Novel Portraying the Evils of Socialized Medicine Wins Literary Award

Libertarian Fiction Scores Big in National Contest; Novel Portraying the Evils of Socialized Medicine Wins Literary Award

Chicago—Feb. 26, 2006

The Writer’s Digest 13th international book awards has just honored first-time fiction writer and Chicago-based author Gen LaGreca with one of the most sought after awards in the publishing world for her dramatic novel Noble Vision. This book competition celebrates small press publishers and is sponsored by Writer’s Digest magazine, considered the bible for up-and-coming writers. Noble Vision won honorable mention in the category of mainstream fiction. The announcement comes in the current March 2006 issue of the nation’s leading magazine for writers.

This first novel of Genevieve (Gen) LaGreca, a former pharmaceutical chemist and healthcare writer, was one of the top six picks in a field swamped with hundreds of submissions. In a letter to LaGreca, Writer’s Digest editor Kristin Godsey observed, “Competition was particularly fierce this year, so your accomplishment is truly impressive.”

Noble Vision is the love story of a beautiful Broadway dancer whose life is shattered by a tragic accident and a young neurosurgeon determined to save her. The ballerina’s only hope is a revolutionary new procedure the surgeon has developed to repair damaged nerves. The treatment, however, does not have the required approval of their state’s health system, a bureaucracy bogged down with cost overruns and political corruption. The story presents a gripping account of a brilliant doctor and desperate patient caught in a bureaucracy that fosters conformity and obedience over innovation and independence.

According to Writer’s Digest, “The author seems to know a great deal about the medical profession and the issues surrounding it. The novel is dealing with some of the most serious issues of our day, and this lends the story an immediacy and vibrancy. The author’s prose is polished and professional. The book reads like the work of an experienced author.”

The novel’s all-too-accurate portrayal of the dangers of socialized medicine earned endorsements from medical leaders, including Edward Annis, past president of the American Medical Association, and Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. The novel also garnered praise from magazine magnate Steve Forbes, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, and syndicated columnist Walter Williams.

Noble Vision was published in 2005 by Winged Victory Press, a Chicago-based independent press formed by LaGreca and her associates. “We hope the exposure from the Writer’s Digest award will encourage more people to read this book,” says LaGreca, “and to fight for their right to make their own medical decisions.”