides his own dramatic tale of getting sucked into and ultimately escaping from Scientology, but Hawkins was no low-level scrub


...much more in article link....