What is EPSILON ZETA?

It is a novel about a college fraternity at a fictional state university in Florida. It's based on my experiences as a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity at Florida State in the late 1980s.

How much of this story is fact, and how much is fiction?

The self-destruction of this chapter is very similar to what happened to my fraternity at Florida State. We were shut down by our national organization in the same manner and under the same circumstances as the Epsilon Zetas at NFU.

The events that take place in the book are things I witnessed or knew about. A lot of the dialogue is from that time. The main ensemble characters are fictionalized. They are composites rather than strictly based on a particular person.

The timeline of events had to be changed. The events I wrote about took place over a few years, but for the book, they were condensed to a single semester. I couldn't have told this story over multiple years, because every semester and school year was exactly the same. Semesters started with rush, initiation a few weeks later, and there were socials, pledge functions, lineups, football games, etc. The only thing that ever changed was the people.

How does this book differ from the movie ANIMAL HOUSE or THE PLEDGE by Rob Kean, or other works dealing with fraternities and college life?

Those other works are why I wrote this novel. The books I'm familiar with are a little over-the-top. There's a murder in a fraternity house. The fraternity is a mafia front. The fraternity is a satanic cult. Fraternities are interesting enough social laboratories without tossing in organized crime.

I've never seen anything that has realistically dealt with this social dynamic and how individuals naturally morph into the existent personality of a chapter. And then this goes behind the scenes into the chapter room, a pledge program, an initiation week. Hopefully those things set this book apart.

So the strength of this novel is in its accuracy?

I believe so. I only attended one university and belonged to one fraternity, so I don't know how things are done at Stanford or Ohio State.

Why is there so much public interest in fraternities?

There are not many secrets in our culture anymore. Fraternities still have some mystery. Former members generally won't talk about their experiences, so those who were not in a fraternity can only speculate about what happens.

Whenever a fraternity is in the news, it's for a negative reason. Someone is injured in a hazing incident. Someone dies from alcohol poisoning. There are incidents a little bizarre to the public. Police will stumble onto a cross burning in the woods or a cadaver will be found in a fraternity house somewhere.

Did any of those events happen at your fraternity?

None that made the news. We didn't physically haze pledges and not many of us had to be forced to drink. Our problems were primarily internal and dealt with by the national organization.

You mentioned former fraternity members will generally not talk about their experiences. Are you worried about negative reaction from the Sigma Chi fraternity or people you went to school with?

I'm not, because the Sigma Chi ritual is not in the novel. One of the primary characters is a representative from their national organization. He is really the only responsible and likable character in the book. The national leadership is not condoning or covering up anything these undergraduates do. On the contrary, they are the ones who decide to close this chapter.

However, Sigma Chi is not thrilled about the book. The release was delayed close to a year, because there was some content they found actionable had it been published. So I had to do a little rewriting in order to satisfy their leadership. They still refused to endorse the book, though. But I can understand that from their perspective. They don’t want an author running around saying he was a Sigma Chi and these things were happening in one of their chapters. We were not exactly aligned with their mission statement or the ideals the national fraternity attempts to promote.

As far as people I went to school with or people who are there now, I have very little knowledge of how the Sigma Chis at Florida State conduct their initiations anymore. We were off campus for a few years and I know a lot of changes were made when they returned. I also know a lot of things we did were specific to our chapter and not done at other places. For example, certain things during initiation week could only be done because of the house we lived in and the way it was designed. That house was bulldozed about ten years ago. FSU bought the property and now it's a parking lot.

The book will be very offensive to some people. There is a lot of vulgar dialogue. There is a rape. There is a group sex scene. The attitudes toward women, gays, and minorities are not considered politically correct. Are you concerned by that?

This is obviously not for young readers. I have no desire to contribute to the coarsening of our society, but at the same time I couldn't tell this story by leaving those things out. I set out to write a novel that accurately portrayed this subculture.

This book wouldn't be interesting, marketable, or being published if the characters spent all of their spare time in a library or feeding the homeless. And I couldn't have written that if I wanted to, because it didn't happen.

Other than the character from the national fraternity, is anyone else in the book likable?

I guess that depends on the reader and his or her perspective. I think some of them are funny. Generally speaking, outside of the military, you will not find many 18-23 year old young men worth emulating, especially those living in this type of environment with the excesses that are available. One group of characters in this story put themselves above another group as being more responsible, but they are certainly not without their own flaws.

Is the book pro-fraternity or anti-fraternity?

That was never a consideration. There's good and bad at all of them. This novel isn't a forum or commentary for my personal opinions on anything. I tried to keep my judgments out of the narration as much as possible.