I was born and raised in New England with family ties in West Tennessee.
I have a husband and three children and I am an administrative assistant to the director of Special Education in a public school.
I turned 43 in May.
My favorite authors are:
Terry Brooks
Orson Scott Card
Frank Herbert
Dean Koonz
C.S. Lewis
Anne McCaffrey and
J.R.R. Tolkien
My First Book was Published in October 2004 (with Co-Author Stephanie Rabig)
'We Were Strangers' can be purchased at amazon.com, booksamillion.com, barnesandnoble.com, or ordered from your local bookstore.
The following review appeared on the Amazon.com 'We Were Strangers' page:
(WARNING:This review contains spoilers)
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The Greek gods left Earth and humans behind long ago and came to a new planet to live. Now the natives of this new planet (who have themselves fled to the stars a long time before) have returned and are menacing a spaceship full of humans. The gods can't pass up the temptation to meddle in human affairs once more: they save the humans and bring them to live on their planet, along with a spaceship full of alien technology just waiting to be studied.
The humans name their new home Storybook and waste no time moving into the deserted villages they find...and even less time in making trouble for each other. Simon, a trained agent of the sinsiter government organization known only as The Agency, attempts to abscond with the alien technology, only to be thwarted by Geneva, a dedicated scientist whom Simon might be falling in love with. The human authorities banish Simon to the far side of the planet and tell him to comeback within three months or not at all.
Meanwhile, Geneva, begins to study the alien technology and discovers that the blue crystals found in the alien ship contain alien life forms, apparently collected for study by the evil aliens. She releases many of them without the knowledge of the human authorities, freeing everything from savage saber-tooth tigers to cute little winged fairies.
In the kind of coincidence known primarily to daytime drama, Finnian Kerr, an old flame of Geneva's, surfaces and drives a wedge into the already widening gap between Geneva and her psychotically jealous husband, Stephen. Finn decides to leave the settlement rather than ruin Geneva's life and takes off into the wilderness with only a backpack, a lazer pistol and a communications unit, which he tosses into a lake at the first opportunity.
Out in the wilderness, Finn finds he's not as alone as he'd thought--he meets Stace, one of the fairy-like creatures that Geneva has indiscriminately released and Simon, who's hell-bent on returning to the settlement and Geneva. Simon saves Finn's life and Finn agrees to guide Simon back to the settlement. Stace comes along, partly because she's lonely and partly because she's imordinately fascinated by Finn...who feels the same way about her.
Now the gods have been watching all this, but not interfering, on orders of Hera their Queen. Then the age-old rivalry between Hera and Aphrodite rears its head and the two goddesses make a bet about whether the three mortals (Finn, Stace and Simon) will become a team before they reach civilization. Aphrodite thinks they will; Hera isn't so sure. If Aphrodite wins, then Hera must allow them to interfere in the lives of the mortals.
Stace and Finn battle it out with Simon for the first part of the journey, and when Finn and Stace nearly die after an attack by a carnivorous plant, Simon abandons them, driven by a vision of Geneva being murdered-- maybe by his own hand. Hera thinks she's won, but then Simon goes back to try and help them and Hera is forced to intervene and use her powers to heal Stace and Finn.
Finn and Stace recover and then they race with Simon back to the settlement, arriving just in time to save Geneva from Stephen's murderous intentions. Simon traps Stephen in a crystal, Geneva and Simon get together and Finn and Stace set off for more adventures in the wilderness.
Stephanie and I are working on the sequel 'Unexpected' and hope to Publish in the Fall of 2005.
We are also currently querying publishers for 'iStory', a Young Adult novel based on a year in the life of four teenagers:
After witnessing another argument between her parents, Myra Martin once again takes refuge online. This time, she sets in motion a carefully planned idea, and sends out several invitations to teenagers who share her interests, asking if they�d be interested in forming a writing group. She chooses three respondents-- Ruby Spinner, Obelia Carson, and Laurie Mackenzie.
Ruby is struggling with weight and popularity issues, and she escapes from those worries in her writing. Unlike some of the others in the group, for whom writing is a fun pastime, she wants to make a career out of it.
Obelia isn�t entirely sure what she wants to do with her life, though she�s leaning toward a career in choreography. She�s a cheerleader who works at a daycare center, but lately she hasn�t been one for going out with friends.
Laurie joined the group under very false pretenses-- �she� is actually a �he�. He�d like to pursue a career in graphic design but his father has other plans for him.
The four teens go through some preliminary getting-to-know-you posts, and then they begin writing their sci-fi centered story about a group of people on a traveling space station. Myra�s character lost his wife and son when a hostile army annihilated his world. Now he�s after them, and other people join the venture for various reasons.
Eventually the story becomes a main part of the teenagers� lives-- up to the point of interfering in normal routines. Laurie�s best friend becomes increasingly irritated at the amount of time he spends online. The writers� lives begin to color the story, too. Obelia creates a character who, like herself, is a rape survivor.
Even as most secrets are revealed, a few in particular are kept. Laurie continues to avoid revealing his gender, and Myra stays silent about the most horrific part of her past-- the disappearance of her six-year-old brother while he was in her care. She realizes that she can�t keep that secret forever and, close to the anniversary of her family�s loss, she finally tells the other three about it-- in a suicide note e-mail.
Ruby and Obelia, who are both online at the time they receive the e-mail, frantically talk to each other about what to do. They�re worried that Myra will just try again if they contact her parents. Finally, Obelia tells Ruby to get ready for a road trip. While Laurie�s secret comes as a shock to the two girls, it takes a back seat to their larger concern.
They find Myra at the toy store her brother disappeared from, and there�s an empty bottle of pills beside her. The three of them get her to the hospital where she spends two days in the psychiatric ward. Once Myra is released they visit with her at home, promising to get together again soon-- and under better circumstances.
When I am not writing or working I am making baskets or attempting to paint portraits of our many characters.
