"Captivating and transformative! Written by a man who is an award winning story teller and has journeyed a life that is inspiring and purpose driven. His life's work has healed thousands of men and the lives of the women they love. It has the potential to change our world." -LJK

"This is the real deal for MensWork. Right up there with Robert Bly, Sam Keene and David Deida. I have been searching most of my adult life for what it is to be a "real man" in these times. This book offers a treasure box of gifts and guidance for what challenges men, their identities, their relationships." Dusty

"We stand at a crossroad, the Hopis called this 'the end of days.' In the middle of the road stand the angels and demons. Not literally, but maybe. The intersections are many ... red vs blue, white vs color, men vs women, haves vs have-nots, religion vs religion. Each claims the light for itself, each projects the darkness onto the other. The hard-to-see truth is that we are one, each is other, each is both. This very blindness to our oneness is the greatest danger of all. In '68, the photos from space of this swirling blue and white ball without barriers transform human consciousness ... we can no longer deny that we are one. Yet we consistently choose to. And now, for the first time in the history of mankind, we have the technology and weaponry to bring human civilization to a fiery end. And this is precisely why this crossroad is like no other."
The world needs a different kind of masculine to step upon the stage in this time of great chaos. This 'new warrior' lives with an open heart, connected to both their fierceness and their [...] book is a memoir that tells the story of initiation, transformation, and heartbreak that births this awakening."The heart is the doorway, the place of truth, the place of greatest pain, the place of wholeness. On the other side of this inner healing battle, the 'new warrior' finds himself ... open-hearted, vulnerable, fiercely honest, courageous ...where the True Self accrues authentic power. When a man says 'yes', to this work his life is never the same. When he says 'no', his life is always the same. The world needs open hearted men to save the planet."
Fierce & Tender is a memoir of an urban medicine man. In this authentic and powerful book, you will experience the profound intimacy that Dene brings. His courage, ego-sacrifice, and brutal honesty about his own struggles inspire us. His story is a deeply human one, the archetypal story of 'every man' who reaches a crossroad and must answer two essential questions: "Who am I as a (hu)man? & What am I called to do with this life?" Answering them is the real inner soul work.
With clarity and compassion, Dene continually cuts through to the heart of the matter. He shares his very personal journey, through initiations, rites of passage, and his own marriage. From these, he finds his true medicine. Dene invites us: Whatever it is that awakens you, follow it. Pain that lingers is pain worth looking into. The old wounds can be healed, we have the emotional and spiritual technology to rewrite our original software code. As we turn our gaze courageously inward, back to the beginning, to the genesis of the original psychic imprint, there we find it layered deep in the cells of the body, unrelentingly waiting for us.