Sid's Place: Tom Calder's life underground in the psychedelic sixties of California

Our hero, Tom Calder, is a drug dealer. He is involved in a car crash while transporting 100 kilos of marijuana in San Diego, California. He runs from the law, joins a terrorist cell of the People's Freedom Army, PFA, in San Francisco, and with a vengeful heart murders a rapist in prison.

Three years of turbulence described in detail by Richard Del Connor who lived amongst the fugitives, exiles, draft dodgers, criminals, and Green Berets of the flower power years. Sid's Place is a rare inside look at the underground lifestyles of the Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan years.

"The information in SID'S PLACE is based upon my personal experiences. Ernest Hemingway inspired me with his concept of transforming his life into fictional stories. That’s what I’ve done here. It’s possible I have revealed sensitive or classified government secret service information, but it is so old and outdated I couldn’t remember who told me what or who did what... even if they pumped me full of truth serum."

"Yes, I was a drug dealer from 1968 to 1970, but I was only 14 to 16 years old. Many of these experiences were my friends or their older brothers. Having not read this book for many years prior to this rewrite it was a fun flashback for me as I relived this book, or in many cases remembered the girls who inspired the love scenes."

"Restrain your contempt for me if you’re anti-drugs, anti-sex, anti-anti-war... and for all the splinter groups I may have offended--please don't get pissed... Whew! My goal is to be loved and liked. I hope to make friends with this book, not enemies. If you hate this book, too bad, bug off and leave me alone. I’ve already had plenty of hate mail, threats on my answer machine... so don’t waste your time."

"One of my motives for writing this book was to explore how things might have gone for me under different circumstances. Like Tom, I got busted in my van, but I hung around and got a lucky break when my Uncle offered to take me in, in Newfoundland. My accomplice friend went to jail, I went to Newfoundland. Another motive for writing this book was to explore the possible error of my pacifistic passivity. I take a quiet pride in the fact I have not killed anyone in this current lifetime, and despite opportunities and good reasons, still decided not to when other people were encouraging me. In this story I pushed myself to the limit where I would take a life, purposefully. Better my imagination than reality. As for the drug tripping, I explored that plenty in reality, or different realities. I’ve got a lot more of those stories to tell. So enjoy a glimpse of my teenage world. Sadly, as civilization seems to be heading toward less love and more war, by reading my book Sid's Place, you can see a generation that fought this Uncle Warbucks trend."