Short stories are my thing. (Although I've also written a novel and a novella.) I even wanted to write screenplays years ago! But short stories are where it all started for me a long time ago when I was a little girl and I told some stories to my mom, who typed them on her typewriter for me. While those stories haven't been seen in years, though thoroughly searched for, I still think about them.
I've written a lot of stuff since I was a kid, and I finally published a few short stories in 2019 in Storied Existence, a book of stories of different genres, combining new ideas with a couple of my old ones. Since then I've published four other books, and I'm currently working on new short stories, focusing on mystery and suspense. I'm also writing a follow-up to my novel The Bellwood Legacy - a book of short stories about the scandal-ridden lives of the women of Bellwood Manor, The Bellwood Wives.
Be sure to visit me on Facebook and Instagram, under the username Storied Existence.
FUN FACTS:
I love squirrels!
NEW!
Welcome to Cranewood Falls, Ohio, where sometimes the dead don't stay buried.
Beyond The Graves is my new ebook with two short stories that are dark tales of the supernatural.
In The Grave Digger, Ben Edwards starts a new job at Mill Stream Falls Cemetery, where he interacts with some people who aren't what they appear to be - alive.
What Happened At Grove House is a story of a man named Sam Johnson, who is working at a private home helping a woman named Laura Caldwell organize her deceased aunt's papers and other belongings. Meanwhile, there is a spirit roaming the halls at Grove House who is not happy about some things Sam finds.
NEW! The Gathering: a mystery
What happens in the woods doesn't stay there. It follows you, and brings you back.
A detective haunted by his past. An invitation he wasn't supposed to receive. A reclusive family's mansion, surrounded by woods. Detective Max Baldwin investigates the murders of four of his former classmates at a weekend gathering in this murder mystery short story that takes place in the early 1900's.
The Story Behind The Cover
The cover for The Gathering came about as a result of an image that jumped out at me from a photo I
took at the park. I captured what looks like a face in the leaves. If you look closely, it almost looks like a doll's head coming up out of the ground. It is just a bit to the left of the clown in yellow.
Since The Gathering is an ebook, I didn't need to worry about the image being a little blurry. Of course I tried to make it as clear as I could, and I played around with the color, making it more vivid. It almost looks like a modern art painting. I think it fits in well with the story, in which the woods feature prominently. I particularly love what looks like a golden acorn next to the doll's head and the darkness of the mouth, which appears to have blood streaming from it.
Perfect for a murder mystery!
Getting Austin: my rom-com novella
The main character, Tess, has multiple sclerosis, which I also have, and she feels like it's making her less attractive to the opposite sex. Having given up on relationships, she fumbles her way through trying to seduce Austin, the law student who helps her widowed mother with yard work. This yields unexpected results that are sometimes amusing, sometimes heartbreaking, and ultimately show Tess that attraction is not so biased.
The Bellwood Legacy
My debut novel, "The Bellwood Legacy" is a contemporary supernatural thriller with Gothic overtones, and it features a captivating 19th-century romance with a bit of scandal.
