Every once
in a while, I’m reminded that the world we share is always changing. While
we’re all scattered across the globe, technology has a way of bringing us
closer. Families and friends reside in
different parts of the country. Some are in different countries. Yet with a
click of a button, we can connect with the phone or computer and share our
lives.
Proof of
that can be found in “Don’t Mess With the Gods”, the novella that I wrote with
Elle Nina Castle. We live in different hemispheres, have never met in person,
yet collaborated on this story thanks to the wonders of technology. I can’t
imagine accomplishing this by mailing pages back and forth through the postal
service.
And
sometimes, you bump into a person who has crossed many of the same paths that
you have. It’s a wonder that you haven’t actually met face to face, especially
in the days before the pandemic struck.
That occurred
for me just last week.
Melissa from
Inkspell Publishing had a new release and suggested the author contact me,
since we’re both from the Detroit area.
By the way, Melissa and I attended the same private college in Ann
Arbor. We were in different years and
different programs, but that’s another connection.
So Kate
MacInnis reached out. We traded a few
texts and shared some details. Turns out
we both worked as freelance reporters for the Oakland Press. Kate did a lot of features. I wrote a mixture
of hard news articles, features and a few editorials. This was a second job for us, a way to polish our writing skills and bring in a little extra
income.
I’m not a
big fan of coincidence. But connections are real. Interactions like this just
confirm that it’s truly a small world.
Which of course, might just end up in a story.
Here’s a bit
about Kate’s new release.
Just because
you haven’t seen a ghost, it doesn’t mean they aren’t around. You can’t see germs
either, but you know they exist everywhere. Besides, everybody has a
ghost story or unexplained experience—yet no one wants to admit that they
believe in spirits.
What if your
life was turned upside down and you suddenly had the ability to see, hear and
communicate with those on the other side? How would you handle the
situation?
Distant Heart Sounds takes a look at what Morgan
Cutler encounters after an unexpected near-death-experience leaves her with
psychic abilities. As a 40-ish, skeptical, heard-it-all-before, metro Detroit
emergency center nurse, Morgan believes she has seen just about everything in
her 20+ years on the job, but then one day, she feels someone she cannot
see.
The new Morgan
opens herself to a relationship with a hunky doctor at the emergency center,
who has some psychic ability as well. Romance, humor, mystery, and being
connected to others bring peace and joy into her life.
But what
happens when Morgan witnesses the evil inside one man’s heart? Some secrets are
better left unseen.
Excerpt
Morgan
crossed the room and grabbed the baseball bat from her bedroom closet and
placed it on her shoulder in a “batter up” gesture. She stepped into the dark
hall outside the bedroom where a glow from the first floor of the house gave
off enough light to flood the stairs. She frowned at the intense smell of
freshly baked bread and rich food that made her mouth water since she could
neither cook nor bake. At the top of the staircase, she crouched with her back
against the wall and planted one bare foot on the first step as she leaned
closer to the banister.
With
the bat now cradled on her lap, she peered downstairs. In the foyer below, she
counted more than thirty people gathered in the entry, library, and living room
of her small home. She was sure she didn’t even know that many people. The
lights blazed as the revelers laughed, ate hors d’oeuvres from silver platters,
smoked cigarettes, stood around the shiny black piano as they sang Cole Porter
tunes, and clinked champagne glasses filled to the brim. Several people made
toasts for good luck and great health. One gentleman spilled the bubbly liquid
with a flourish onto the shiny marble floor as he tried to hit the target of
another gentleman who lay there with his mouth wide open. A few couples
snuggled into corners while others danced, shimmied, and vied for attention.
Everyone was dressed in black and white silks and satins with dazzling jewels
and long strings of pearls.
“I
don’t own a piano,” Morgan said out loud. “And my house doesn’t have marble floors.”
Buy Links:
Music today
comes from Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook
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