Sunday, August 30, 2020

Small World


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.”

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Music today comes from Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook



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