Kate E. Thompson's Blog: An Author's Whatnots, a blog of days gone by, page 4

Some Experiences Best Left in the Past

Road to Laura, Queensland, Australia by Catherine Kigerl

In my last 5NWAuthors blog post I wrote about how a travel experience to North Queensland, Australia in 1993 led to a novella, On the Far Bluff. What I didn’t mention was that the experience was initially published as a travel essay in The Seattle Times in 1995 and ushered me into a period of freelance travel writing. It had also been a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association contest, adult article/essay category. Afterward, the original draft of On the Far Bluff took shape. But it lacked substance and authenticity; scenes that I hadn’t actually experienced felt hollow. Yet I never asked, “Should this experience be published as a book or was a travel essay enough?”

Well, that’s the question I wound up facing when I began to edit On the Far Bluff for e-print this year. Copyediting wasn’t the only problem. There were lingering questions about authenticity that had never been answered. A second trip to Queensland, Australia may have answered them. But I wasn’t inclined to go back. The draw to adventure travel had long lost its appeal (I left travel writing in 1999); the original source of inspiration had run dry. I had also evolved past the issues presented in the novella. They felt like an old skin I’d shed.

Even though, as I said in my last post, experiences may not ripen until we get older, we can also ripen past them.

So I finally let go of the crocodiles, wombats, billabongs, and the bluff spirits of 1993 Laura, Queensland, Australia. Some experiences, and the writing they generate, are best left in the past.

Catherine (Cathy) Kigerl teaches Introduction to the Humanities online for College of the Siskiyous
She currently resides in western Washington State with her husband, William.

Road to Laura, Queensland, Australia. 1993. © Cathy Kigerl

Travel, a Suitcase to Inspiration

Bluff near Laura, Queensland, Australia. By Catherine Kigerl

Travel has inspired many authors over the centuries from W. Somerset Maugham to Bruce Chatwin. I haven’t traveled on the grand scale of Maugham or Chatwin, but I've toted a suitcase enough times to inspire a story and a poem or two. An example is my novella, On the Far Bluff, which is based upon a journey I made to Australia in 1993. That journey was pretty remarkable in many ways but most significantly for taking me to a remote town called Laura, and the Ang-gnarra aboriginal community in North Queensland. There I worked as a volunteer, first in the Ang-gnarra community office and then as part of their aboriginal festival that took place every two years in July. The United Nations had declared that year as the Year of Indigenous Peoples, so visitors from around the world traversed the rugged, outback roads or flew in on the mail plane to attend.

Even though I took many photos and kept a journal, my experiences there were so vivid it wasn't hard to recall them in rough draft form when I returned to the United States. But like many writing inspirations, experience interpretations can evolve as the author evolves. Some experiences do not ripen until we get older and we ripen a bit more ourselves. We can then look back on an experience or source of inspiration from a different vantage point.

It took a few more drafts and several years before I finished On the Far Bluff. But the crocodiles, wombats, billabongs, bluff spirits and the ancient messages are still there as seen through the eyes of Anna Doucette, my main character. Like Maugham’s India of the 1930’s and Chatwin’s Patagonia of the 1970’s the beauty and mystery of North Queensland, Australia, as it existed in 1993, does live on.

Bluff. Photo by Catherine Kigerl. © 1993

Catherine Kigerl is a college instructor in the Humanities and resides with her husband in Washington State.

The Next Big Thing: A Work-in-Progress

The Next Big Thing!
by Kate Thompson

A Work-in-Progress
My writer friend and owl buddy,  Patrick Jones  tagged me for a ‘chain’ blog entitled ‘The Next Big Thing'. The deal is: I answer a few questions about my current work-in-progress and then I invite other authors to do the same. A bit like a chain letter, except it is only focused on an author’s work-in-progress. Patrick Jones was tagged previously by Jeff Joseph. I've included details of their blogs so you can explore their answers to the same questions. The authors I've chosen have, along with Patrick and Jeff, been tagged below my answers. So here goes:

What is the working title of your next book?

Tied by Water

Where did the idea come from for the book?

It came from a line I couldn't stop thinking about. “I wish this day never happened.” 

What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary Fiction

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I don’t think about actors playing my characters. Probably because I don’t watch television and I rarely go to Hollywood movies. If my novel is made into one, I want it to be an Indie. My story is set in Rivers Edge, a fictional Pacific NW Oregon town. I would cast actors who live in Oregon towns similar to my Rivers Edge. The actors won’t look like Hollywood. They will look like regular folks you see at the grocery store and at the park. 

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

Childhood friends, Noah and Charley, are from families torn apart by the same tragedy and now, 15 years later, Noah, a rebellious pastor and Charley, a 3rd grade teacher, whose lives haven’t turned out like they expected, face another tragedy, and seek to rediscover true intimacy and a path that will make them and the ones they love truly happy. 

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

The short answer is my novel will be self-published. But, I remain open to opportunities that may come my way.

When I wrote the first draft, I wouldn't have considered self-publishing. No way! But the publishing industry is changing and evolving and self-published authors, many whose work is not profit driven are challenging tradition and bringing about change. Self-publishing has given voice to authors all over the world. I’m one of those authors. 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I wrote the first draft in one year. I was home-schooling my daughter and writing a paragraph here, a page there, whenever I could. If asked how many drafts since the first, I couldn't say. Who keeps track anyway? 

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I would say Sheri Reynolds’ and Elizabeth Strout’s novels. Reynolds for whole, down-to-earth characters and the way she grounds the reader in place. Elizabeth Strout for an honest and hard look into tangled family ties and the empathy both authors convey. 

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Several events inspired me to write the book. I moved to the mid-west and back. I came out of 25 years in an all or nothing religion where women had their roles and questioning church leaders or teachings opened the door to Satan. Add hitting bottom and finding out how badly people are treated there, I found my inspiration for the book.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

The book begins with a wedding, a mom no one has seen for 15 years, and a sidewalk full of protesters. Pastor Noah is officiating in spite of his dad; the pastor of the biggest church in town, promising there would be serious repercussions. 

Noah is a bar stool preacher at the strip club, much to his father’s chagrin, and Noah’s wife, “The Pin-Up Girl of Pastor’s Wives,” leads a secret life. Their 3rd grader is suspended from school. Noah teaches love and compassion, but his temper could land him in jail. 

Noah and Charley were childhood best friends and official Bigfoot Hunters until a tragedy took them down different paths. Charley is there for Noah now, but she has her own problems. Her husband accused her of being a thief and now her mom wants her to leave him, quit teaching 3rd grade and go to Peru with her to pick fruit. 

When Noah and Charley think life couldn't get any worse, another tragedy strikes…

Tied by Water, a novel by Kate Thompson December 2013

Thanks to: 
Jeff Joseph 
Patrick Jones

You're Tagged!
TS Gwilliam
Dain Dunston

Tied by Water (Working Cover). Photo by Kate Thompson ©2010

Kate Thompson's novella, "The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son" is one of the 13 stories in New Halem Tales Secrets: 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors. Find more about the e-book at the New Halem Tales Website.  Kate is currently working on her second novel, Tied by Water. Dec 2013, and a third, A Family of Forgetters. She is enthralled by treasure hunter stories and pirates, pioneer women, UFOs and Bigfoot. More about Kate on her author page.

The Next Big Thing a Work-in-Progress

The Next Big Thing!
by Kate Thompson

A Work-in-Progress
My writer friend and owl buddy,  Patrick Jones  tagged me for a ‘chain’ blog entitled ‘The Next Big Thing'. The deal is: I answer a few questions about my current work-in-progress and then I invite other authors to do the same. A bit like a chain letter, except it is only focused on an author’s work-in-progress. Patrick Jones was tagged previously by Jeff Joseph. I've included details of their blogs so you can explore their answers to the same questions. The authors I've chosen have, along with Patrick and Jeff, been tagged below my answers. So here goes:

What is the working title of your next book?

Tied by Water

Where did the idea come from for the book?

It came from a line I couldn't stop thinking about. “I wish this day never happened.”

What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary Fiction

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I don’t think about actors playing my characters. Probably because I don’t watch television and I rarely go to Hollywood movies. If my novel is made into one, I want it to be an Indie. My story is set in Rivers Edge, a fictional Pacific NW Oregon town. I would cast actors who live in Oregon towns similar to my Rivers Edge. The actors won’t look like Hollywood. They will look like regular folks you see at the grocery store and at the park.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Childhood friends, Noah and Charley, are from families torn apart by the same tragedy and now, 15 years later, Noah, a rebellious pastor and Charley, a 3rd grade teacher, whose lives haven’t turned out like they expected, face another tragedy, and seek to rediscover true intimacy and a path that will make them and the ones they love truly happy.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

The short answer is my novel will be self-published. But, I remain open to opportunities that may come my way.

When I wrote the first draft, I wouldn't have considered self-publishing. No way! But the publishing industry is changing and evolving and self-published authors, many whose work is not profit driven are challenging tradition and bringing about change. Self-publishing has given voice to authors all over the world. I’m one of those authors.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I wrote the first draft in one year. I was home-schooling my daughter and writing a paragraph here, a page there, whenever I could. If asked how many drafts since the first, I couldn't say. Who keeps track anyway?

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I would say Sheri Reynolds’ and Elizabeth Strout’s novels. Reynolds for whole, down-to-earth characters and the way she grounds the reader in place. Elizabeth Strout for an honest and hard look into tangled family ties and the empathy both authors convey.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Several events inspired me to write the book. I moved to the mid-west and back. I came out of 25 years in an all or nothing religion where women had their roles and questioning church leaders or teachings opened the door to Satan. Add hitting bottom and finding out how badly people are treated there, I found my inspiration for the book.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

The book begins with a wedding, a mom no one has seen for 15 years, and a sidewalk full of protesters. Pastor Noah is officiating in spite of his dad; the pastor of the biggest church in town, promising there would be serious repercussions.

Noah is a bar stool preacher at the strip club, much to his father’s chagrin, and Noah’s wife, “The Pin-Up Girl of Pastor’s Wives,” leads a secret life. Their 3rd grader is suspended from school. Noah teaches love and compassion, but his temper could land him in jail.

Noah and Charley were childhood best friends and official Bigfoot Hunters until a tragedy took them down different paths. Charley is there for Noah now, but she has her own problems. Her husband accused her of being a thief and now her mom wants her to leave him, quit teaching 3rd grade and go to Peru with her to pick fruit.

When Noah and Charley think life couldn't get any worse, another tragedy strikes…


Tied by Water, a novel by Kate Thompson December 2013

Thanks to: 
Jeff Joseph 
Patrick Jones

You're Tagged!
TS Gwilliam
Dain Dunston

Photo: Tied by Water (working cover) by Kate Thompson 2010


Kate Thompson's novella, "The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son" is one of the 13 stories in New Halem Tales Secrets: 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors. Find more about the e-book at the New Halem Tales Website.  Kate is currently working on her second novel, Tied by Water. Dec 2013, and a third, A Family of Forgetters. She is enthralled by treasure hunter stories and pirates, pioneer women, UFOs and Bigfoot. More about Kate on her author page.

Thrilling and Chilling Mysteries

Best Selling Author, Louise Penny Weekly Book Reviews
by Kevin Race McLeod

Kevin Race McLeod may be fictitious, but his book reviews couldn't be more real.

L.C. Mcgee is my guest book reviewer this week. He writes fictional stories about our great coastal town New Halem, Oregon. He has agreed to post the occasional book review when yours truly is heavy into rehearsals, or generally indisposed. Kevin Race McLeod.

Surprising, Thrilling and Chilling Mysteries from Bestselling Author, Louise Penny
by L.C. Mcgee, guest reviewer for Weekly Book Reviews

Last year my wife and I retreated to Canada for a vacation. We nosed around bookstores in Sydney and stumbled on great Canadian authors.

Louise Penny, a mystery writer, is one of the Canadian authors I've enjoyed reading. Penny makes you care for all the inhabitants of Three Pines, the sleepy village in the wilds of Canada, even the uninvited outsiders. Her characters are real with all their quirks and human vagaries.

My wife and I agree. Penny manages to startle and delight you and then plunge you into tears as you experience an individual’s ecstasies and tribulations. She vividly conjures up the senses of: ‘I know this person’, or ‘I know this place, I feel it in my gut’. Her stories are surprising and thrilling... and at the same time chilling.

If you like mystery, flawed people and the meeting of a most charming and disarming Inspector Armand Gamache, read Louise Penny. http://www.louisepenny.com/


P.S. Do read The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet. This is a true adventure story about a woman, her children and a boat. It is a Canadian Classic, robust and spellbinding. http://www.amazon.com/Curve-Time-M-Wylie-Blanchet/dp/1770500375/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363025338&sr=1-2&keywords=The+Curve+of+Time

L.C.Mcgee is a contributing author to New Halem Tales Secrets 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors. He and his wife and two fine cats live on the coast of Puget Sound. He enjoys reading, writing, writhing in coils (yoga), gardening and the occasional summer sail. Researching coastal Indian lore is a hobby and is further enhanced by his son’s Tlingit ancestry. He has finished writing his first mystery novel The Amber Crow (available May 2013), is updating the sequel The Amber crow and the Black Mariah, and has begun The Amber Crow and the Hooting Woman.  

Photo: Mystery novel writer Louise Penny addresses the Rotary Club of Westmount in May 2010. Photo by Martin C. Barry. Via Wikimedia Commons

Digital or Paper?

By Kate Thompson

I take my library to bed. I never leave home without it. Seven hundred books aren’t heavy. They fit in my purse. I started reading e-books the end of 2010. I was resistant in the beginning. I had a paper-book library big enough to wander through and after working on the computer all day, I wanted to pluck books off my shelves and thumb through the pages, not click or swipe on a reading device.

My reading life changed the day I received notice that a book I put on hold months before was ready for pickup. I dropped whatever I was doing and headed to the library.

I went to bed early that night. I fluffed the pillows and opened the book. I squinted. I brought it closer to my face. I shined the lamp on it. I couldn't read it. The library had sent me a “tiny-print” version! I didn't know they even made tiny-print books, large-print for old people, yes, but who would read this, a flea?

I showed my husband. “What?” he asked. I pointed out the obvious and he read a paragraph out loud without moving off his side of the bed. I scowled and he shrugged and suggested checking out the large-print version.

I bought a Kindle instead. When it arrived, I went online to buy ‘the’ book that brought me into the e-book world and it wasn't available. That’s right. I bought a 150 dollar Kindle and the 10 dollar book I wanted to read on it wasn't an e-book. However disappointing, it wasn't long before it became one and I learned the e-book world was far bigger than font size.

Digital publishing is an evolving and growing industry. It has opened the doors for indie authors. New voices are being heard all over the world. Voices from the past are a download away. At Project Gutenberg, 3 million books are downloaded each month.    

But what would a life be without paperbacks and hardcovers? What would a town be without a library? What would a night out be without a bookstore? We don’t have to choose. We can have it all. Paper books or digital, no one can have too many.

Have you gone digital? What convinced you? If not, think you’ll give digital a try someday?

This week March 3-9 is: Read an e-Book Week. Visit their website for information about the e-book industry and reading devices, author info and resources for readers. 

Download all the free books you want year round at Project Gutenberg, a partner for Read an e-Book Week. Project Gutenberg Website

Smashwords.com, a partner of Read an e-book week, is offering many discounted and free books at their website this week.

Image. Read an e-book. Courtesy of  ebookweek.

Kate Thompson's  novella, "The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son" is one of the 13 stories in New Halem Tales Secrets: 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors. Find more about the e-book at the New Halem Tales Website.  Kate is currently working on her second novel, Tied by Water, and a third, A Family of Forgetters. She is enthralled by treasure hunter stories and pirates, pioneer women, UFOs and Bigfoot. More about Kate on her  author page .

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Gollum in Mexico Ciity Wax Museum A Movie Review
by Gwen Knechtel 

Director Peter Jackson has one again breathed life into Middle Earth - a place where hobbits, dwarves, elves, orcs and dragons dwell.

His latest movie, crafted from J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular children’s tale, The Hobbit, is filled with colorful characters, superior special effects, creative costumes and marvelous music. For those not familiar with Tolkien’s work - welcome to a whole new world!

Martin Freeman plays Bilbo Baggins with an endearing awkwardness and courage. The hobbit’s bewilderment on being pulled into an unexpected journey with thirteen dwarves who plan to reclaim their lost Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug makes for great fun and frightening situations. One of my favorite scenes is the fateful moment Bilbo finds a ring lost by Gollum (brilliantly played by Andy Serkis) which will figure prominently in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

From the moment wizard Gandalf the Grey (the stellar Ian McKellen) meets Bilbo the viewer knows the poor staid hobbit will be in for an adventure of a life time.

As a fan of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, it was wonderful to see familiar characters grace the screen. And it was fun to meet new ones. Bilbo’s thirteen dwarf companions each added their own personality.  Some spiced up scenes with comic relief while others brought a deep dignity to the quest. All could use a stint with Miss Manners!

Watching the hobbit forge bonds with the group and help them through danger gladdened the heart. The viewer understands Bilbo will return to The Shire changed – someone whose unexpected journey will shape the future of Middle Earth.

I’ve seen this in two formats: IMAX 3-D and traditional 2-D. Both times I enjoyed the action packed flick, though IMAX brought the adventure up close and personal.  Whatever way you choose (also in new HFR-3D) buy a ticket and join Bilbo Baggins on his unexpected journey!

Photo: 
Gollum sculpture at Wax Museum in Mexico City. Photographer  Vic201401 via Wikimedia Commons 3.0 Unported

Gwen Knechtel  is a teacher and resides in western Washington with her husband and family. Now in “late middle age” she celebrates daily, love of family, friends and creativity. Gwen is the author of "In Which Relationships are Key" and "In Which the Best Defense is a Good Offense", two of the stories in New Halem Tales Secrets: 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors. She is currently working on a novel, DORM 1973. 

Fire in the Sky Friday

Nube Asteroids by Kate Thompson
No longer free.

As the world tracks Asteroid 2012 DA14 today, my story, The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son, the prologue, will be available for free on our blog (February 15, 2012 only)

 I wrote the story after I read about a woman in Alabama who, 58 years ago, was struck by a meteor while she was sleeping. I began thinking...what if, and the story was born. This prologue is the entire short story that came out of what if. Several years later, I worked off the story, fleshed it out, added to, and made it the prologue to a much bigger story. Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son, the prologue
by Kate Thompson
Thirty years ago…
Maggie survived. She didn’t actually see an amber globe or winking lights or a crew with green spiky heads, but her forearm was proof of contact, the gash that needed stitches and the gaping hole the aliens left in her roof. Proof enough to make Maggie and the little coastal village of New Halem celebrities. A celebrity, she was thirty years old then. The news traveled over the mountain at light speed and before the medics wheeled Maggie through the emergency room doors, reporters had parked on Highway 101 and made a huge mess of traffic...

Read the complete novella, The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son, and short story, Hannah's Treasure, in New Halem Tales Secrets, 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors.  Available at the Kindle Store, Nook Bookstore and Kobo. Links here: New Halem Tales Secrets, the website.

Kate is currently at work on Tied by Water, a novel of two childhood friends whose lives aren't turning out the way their parents had planned and a third novel, Family of Forgetters, a story of a 12 year old girl and her 14 year old sister who leave Denmark and set out for America in the 1800s. Kate is enthralled by treasure hunter stories and pirates, UFOs, and Bigfoot. She lives outside of Seattle where she is surrounded by mountain ranges and the great Puget Sound.

Photo: Nube Asteroids. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Fire in the Sky Friday: Free Today

Nube Asteroids Free today:

As the world tracks Asteroid 2012 DA14 today, my story, The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son, the prologue, will be available for free on our blog (February 15, 2012 only)

 I wrote the story after I read about a woman in Alabama who, 58 years ago, was struck by a meteor while she was sleeping. I began thinking...what if, and the story was born. This prologue is the entire short story that came out of what if. Several years later, I worked off the story, fleshed it out, added to, and made it the prologue to a much bigger story. Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son, the prologue
by Kate Thompson

Thirty years ago…

Maggie survived. She didn’t actually see an amber globe or winking lights or a crew with green spiky heads, but her forearm was proof of contact, the gash that needed stitches and the gaping hole the aliens left in her roof. Proof enough to make Maggie and the little coastal village of New Halem celebrities. A celebrity, she was thirty years old then. The news traveled over the mountain at light speed and before the medics wheeled Maggie through the emergency room doors, reporters had parked on Highway 101 and made a huge mess of traffic.

People came from all over the country to see firsthand the house the aliens smashed into. Scholars came and vans with initials, psychics showed  up and so did priests, the curious came and disbelievers and they all staked camp on Skye Ridge and waited for their own extraterrestrial encounter.

Maggie’s encounter was over before her life had time to flash before her eyes, was the story she told Bob, the local FishWrap news reporter, who she promised exclusive rights. Her story began with static on the TV and ended with space dust. There was no middle.

She thought of the light later, after Bob’s story went to press, a light that spewed out of the western sky, from Lahkanea Mountain, hissing and humming and blinding white. Yes, a light, and at impact, she recalled no noise, only a quiet like new snow and a force that lifted her out of her seat by the hair.

Maggie’s doctors were stymied. Her arm only needed a few stitches at the point of penetration. But an arm hit by a rock, the size of the rock found in her bedroom after the crash, should have been crushed. The doctors called in experts, they hypothesized, and after days of testing, the only interesting thing they found was a new life emerging and this new life was swimming in the dark waters inside of Maggie.

Maggie came home in a cab. Her neighbor Ray met her at the curb and he used his body to shield her from the multitude who demanded answers, specifically the day date and time the next alien craft would fly in. Ray led Maggie by the good arm and guided her up the narrow staircase to the bedroom.

They stopped in the spot Maggie had been sitting when the aliens entered her home. They looked up, Maggie longer than Ray. Hers wasn’t the only story of its kind. She’d heard of other alien encounters; stories of lost time, abduction, and invasive procedures. She laid her hand on her stomach and left it there.

She thanked Ray for stapling a tarp over the hole and he offered to repair the roof when she was feeling better.

It had been days since the FBI finished their investigation and left with the rock they dug out of the debris. Ray heard an agent call it an asteroid. A meteorite would be more precise, another interjected, which is a piece off an asteroid. Neither seemed the scientist type. Could have been a chunk of concrete for all Ray knew.

He got a good look at it. Unsure, how it could have punched a hole as wide-open as the hole in Maggie’s roof. The thing was no bigger than a pineapple. He decided UFO, unidentified flying object, was what the rock ought to be called.

He was interrogated about what he saw that night. In his story, there was no static. There was no dust or light. Just the sound the UFO made on impact, a mess of sound, really, and he thought Maggie’s house had been razed.

Ray found a small and curious stone after the FBI men left. Right under their noses and they’d missed it. The green glint under Maggie’s side of the bed he wouldn’t have spotted if the sun hadn’t been shining. He pocketed the stone. He wondered if it had special properties earth rocks didn’t have. He’d been carrying it around ever since. He slipped his hand inside his pocket and fingered it.

Maggie was bent over her bed smoothing the quilt. She’d noticed it had been freshly laundered. She thanked Ray. She hugged him and he hugged her back.

Ray’s wife was the one who washed the bedding and she hadn’t been happy about doing it. She didn’t like Ray spending time at Maggie’s when he had his own grass to cut and car to wash and walls to paint.

Ray set his wife straight. He didn’t want Maggie coming home to a reminder of the otherworldly trauma she’d suffered. He reminded his wife that lending a hand is what good Christians do.

Maggie stepped out of Ray’s arms. He wished she hadn’t. There was nothing wrong with a hug between friends. He started to say so, but she was looking up at the ceiling again.

Maggie couldn’t stop looking up. Chilly air seeped in through the patched roof. She thought of the alien inside of her.

Ray decided to give Maggie the small and curious stone. He hadn’t planned to, but it seemed right. He opened her hand and placed it in her palm.

“When the UFO came through your roof, maybe this stone broke off and hit your arm, instead of the UFO itself,” Ray said.

Ray hadn’t thought of this until now. It made more sense, in relation to the size of Maggie’s wound.

She examined the stone for a very long time. The threads of green mixed through ordinary grey. Maggie thought it was the loveliest rock she’d ever seen.

She closed her hand over it. “I want to be alone.”

She watched through the window until Ray disappeared into the rolling crowd. She undressed, crawled into bed, and rolled her alien rock back and forth across her pale belly.
#

Kate's novella, The Asteroid's Daughter and the Serpent Handler's Son, and short story, Hannah's Treasure, are 2 of the 13 stories in New Halem Tales Secrets, 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors.  Available at the Kindle Store, Nook Bookstore and Kobo. Links here: New Halem Tales Secrets, the website.

Kate is currently at work on Tied by Water, a novel of two childhood friends whose lives aren't turning out the way their parents had planned and a third novel, Family of Forgetters, a story of a 12 year old girl and her 14 year old sister who leave Denmark and set out for America in the 1800s. 

Kate is enthralled by treasure hunter stories and pirates, UFOs, and Bigfoot. She lives outside of Seattle where she is surrounded by mountain ranges and the great Puget Sound.

Glenda Gadabout Finds thePerfect Valentine

"You Fuel my Fire, Valentine" by Charles Thompson
   One my favorite characters to write about in New Halem Tales Secrets: 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors is the thrice-widowed, Grand Dame of New Halem and FishWrap Bugle society columnist, Glenda Cunningham. Her weekly column as Glenda Gadabout is often outrageous and funny but she brings a deeper sense of community to our coastal village.

Glenda Gadabout
Tendres baisers for Valentine’s Day
by Glenda Cunningham
for The FishWrap Bugle
   
Seeking hot and vivacious loves and kisses for Valentine’s Day, Good Reader, Miss Gadabout searched around town. Our first idea was to interview a couple of our newest residents. We thought New Halem newbees, with their out-of-town perspective, could offer fresh tips for holiday heat. 

Desiring delicious drama, we travelled to the Bishop’s Playhouse and quizzed director, Emily Saunders, and our newest actor, Evan Thorpe. Emily moved here last summer and Evan arrived fresh this week from Boise, Idaho to support our local Lahkanea Players. Even though they are not a couple, we had faith in the arts. We wanted at least one hot tip that would make these singles sizzle.

Emily flatly announced she didn’t do V.D. We thought how perfectly dreadful. Besides, she says she is too busy to even think about it with rehearsals starting next week for the spring musical production, The Pirates of Penzance. We see no luck directed toward this boudoir.

On the other hand, the strapping, muscular and ever-so-young Evan was quite excited. He crowed that he always got lucky on Valentine’s Day. We begged him to share his sultry secret but he feigned ignorance. Not to give up, we asked him to describe his idea of a perfect evening. With that, he opened like a can of tuna fish. For Evan, it starts with a candle light dinner his intended expertly prepares at her home. He would assist by selecting just the right wine from her wine rack. The meal would be followed with a walk on her deck for witty, lively conversation while he smoked. After she cleared the table, they would slow dance if she had the right music. Finally, they would bumble off to her boudoir to climax the night.

We inquired what he would bring to entice this woman. He answered, “Why me, of course. She would have my complete and devoted attention. She would have The Evan.”

This being a family paper, we cannot repeat what dear Emily had to say about "THE Evan". As much as we adore confident men, this youthful arrogance was not  fresh at all, but smelled more of the said can.

Seeing no hot sparks here, we gave up on the newcomers and paid a visit to the most romantic couple we know in town, Drew Delacruz and Daniel Benson. We arrived at their beach bungalow, and found Daniel alone in the garden while Drew was creating gastronomical magic at the Sea and Sky Restaurant. We asked what he did to fan their holiday flame.

A gift of flowers was his toasty tip. He waved his warm, tanned arm across the landscape and pointed at his flower beds. He said that most of the year he can pick just the right blossoms from his own garden, but in February he gets help from Bayside Florists.

My quest was finally complete: flowers for him. That’s right, ladies, guys love receiving flowers, too. It turns the table, flips over expectations, putting you on top to ignite the white hot flame.

As for Miss Gadabout, our fantasy evening would include dinner at the Sea and Sky, of course, and intellectual conversation with a certain someone with a more mature confidence. Liquor is quicker, as they say, so the evening would be lubricated with a fruity, crisp and spicy Gewurztraminer.

To keep the embers warm all night, Dear Reader, Glenda has made an Aphrodisiac Oil that is DIY delicious. Start with two ounces of your tastiest oil, organic almond for us, and add essential oils: ten drops ylang ylang, two of cinnamon, five sweet orange and three of jasmine. This sexy elixir can be burned in small lamps, used with reeds to spread their incredibly edible scent or share it as a stimulating sensual massage oil that stirs the stars within and fuels the fireworks. Bonne chance!

Read more of Glenda's Gadabouts in New Halem Tales Secrets: Stories from 5 NW Authors. Check out the book at  New Halem Tales Secrets website.

You Fuel my Fire. Photo by Kate Thompson   ©2008

Charles teaches Health Science courses at a community college in Washington State. He entertains himself and his students with stories from his experience from two careers, healthcare and community newspapers. He is a contributing author in New Halem Tales Secrets, 13 Stories from 5 NW Authors, with the story of a newspaper publisher who chooses to keep secrets and the trouble that ensues and of course, Glenda Gadabout's Weekly Columns. More about Charles at 5NW Authors.