Literarily Speaking

Author Interview with Ken Tipton, Author of 'LOST VALLEY LOST INNOCENCE' #authorinterview

thewriterslife October 12, 2026 0 Comments

Today we are interviewing Ken Tipton, author of the memoir, Lost Valley Lost Innocence: The True Story of Best Friends Trapped in an International Boy Scout Sex Ring (TBRIS Media, LLC).

Ken Tipton is a serial entrepreneur, author, composer, screenwriter, award-winning filmmaker, and Air Force veteran whose life has taken him from building unconventional businesses and producing films to confronting a childhood history he kept largely buried for decades.

His memoir, Lost Valley – Lost Innocence, tells the true story of Tipton and his best friend, Greg Connor, who were groomed and sexually exploited as boys through a network connected to their experiences in Scouting during the 1960s. Told with candor, emotional honesty, and unexpected humor, the book examines childhood abuse, institutional betrayal, friendship, survival, and the consequences that can follow victims long after the abuse itself has ended.

Tipton has spent much of his life creating—building businesses, developing film and television projects, writing screenplays, and telling stories drawn from extraordinary experiences. In his seventies, he turned that storytelling toward the most difficult subject of all: his own past.

Through Lost Valley – Lost Innocence, Tipton hopes not only to document what happened, but also to give voice to survivors who spent years or decades believing that silence was their only option.

He lives in California with his wife, Darlene, and continues to write and develop new creative projects.

Ken’s latest book is Lost Valley – Lost Innocence.

Visit his website at https://lostvalleybook.com/.

Connect with him on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LostValleyFilm

╰┈➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostvalleybook

╰┈➤ BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/ken-tipton

╰┈➤ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lostvalleybook

╰┈➤Substack: https://lostvalleybook.substack.com/

Welcome to Literarily Speaking, Ken. Can you give us a little background on why you wrote your book, Lost Valley -- Lost Innocence?

Thank you for having me. I wrote this book because I spent most of my life carrying memories I didn't know how to talk about.

From 1964 to 1964, my best friend, Greg Connor, and I were groomed and sexually exploited as child prostitutes in an international pedophile ring run through the Boy Scouts of America.

Here is an explanation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkRd-EEqNk&t=27s

Watching Oprah Winfrey’s two-part episode in 2010 featuring 200 men who had been abused as boys helped me feel less alone and begin facing my own story. Eventually, I wanted to offer that recognition to someone else. I also wanted readers to know Greg and understand the friendship at the heart of the book. My hope is that telling what happened helps another survivor find words and helps adults recognize danger sooner.

At the heart of your memoir is the intense bond between you and Greg Connor. How did you two boys survive the horrific circumstances, including blackmail and murder?

We held on to the friendship we had before Lost Valley. Greg knew me as the boy who built forts with him, shared secrets, and laughed at his jokes. He understood parts of me that the adults around us never seemed to notice. When we were frightened or confused, having someone who knew us that well mattered enormously.

Humor was part of how we endured. Greg could make me laugh when I thought I would never laugh again. Those moments gave us a little room to breathe inside circumstances we could not control.

As secrecy, blackmail, and murder became part of our lives, we were still children trying to understand a world controlled by adults. Our friendship gave us companionship and comfort, and the abuse put terrible strain on that bond. The harm followed us into adulthood. I wanted to tell that honestly, including the things we did not understand about ourselves.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey writing your book?

The hardest part was opening memories I had spent decades trying to keep closed, then putting them on the page honestly. I had to revisit the fear and shame, including feelings that were painful to admit even to myself.

One of the most difficult things to explain is that a child can feel affection for someone who is exploiting him. Attention can feel like love. A place where terrible things happen can also hold happy memories. That confusion is part of how grooming works. I needed readers to understand how that felt from inside a child’s life. Describing those contradictions without hiding the harm or turning it into spectacle was the biggest challenge.

What is the main empowering lesson you want your readers to take away after finishing your book?

What happened to you was not your fault. Being frightened, confused, silent, or attached to someone who hurt you does not make you responsible for an adult’s actions. It took me far too long to understand that.

I also want survivors to know that they deserve support, however much time has passed. They can decide when and how to share their experiences, including privately with someone they trust. Nobody owes the public their story.

I cannot promise that telling the truth makes the pain disappear. I can say that being heard mattered to me. If a reader finishes this book feeling less alone and more able to ask for support, that would mean a great deal.

Do you have any advice for parents of young boys?

Make sure your son knows he can tell you something uncomfortable without being blamed or punished. Have ordinary, ongoing conversations about his body and boundaries. Respect his right to refuse unwanted affection, even from a relative, and help him identify other safe adults he can talk to.

Stay involved in his life and know who spends time with him. Pay attention to adults who push boundaries, encourage secrecy, or seek access that makes you uncomfortable. Apply the same expectations to respected leaders and family friends as you would to anyone else.

If he tells you something happened, listen calmly and take him seriously. Tell him you are glad he told you and that it was not his fault. Seek help to keep him safe. Children need information and a voice; adults remain responsible for their protection.

Further guidance for parents: RAINN and NSPCC.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most good to the people, what would that be?

I would build a movement that teaches adults to recognize grooming and helps survivors feel less isolated. I would want people to understand what support looks like in everyday life: listening when someone tries to tell you something painful, questioning boundary violations, and following through when a child needs protection.

I would invite current and former Scouts to take part. I still believe in the ideals of Scouting, and I later became a Den Leader and Scoutmaster. Helping survivors and protecting children are ways to put those ideals into practice.

The movement would also make room for people who want to help quietly. Someone can learn, volunteer, or support a survivor without making a public statement. I would judge its success by whether more children are protected and more survivors have someone they can turn to.

Two best friends. One hidden network. A childhood stolen under the cover of Scouting.

From 1964 to 1967, Kenny Tipton and Greg Connor were barely teenagers when men they had been taught to trust groomed and sexually exploited them through Boy Scout camps, trips, and activities.

What began at Lost Valley Boy Scout Camp outside St. Louis grew into an organized network that carried the boys through more than twenty states and into the hands of businessmen, law-enforcement officers, politicians, priests, educators, and other powerful men.

To survive, Kenny and Greg depended on each other. They made rules, kept secret records, negotiated with predators, and used intelligence, loyalty, and dark humor to hold on to some measure of control. As the danger escalated, they became caught in blackmail, betrayal, violence, and crimes that would haunt Kenny for decades.

Lost Valley – Lost Innocence is Ken Tipton’s firsthand account of stolen childhoods, institutional failure, buried secrets, and the lifelong consequences of survival.

But at its heart is something the men who exploited them could not take away: the friendship between two boys who protected one another when the adults around them would not.

Decades later, Ken finally breaks the silence.

Told with brutal honesty and unexpected humor, this is a survivor memoir about friendship, resilience, guilt, and the courage required to confront the past.

Some stories are difficult to believe because they are too horrifying to imagine.

This one happened.

Lost Valley – Lost Innocence is available at Amazon.

╰┈➤Book Details

🏕 Title: Lost Valley – Lost Innocence
🏕 Author: Ken Tipton
🏕 Genre: Memoir
🏕 Sub-genre: Sexual Assault/True Crime
🏕 Language:English
🏕 Pages: 365
🏕 Paperback ISBN: 979-8234067685
🏕 Publisher: TBRIS Media, Inc.
🏕 Publication Date: June 22, 2026
🏕 Price: Hardcover $27.99, Paperback $18.99, Kindle $7.99, FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Author Interview with Giselle Mascarenhas, Author of 'SHE FORGOT SHE WAS FREE' #authorinterview

thewriterslife September 20, 2026 0 Comments

Today we are interviewing Giselle Mascarenhas, author of the transformational self-help book, She Forgot She Was Free: Returning to the Girl You Were Before the World Got Loud (Mija Media House).

Giselle Mascarenhas is the founder of BECOME™, creator of the BECOME Methodology™, and author of She Forgot She Was Free. An entrepreneur, speaker, and transformational guide, she has dedicated her life’s work to helping people reconnect with who they were created to be so they can live with greater purpose, freedom, and intentionality.

After years of building businesses, leading organizations, and walking through seasons of personal growth, Giselle recognized that lasting transformation does not begin with external success, it begins with remembering one’s authentic identity. That realization became the foundation of the BECOME Method™, a proprietary methodology designed to guide individuals through a transformational process of self-awareness, healing, alignment, courageous action, and embodied growth. Unlike a framework that offers guidelines for achieving a specific outcome, The BECOME Method™ is a comprehensive method of personal advancement that can be applied across every area of life, leadership, and purpose.

Her debut book, She Forgot She Was Free, is both a deeply personal memoir and an invitation for readers to embark on their own journey of remembrance. Through honest storytelling, reflection, and faith, the book explores the universal experience of losing ourselves beneath expectations, fear, pain, and performance, and the courageous journey of rediscovering the freedom, identity, and purpose that have always existed within us. Rather than simply telling her story, Giselle invites readers to see themselves in its pages and begin writing the next chapter of their own lives.

The book became the catalyst for the broader BECOME movement, an expanding ecosystem of transformational experiences designed to help people move beyond inspiration into intentional action. Through immersive workshops, retreats, leadership development, educational programs, community experiences, publishing initiatives, and speaking engagements, Giselle equips individuals with practical tools to create meaningful and lasting transformation. Every experience is grounded in the belief that personal growth is not about becoming someone different but remembering and embodying the person God uniquely created each of us to be.

Known for her ability to blend heartfelt storytelling with practical application, Giselle creates spaces where people feel seen, challenged, and empowered to take meaningful action. Her presentations combine vulnerability, strategic thinking, and actionable guidance, allowing audiences to leave not only inspired but equipped with a clear path forward. Her work resonates with entrepreneurs, leaders, professionals, educators, faith-based communities, and individuals seeking deeper purpose and authentic fulfillment.

Beyond her work as an author and speaker, Giselle is passionate about developing leaders who create ripple effects within their families, businesses, organizations, and communities. She believes transformation is contagious, that when one person remembers who they are and chooses to live courageously, they give others permission to do the same. This philosophy continues to shape every initiative within the BECOME movement.

Through future books, collaborative publishing projects, leadership academies, retreats, and global speaking engagements, Giselle’s mission is to help millions of people reconnect with their God-given identity and become the fullest expression of who they were created to be. She envisions BECOME as a worldwide movement that empowers individuals to live intentionally, lead authentically, and create lasting impact for generations to come.

Giselle lives in Texas with her family and continues to write, teach, speak, and expand the global reach of the BECOME movement. Whether on stage, in the pages of a book, or through transformational experiences, her message remains the same: the person you are searching for has never been lost, you have simply forgotten who you are. Remember. Rise. BECOME.

Visit her website at www.thebecomemethod.com.

Connect with her on social media at:

╰┈➤Twitter: https://x.com/giselleempowers

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/giselleempowers

╰┈➤Instagram: https://instagram.com/giselleempowers

╰┈➤Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21957760.Giselle_Mascarenhas

Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path?

I don’t think I chose this career path as much as I kept following what God put in front of me.

For most of my life, I have been a builder. I see possibility in people, businesses, communities, and ideas, and I have this almost uncontrollable desire to help bring that possibility to life. But for many years, I didn’t understand that there was a common thread running through everything I was doing.

Then I started doing my own deeper work.

I began asking myself who I was underneath all the roles I had learned to play, the wife, mother, leader, entrepreneur, achiever, the woman who could always figure it out.

That’s where BECOME was born.

And then God called me to write She Forgot She Was Free.

When I walked into the discovery session with my publisher, I didn’t even know what the book was going to be about. We prayed together, and then something happened that I can only describe as God taking over. The framework of the book began pouring out onto her whiteboard.

I went home and wrote the memoir portion in three days.

That was when I understood that my whole life had been preparing me for this work.

The book, BECOME, the experiences I create for women, they are all connected by the same purpose: helping women stop believing they need to become someone else and start remembering who they have always been.

Can you share the most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career?

One of the most interesting things about my career is how many times I have been willing to begin again.

I have walked away from things that looked successful from the outside because I knew they were no longer mine. I have built things from nothing, watched things fall apart, changed directions, started over, and had seasons where I had absolutely no idea what was coming next.

There was a time when I might have looked at those reinventions as evidence that I couldn’t get it right.

Today, I see them completely differently.

I wasn’t starting over. I was being cultivated.

Every version of my career taught me something I needed for the next one. Business taught me how to build. Leadership taught me how to see possibility in people. Failure taught me humility. Loss taught me discernment. Starting over taught me courage. And all of it eventually gave me the language for the work I do today.

That’s one of the biggest truths in my book: sometimes the thing you thought was taking you off course was actually preparing you for where you were always meant to go.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey writing your book?

Telling the truth without trying to make the truth prettier.

I’m not talking about factual truth. I’m talking about emotional truth.

When you’re writing about your own life, there is a temptation to explain yourself. To justify decisions. To make yourself look wiser in the past than you actually were. To protect people. To protect yourself.

I didn’t want to do that.

I wanted the woman reading this book to recognize herself in my humanity, and that meant I had to let her see mine.

There were memories I had to revisit differently. There were moments when I had to acknowledge where I had been performing, where I had abandoned pieces of myself, where ego had been involved, where fear had made decisions for me, and where I simply didn’t know then what I know now.

The challenge was allowing the woman I am today to love the woman I was then without rewriting her.

That became one of the most healing parts of writing the book.

What is the main empowering lesson you want your readers to take away after finishing your book?

You are WHOLE right now.

Not after you lose the weight.

Not after you make more money.

Not when the relationship is fixed.

Not when you’re more confident, more successful, more disciplined, more spiritual, or finally have everything figured out.

Right now.

So much of what women are sold is based on the idea that there is something wrong with us that needs to be fixed. I reject that.

The woman you were before the world got loud is still there. She didn’t disappear. She got buried underneath expectations, responsibilities, disappointments, survival, and all the identities you learned to perform.

You don’t need to become someone new.

You need to remember who you have always been.

That is what I hope a woman feels when she closes this book, not that she has another list of things she needs to fix, but that she has permission to come home to herself.

What is the one habit you believe contributed the most to you becoming a great writer?

Listening and studying.

I don’t know that I would even call myself a great writer. I would call myself a storyteller who finally became willing to listen.

Add that to being good at studying and recognizing patterns in people.

I study people. I listen to the words they use and the words they avoid. I began to listen and study my own life. I listen when something keeps tugging at me. And most importantly, I listen for God.

When I wrote this book, I wasn’t sitting at my computer trying to sound profound. I (honestly God) was identifying patterns to tell the truth about what I had lived and what I now understood were programming from where we base all of our decisions from.

When something came, I wrote it.

There were days when I wrote for nearly 15 hours because the story was pouring out faster than I could process it.

So if there is a habit behind my writing, it is getting quiet enough to hear what wants to be said, and then having the courage not to edit the life out of it.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most good to the people, what would that be?

I already started it.

BECOME.

But the irony of the name is that I don’t believe women need to become someone else.

I want to create a movement of women who remember.

Women who remember that they are whole before they achieve another thing.

Women who stop shrinking themselves to make other people comfortable.

Women who choose themselves without believing that choosing themselves means they have to stop loving or serving everyone else.

Women who ask God, “Show me what is mine,” and then have the courage to move when He answers.

And women who turn around and do the same for another woman.

Because I don’t believe transformation is supposed to stop with us.

Imagine what happens when a woman remembers who she is. It changes how she mothers. How she loves. How she leads. How she builds. How she walks into a room. How she uses her voice. How she treats other women. What she teaches her daughters and granddaughters.

That’s the movement I want to spend the rest of my life building.

Not millions of women trying to become someone better.

Millions of women remembering they were already free.

She Forgot She Was Free is an invitation to remember the woman you were before fear, expectations, achievement, disappointment, and survival convinced you to forget.

In this deeply personal and transformational book, two-time best-selling author and founder of The BECOME Method™, Giselle Mascarenhas, shares the lessons, questions, and revelations that led her back to her truest self. Rather than offering quick fixes or another self-help checklist, she invites readers into a journey of honest reflection, identity, healing, and intentional growth. Through compelling stories and practical insights, readers are challenged to release limiting beliefs, reconnect with their authentic voice, and rediscover the freedom that has been within them all along.

Rooted in the principles of The BECOME Method™, She Forgot She Was Free equips readers with a powerful way to move beyond simply surviving and begin living with clarity, courage, and purpose. Whether you’re navigating a season of transition, rebuilding after loss, or simply sensing there is more waiting for you, this book will remind you that the life you long for doesn’t begin by becoming someone new, it begins by remembering who you have always been.

Because the person you are searching for has never been lost.

She has simply been waiting for you to remember her.

╰┈➤Book Details

● Title: She Forgot She Was Free
● Author: Giselle Mascarenhas
● Genre: Self Help
● Sub-genre: Inner Child Self Help/Transformational Self Help/Motivational Self Help
● Language:English
● Pages: 132
● Paperback ISBN: ‎ 979-8234125965
● ASIN: B0H6M1PSHT
● Publisher: Mija Media House
● Publication Date: June 23, 2026
● Price: Hardcover $37.99, Paperback $25.81, Kindle $9.99
● Amazon: https://a.co/d/04aiKYWO
● Purchase Signed Copy: https://signedcopy.netlify.app/