Need some inspiration this morning? Then visit the Perseus booth (4106), where between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. actor Kevin Sorbo will sign copies of his memoir, True Strength (Da Capo Press, Oct.), which chronicles a health crisis that he had to keep secret for the sake of his career.
Sorbo is best known for his leading roles in TV's Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which ran from 1995 through 1999, and Andromeda, which ran from 2000 through 2005. In 1997, at the height of his career, he suffered a series of debilitating strokes—but his condition was kept a secret from the press. "The studio was as afraid as I was to let the public know, until I proved that I could handle it. It's now been 14 years, and between Hercules and Andromeda, I shot 250 hours of TV and another 30 or so movies. So I've not been a liability."
True Strength, Sorbo says, is about the recovery process. "When I had my illness, I realized—after going through it for two and a half years—that the doctors saved my life, but if I'd listened to them I wouldn't have lasted for three months! I have a very strong will, and I didn't let their words discourage me. I hope people take away that the mind can be a very healing tool, and that they can push themselves beyond what any doctors say they can do. The message is that we always wallow in self-pity when bad things happen to us, but here's an alternative."
The notes Sorbo took over a 10-year period during and after his recovery, formed the basis of the book; the actual writing of it, he says, began about 18 months ago. One of the challenges of writing the book was deciding whether to do it chronologically, or some other way. "In the end, I did it like the Memento movie, moving between time periods. I liked the way the movie was pieced together. It was a beautiful jigsaw puzzle. I want to put the reader into different times in my life, but without confusing them." In general, though, "Writing this book has been very therapeutic for me; it's emptied out all the garbage that's been in my body all these years."
True Strength is Sorbo's first book, but now he's pumped: "I'll tell you, it showed me that I have more books in me. Now, I want to write about the movie business."