Authorsday: C. L. Exline

1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Seems like my whole life I’ve had images dancing in my head. When I was little and bored (like at church) I created stories, but I really didn’t know why.  That came later.
2. How long have you been writing? For real since 2000. I’ve always dabbled but not seriously until 11 years ago.
3. How did you pick the genre you write in? Mystery stories and movies are my love, my passion, and it’s what I know best, so that’s what I write. Always with romance.
4. Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants? By the seat of my pants. I have an idea and a basic direction but that usually goes out the window.
5. What drew you to the subject of (insert book title.)? Sheryl Locke Holmes Mystery Series. A friend of mine wrote Harry Potter fanfiction. That’s not for me, but I love strong women characters and I adore Sherlock Holmes and figured Sheryl would be perfect as his daughter. She’s just more up to date.
6. Did you encounter any obstacles in researching it? No. I have lots of reference material on Sherlock, plus movies about him. I learn a lot by watching for the foreshadowing and how he solved the puzzles. Gemstones are used in each of the titles, so I researched stones and their backgrounds. Took time but I loved doing the research. Sheryl’s into antiques, so that was another topic. I love antiques so that was easy.
7. What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it? Screams In The Dark and I self-published that. The prologue was a story that was in my head for years before I put it on paper. Got a great response from readers on the book, but I know now I broke several golden rules – head hopping for one. Guess readers don’t care about that.
8. What do you know now that you are published that you didn’t know pre-published that you wish you knew? That it takes forever to get from yes to purchase. But I will say, I’ve been very fortunate with editors and cover artists.
9. How many rejections have you received? Not many. Only one that I really think was a good story but it broke a rule and we couldn’t reach an agreement. On the side, I work with a fantastic editor who makes me work hard and so far most everything submitted has sold.
10. What was the best writing advice someone gave you? The best advice I ever received was to stop using the word “it” – wow, do I rely on that word a lot. I still work on breaking the habit.

Author Bio:

Cassie works for a small town newspaper along the east coast of the United States. Writing has been her passion. She writes romance to melt the heart and mysteries to chill the spine.  Her stories have been published at Ruthie’s Club, The Erotic Woman, Justus Roux, and Erotic Bookworm. Her three ebooks in the Sheryl Locke Holmes Series, Amber's Mysterious Death, Ruby's Deadly Secret, and Opal’s Disappearance can be purchased at Wild Child Publishing. Next book in the Holmes series is Dragon’s Pearl. Cassie also has a story, Fire & Ice, published in the anthology Coming Together: With Pride, available in ebook & print at Amazon and All Romance. She’s a member of Erotica Author’s Association, Erotica Readers & Writers Association and Desdmona’s FishTank.
Website: http://www.cassieexline.com
Blog at: http://cassieexline.blogspot.com
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/cassie.exline

Book Blurb:

Book 3: Opal’s Disappearance by C.L. Exline

An old college friend begs Sheryl to help find her missing cousin, Opal, who may have been kidnapped by a mysterious mountain man. When all leads are exhausted, Sheryl concocts a dangerous plan—she becomes bait for the kidnapper and alleged murderer.

But will she survive her plan? Or is this Sheryl's last mystery?

“Once I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve found Opal, I’ll give the code word…come running. I will do my best to leave a trail. I daresay by tomorrow night, this will all be over.  The game’s afoot.”

Buy Link: http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=83&products_id=362

Authorsday: Genni Gunn

Genni Gunn 

1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

 Writing and music have always been constants in my life. I decided to go the professional musician route first, but even while I was touring, I filled notebooks with stories and impressions of my experiences. At a certain point, however, I grew disillusioned with the musician’s life – the constant travel, the everchanging bands, rehearsals, etc. Much of the musician’s life is about maintenance, and I got tired of it. Writing was a way of expressing myself without having to rely on other people. I switched my focus from music to writing – I returned to university to do a M.F.A. which made me take myself seriously.  It was simply a matter of switching outlets for my creative energies.

2. Who were your earliest literary role models, and why?

 I grew up in Italy until I was ten, so my literary models in those years were very different from ones people here have.  I was raised on Italian fairy tales as a child, then more classical texts, such as Dante, Carducci, Petrarch. Roman and Greek mythology were forefront too – if you live in Italy, it’s hard not to relate everything around you to its classical history.  In terms of music, too, I grew up listening to opera, and to this day, there are a number of operas I know by heart. 

3. What was the first thing you ever wrote? What reaction did this get?

There’s a big difference between the first thing I wrote, and the first thing I published.  I’ve been writing all my life, so I don’t remember the first thing I wrote. As a child, my sister and I would make books – I’d write the stories and she’d illustrate them – then we’d sell the books to our parents, whose reactions were marvellous!

The first thing I published was a poem called, “Long Beach.” I had entered it in a contest and it won first prize. Of course I was both thrilled and encouraged to keep writing.

4. What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it?

When I was at university, I wrote a novel for my M.F.A. thesis. The entire novel took place in an airport, and covered only a few hours, although of course, in flashbacks, it covered a whole lifetime too. I sent the manuscript out to a publisher, and the editor wrote back with a series of questions. At that time, not realizing how fortunate I was to even have received a response, never mind a long one with queries, I didn’t reply, so the manuscript was never published.

In retrospect, this was not a bad thing, because novels written this way, tend to be novels-by-committees, which tamps them down somewhat. So I consider that first effort my learning novel. The next novel I wrote, Thrice Upon a Time took me five years, and though it was a long struggle, a lot of research, and little money, it was mine, and after publication, was shortlisted for Best First Book for the Commonwealth Prize.

5. Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants?

I do some of each at various stages in the writing. I usually begin with an idea or a question I want to explore, then I research for several months, until a narrative begins to form in my head. I spend a lot of time thinking about it, and when I can envision the bones of a story – essentially the beginning premise and the ending – I write by-the-seat of my pants, so-to-speak, and see how my protagonist gets to that ending. Along the way, I sometimes stop and outline what I have so far, and what I know is coming. This outline is like a signpost, a map. I know the destination, but not how I’m going to get there.

Once I complete the first draft, I begin the real work, and the part that I love best – the shaping and honing of everything. I do 10 or so drafts of everything. Sometimes more. My latest novel, Solitaria, went through 21 drafts. I guess I’m my own very picky editor.

6. What drew you to the subject of Solitaria?

The question I began with and wanted to explore had to do with love and duty. I had been visiting an old aunt in Italy who had been very generous to her family, but had always attached very long strings to that generosity. The result was that everyone had fled. So the question that began the exploration was: At what point is one’s love indebted to another?

That’s a very big question, and although the novel developed well past the original concern, that question is still evident in the characters’ modes of dealing with others.

Another fascination I have always had is with memory – how it functions not only to define us, but also to create us, to embellish our lives. And there’s nowhere better to observe memory in action than in a family reunion, where everyone’s memories clash, so that the same incident is virtually unrecognizable as it is recalled from person to person. This concept found its way into Solitaria, with interesting results.

7. What authors do you admire?

The list of authors I admire is endless and eclectic, and constantly being added to. Damon Galgut, Cormac McCarthy, J.M. Coetzee, Don DeLillo, Meg Wolizer, Kazuo Ishiguro, Dacia Maraini, Elsa Morante, Carlo Levi, Alice Walker, Russell Banks, Dorothy Parker, Haruki Murakami, Alice Munro, Jonathan Lethem, Richard Ford, Toni Morrison, Jeffrey Eugenides, Richard Russo, Steinbeck, Nabakov, etc.  I could go on indefinitely….

8. What three things would you want with you on a desert island?

Assuming you mean marooned on a desert island, I would want to have with me the world’s best ship builder, a solar panel, and a laptop/satellite phone. This would give me lots of options: I could call for help; I could read – by downloading books through satellite connections; and I could write on the laptop, which would be solar-powered. Naturally, while I would be doing all this, the world’s best shipbuilder would be building us a ship to sail away on.

9. What place that you haven’t visited would you like to go?

While in Thailand five years ago, I found myself in the vicinity of a cave that contains the world’s smallest bat – the Kitti bat. I have always loved caves, and have visited many in different countries. This one promised something very exotic – a bat the size of a bumblebee, the smallest mammal in the world. The opening of the cave was very small, barely large enough to lower oneself into, and no light was allowed below, except for a dim flashlight. I squeezed down the opening, into a slightly larger area, then down a claustrophobic tunnel to another slightly larger area. From here, I could see the sky as a jagged hole up above. I took a deep breath and continued for a short while until I saw someone begin down the tunnel behind me. That pretty well panicked me into waiting for the newcomer to pass, then I scrambled back up and out. I returned home disappointed with myself for missing such an amazing opportunity. This may not sound like the place I haven’t visited but would like to, but it is.

10. What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

Writing itself is an absolute passion for me. One of the best things ever about writing this book is that I had the perfect excuse to go Italy every year and spend a month researching, interviewing and writing. I have many relatives there, and I was able to listen to and record their stories, which collectively, are also my stories. I must set more books in Italy….

Authorsday (a little late): Tricia McGill

Tricia McGill

1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer? 

I’ve always written but never seriously until I retired early. I recall my family being proud of the stories I made up as a child, so guess the writing bug was always there from an early age. I wrote my first romance at about the age of 15, then started writing my parents’ life story soon after. That eventually grew into a saga about a fictional large family living through hard times much as my parents did, and finally ended up as Traces of Dreams years later. This book won the mainstream section of the Romance Writers of Australia’s Romantic Book of the Year in 2003 and thus far remains my proudest achievement in my writing career.

2. How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing novels for about 20 years (didn’t realize it was that long until I started counting back!) My first efforts were hand written and after I’d laboriously filled many notebooks my husband insisted we buy a typewriter. Having never typed in my life I then had to teach myself to touch type.  He soon got sick of the clicking of the typewriter and so my venture into the age of technology began with my first word processor.

 

3. How did you pick the genre you write in?

I guess I’ve always been a romantic at heart so I didn’t really pick the genre it kind of picked me. A friend gave me a box full of romance novels—the short kind—and I thought, as most of us writers do when we start out—“I’m sure I can write one just as good.” After numerous rejections and several re-writes, well, probably about nine, I decided that I wanted to write longer novels so that I could bring in more characters and have a villain or two to liven things up. My love of time-travels began and the research fascinated me so it was inevitable I try my hand at writing time-travels, then historicals.

4. Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants?

When I started I followed the advice of long-time authors who dictated that every last detail be worked out before you start, from the color of your characters’ eyes to their favorite food. But, as I went along I came to the conclusion detailed plotting didn’t suit me at all. My characters dictate where my story is going and I just let them tell me what’s going to happen next. That’s not to say I don’t have a rough idea of the plot. Once I’ve established the period my story is to be set and the characters have told me their names and what journey they wish to go on, I begin. Half the fun of writing is being surprised where you end up. As other characters make themselves known I make notes as I go along to keep track, but always work out a time line before I begin. This is especially important in my time-travels and historicals.

5. What drew you to the subject of Remy?

Remy is an off-shoot of another of my historical romances, Blue Haze. Remy appeared near the end of that book and just nagged at me to tell his story. Because of the extensive research I’d already done on that period in Australia (The early 1800s) I just needed to do some more research on a different pioneer settlement.

6. What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it?

I do believe it was called Penny in Paradise, and no, it never got as far as being sent to a publisher. My late husband, who was my staunchest supporter, took it into the city one day and popped into what he thought was a publishing house, which it was, except it turned out they only published medical reference books. His tenacity and enthusiasm charmed one of the editors there and this lady agreed to read the manuscript. Her six page critique gave me the courage to go on but also assured me that my Penny’s story was never going to be good enough for publication.

7. Tell me one thing about yourself that very few people know?

I’m an open book, so there’s not a lot that is hidden. I’m a Scorpio, and glad of it, but contrary to most Scorpios I am shy at heart, and hate revealing facts about myself. This makes promoting my books a sometimes harrowing experience for me as I have to force myself to let the world know about myself and my books.

8. What’s your favorite quote?

The one I use on my email signature is currently: “Pure love is a willingness to give without a thought of receiving anything in return”.  I found it on a calendar of beautiful pictures with accompanying quotes and fell in love with it. I find these days that too many people expect far too much from the ones they love and selfishly take without knowing the pleasure of giving selflessly.

9. Where do you write?

Now, I am lucky enough to have a study. In the early days I wrote wherever I could find a space and that was usually at the kitchen table. I write at my computer but most of the creative process is done in the early hours of the day on waking.

10. What other time period besides your own would you like to experience?

I often think I would like to return to the days of the horse and buggy, but then common sense returns and I realize I couldn’t live without my computer, my heater in winter, my nice neat home or my washing machine. It would be fun to do a bit of time-travelling though and journey back to the early 1800s, but only on the basis that I could jump back to the present when it suited me—and also that I didn’t have to wear corsets. Oh, and our mother never really talked about the early days in her life or how she met our father. I would dearly love to go back to the early 1900s and be there at their first meeting and early days of their romance. Their marriage and love survived having ten children and living through two world wars in London, and the accompanying hardship of the depression years. Being the youngest I was brought up surrounded by love and a feeling of always being cherished.

Tricia McGill BIO:

Award winning author Tricia McGill's books cross many sub-genres but all have romance at their heart. Her books include contemporary, mainstream, futuristic, time-travel, and historical. Her short stories have appeared in the Australian Woman's Day magazine. Born in England, Tricia moved to Australia many years ago and lives in Victoria where most of her contemporary novels are set.

Excerpts and videos of her books can be found on her website: www.triciamcgill.com

Remy Blurb:

Remy, a convicted man, is in love with the daughter of a wealthy property owner. Even in the prospering colony of New South Wales, it would be far-fetched to think he could ever marry Sara. With everyone turned against him, Remy must leave his sister’s property. Sara despairs of ever seeing her love again, while Remy faces overwhelming odds and an ordeal that threatens to strip him of everything; his pride, his strength, his health—even his life. When Remy finally has Sara within his grasp, he is sent to a place where pain and suffering are everyday occurrences.

Will the lovers ever find the happiness they crave?

ExerpTuesday: Bernadette Marie

Bernadette Marie has been an avid writer since the early age of 13, when she’d fill notebook after notebook with stories that she’d share with her friends.  Her journey into novel writing started the summer before eighth grade when her father gave her an old typewriter.  At all times of the day and night you would find her on the back porch penning her first work, which she would continue to write for the next 22 years. 

In 2007 – after marriage, filling her chronic entrepreneurial needs, and having five children – Bernadette began to write seriously with the goal of being published.  That year she wrote 12 books.  In 2009  she was contracted for her first trilogy and the published author was born.  In 2011 she (being the entrepreneur that she is) opened her own publishing house, 5 Prince Publishing, and has released contemporary titles and will begin the process, eventually, of taking on other authors in other genres.  Also in 2011 she became co-owner of Seven Songs Press and will release a novella as part of an anthology with other very talented authors in November 2011.

Bernadette spends most of her free time driving her kids to their many events.  She is also an accomplished martial artist, working her way to her second-degree black belt in Tang Soo Do.  An avid reader, she enjoys most, the works of Nora Roberts and Karen White. She loves to meet readers who enjoy reading contemporary romances and she always promises Happily Ever After.

Thunder rippled through the gray clouds that loomed overhead.  Regan Keller raised her eyes to the sky.  Please, please don’t rain. As she sent up the silent prayer, she felt the first drop  hither forehead.

The nervous flutter in her stomach quickened as she looked down at her watch.  Surely her day couldn’t get any worse. But the sky opened up, and those around her crowded together in the bus stop shelter.  Her hair, tied in a tail at the base of her neck, dripped rain down her back as she hunched in her coat.  How could she have forgotten her umbrella?  Had her car been running, she’d have the one tucked safely away in the glove compartment because spring in Tennessee often meant sudden storms.  She should carry one in her bag but had suffered a lapse in memory, having opted for the sunny beaches of Hawaii for the past two years. 

As the bus arrived, those under the shelter huddled onto it ahead of her, claiming every seat.  Soaking wet, Regan wedged herself between two people and held onto the handrail above her head. She looked out the window at the commuters driving themselves to work in the pouring rain.  That should have been her. 

A bitter-faced old woman sat below her, her oversized bag occupying the next seat.  Regan bent to ask her to move it, but the woman glared up at her and gave a grunt that sounded like a dog’s bark.  Regan flinched and tried to look away.  But she was compelled to keep an eye on the woman.

The man to the other side of the vacant seat snickered. Regan looked down at him in his long black overcoat and perfect hair.  Hemmed in between the old lady’s bag and an overweight man in a jogging suit, he was as pinned in his seat as she was to the people around her.  She would have given him a piece of her mind for laughing at her had the bus not jolted to a sudden stop.  It lurched forward then back and tossed Regan onto the man’s lap.

“I would have offered you my seat,” he said with a bright grin as the bus lurched again.

LINKS:

WEBSITE: www.bernadettemarie.com

BLOG: www.authorbernadettemarie.com

EMAIL: info@bernadettemarie.com

FACEBOOK:www.facebook.com/authorbernadettemarie

TWITTER: @writesromance

BLURB FOR THE EXECUTIVE’S DECISION:

Regan Keller fell in love with a wealthy and powerful man once. He was her boss. When that turbulent relationship ended, she swore she’d never again date someone she worked with. That was before she literally fell into her new boss’s lap.

Zachary Benson is the head of a successful empire and used to getting what he wants in the boardroom and outside of it – and what he wants is Regan Keller. He’s determined to convince Regan that even though he’s her boss, they can share a life together.

However, when Regan’s past threatens to destroy the architectural firm Zach has invested his entire career in, he has to make an executive decision whether to choose his business or fight for the woman he loves.

Authorsday: Meg Mims

1. Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants?

I use a detailed outline. I used to be a “pant-ser” until I hit too many walls. I’ve learned that an outline keeps my plot on track, but it’s flexible enough to allow for unexpected detours. Unless they’re too far off, that is! But the key to a good plot is knowing your characters extensively, as I learned the hard way. So before I even start an outline, I do 5-10 page character backgrounds.

2. What was the best writing advice someone gave you?

“If you quit, you’ll never publish!” Very true. Another one: “It’s your baby, so trust your instincts. But consider any expert advice seriously.”

3. Why did you pick the publisher that ultimately published your book?

            Westerns have been on the “outs” for a while. Despite three different contest   wins, and multiple agent and editor rejections, I sent Double Crossing to     Astraea Press—knowing they preferred “clean” fiction. I was thrilled when      they contacted me less than a week later with an offer! I think DC is a great    “fit” for AP. I’m working on a sequel as well, Double or Nothing.

           

4. If you have a day job, what is it?

Freelance writing -- articles about the market and community events for a real estate company, plus book reviews and articles about lighthouses and lighthouse keepers for an on-line West Coast of Michigan tourism magazine, Lake Effect Living. I have an article coming out in the summer issue of The Chronicle, the member magazine of the Historical Society of Michigan as well. I’d like to send more articles out, but need to write more fiction!

5. What do you consider your strengths in terms of your writing?

I knew long ago that I had a knack for descriptive and vivid prose. I used to have tons of “narrative dumps” but learned to shave them down or incorporate them into the scene itself in subtle ways. I think “pearls dropped along the path” is the best way to handle vivid imagery.

6. What do you consider your weakness and what strategies do you use to overcome it?

My first drafts have always been plot-heavy and without the emotion necessary to connect with readers. When I attended Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program, I focused on how to alter my own thinking and discover the “history” of my characters, which helped convey their emotions and balance out the scenes.

           

7. What authors do you admire?

            I always loved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s writing, and read her books multiple      times as a child plus her biographies. I enjoyed J.R.R.Tolkien’s descriptive            style, and Ursula LeGuin’s deft way of portraying social customs and     culture. I also loved   Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie for their twisted      plots. I’m such an eclectic reader, and try to find something fresh in every             author’s book to admire.

           

8. What’s your favorite food?

            Cookies! Hands down. The crunchier and chocolate-ier, the better.

           

9. What do you do when you are not writing?

I love to paint watercolors (http://megmimsartist.wordpress.com/) but have little time now to indulge. I’ve also done acrylics. My house would love for me to clean it, but I try to ignore that nagging voice. Luckily my husband does too. ;-D

10. What is your favorite writing reference book and why?

            I love Rebecca McClanahan’s Word Painting. Being an artist, and having the             knack for taking words beyond the visual level, I still had to learn from this          book on how to control it – much like any discipline. So it’s a lovely read and very helpful.

           

Author Bio

Meg Mims may have been born in the wrong century. Her love of historical fiction started early, with visits to Michigan’s Greenfield Village and any museum at hand. From a young age, she had a taste for classics such as Jane Eyre, Gone With The Wind and Sherlock Holmes. Now Meg devours historical, cozy and PI mysteries. Her award-winning fiction always has a dead body or two, plus an independent-minded heroine and a sense of justice served in the end. She lives with her husband, a drooling black cat and a make-my-day Maltese-Poodle, and enjoys her Sweet Pea whenever she’s back home.

Book Blurb

A murder arranged as a suicide … a missing deed  … and a bereft daughter.

August, 1869: Lily Granville is stunned by her father’s murder. Only one other person knows about the California gold mine deed—both now missing. When Lily heads west on the transcontinental railroad to track the killer, she soon realizes she is no longer the hunter but the prey.

As things progress from bad to worse, Lily is uncertain who to trust—the China-bound missionary, or the wandering Texan who offers to protect her … for a price. Will Lily survive the journey and unexpected betrayal?

Superior Longing by Patricia Duesen

Thanks for the invitation, Chris! It’s a pretty exciting day for me, and I’m glad to be here. The first book of what I call the Neva quartet, Superior Longing, will see the light of day – or since it’s an ebook – the light of a LCD screen, tomorrow, 9/15/11. I’m really happy to have this book published and hope readers will enjoy it. Here’s a brief summary of Neva’s first outing.

SUPERIOR LONGING is set during the frigid spring on the beautiful and harsh southern shore of Lake Superior. When Neva Moore's uncle drowns and the details of his death twist and turn, her pursuit of the truth weaves through small town politics, smuggling, and superstition, to end where it all began, back in the family and another death on an icy lake.

As a first book must, Superior Longing introduces the ‘cast’ [which like any ongoing production has regulars and irregulars as well as a host of red shirts]  First is Sierra Nevada Moore, known as Neva, who is administrator/accountant/instructor/renovator-in-residence at almost renovated Cooks Inn Cooking School which is scheduled to open shortly. Or will it? This is a question the book asks, and thankfully answers! Next is her boss, Linnea Addams, who doesn’t think it’s her job to make Neva’s job easy. So she never does. Then there is the cast of irregulars, and those red shirts who are surely goners. How and why they fit is the meat of the story.

But the story is more than the story of Neva and Neva’s uncle, and a bunch of irregulars. It’s the story of how she comes to terms with his death by finding the justice he can never get for himself, justice for the dead. This is something Neva will carry with her into her next book, which I’m writing now, Collective Instinct, and any book I write about her.  She will always be impelled by this sense of obligation. Fortunately for her and me, Neva will find dead people everywhere.

Superior Longing, published by Echelon Press, will be available tomorrow, 9/15/11 [and since it’s digital, until the end of time] at Amazon.com as a Kindle ebook, at Smashwords, Omilit and as a Barnes & Noble Nook.

There is also a whole array of on-line sites – one of which has recipes! Food is in the air in this series but you won’t find recipes in the books. However Neva talks food at:

http://cooksinn.blogspot.com/

Superior Longing has a blog:

http://superiorlonging.blogspot.com/

and a Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Superior-Longing/130098057083303?sk=wall

As does the writer:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1229310389

who also twitters!

http://twitter.com/#!/pdeuson

Thanks, Chis!

ExcerpTuesday: Me, again!

Here's a bit from the next book out. Blonde Demolition.

The dream had come out of the blue for Cal Stedman.

     He didn’t put much stock in the everyday dreams people had, but he knew this one meant something. He wouldn’t even be home, but he’d been tired. More tired than he should have been.

     Maybe that’s why he dreamed.

     He lay alone in bed, having lost his wife five years ago. His bones ached from the physical labor of moving cinderblocks and putting up snow fencing around his beloved beer tent.

     The dream rolled around in his mind. A woman, one he had long forgotten in his consciousness, but not in his unconsciousness. He’d loved her as much as anyone could in his time. Too bad she’d left him when he went into the military.

     He shifted onto his side, noting that the darkness had fallen while he’d been asleep. The clock said midnight.