Slightly Glazed
Kate spends her days cooking for weddings, funerals, showers and socialite parties, and she has some big questions. Honestly, was it a great idea to start a catering company with her sister, who recently had a baby? Who is the strange woman, Lucille, insisting Kate cater a retirement party? The same woman selling lemonade in a yellow polka dotted bathing suit in the middle of a Carolina cold snap. And what’s the big deal in getting a hunting license to hang out with Pop when he’s grieving the love of his life?
Kate Wallace is trying to find love with all the wrong men in her life: the fickle ex-fiancé, her childhood best friend with whom she has no chemistry and a handsome college student who tempts Kate with his winning personality. But all sorts of things begin to change when Lucille shows up in Kate’s life, like believing that donut choices matter. And when the answers lead to discovering her mysterious family’s past, the truth pushes Kate toward the one thing she never dared to do - leave home to find her own way in life.
Slightly Glazed, with its endearing cast of characters, is a timeless treasure as sweet as its name. Kate’s first-person narrative and comic, unassuming, self-effacing voice endear her to readers from start to finish
Run With Me
At the story’s center is coma stricken Annie, a victim of a hit and run. In her mind, in that twilight space between life and death, she is running, not only passing places from her past, but also meeting central figures of her life where she will ultimately reconcile a life turning event.
In the conscious world, Annie’s boyfriend, John, is keeping vigil over Annie’s broken body, half-crazed with worry and hope. In his memories of Annie, we get to know her, and experience the nature of their love. When he’s able to sleep, John meets her in a parallel place of dreams. However in these dreams, John’s a young teen, and Annie is a mentor, teaching him to let go and experience childlike joy.
Muriel, Annie’s former student, is seventeen and pregnant, and wants to talk to Annie, but of course that’s not possible. Without a mother of her own, and raised by a truck driving father in a North Carolina trailer park, Muriel’s spunk is both contagious and heart wrenching as she finds the courage to make the choice that scares her the most.
A victim of domestic abuse, Jay is an emotionally battered woman who solves the hit and run mystery. Fleeing to Muriel’s trailer park, Jay and her two sons begin the upward spiral of healing. Even with an obsessive compulsive mother and the unstable husband, Jay will do more than heal; she will find the strength to start anew.
Run with Me asks the question of what happens to us in that space between conscious life and death. It is about how our lives are intertwined, the mystery of connection beyond awareness that we’ve all felt. If you’ve ever dreamed of someone and felt as if they were actually with you, if the moment you picked up the phone it rings from the person you meant to call, if you’ve ever yearned for someone so much you can almost feel their presence, then Run with Me.
THE LOST CLAUS
I was inspired to combine Mrs. Claus’ magical story with the realistic one of dementia and aging. For a period of four years, during a one-hour work commute, I would listen to all kind of things on the radio. I was amused around the Christmas holidays, with a phone call by a single mom. I don’t recall the exacts of the talk, but it was about Santa Claus. The mom said, she worked hard, “real hard”, and she wasn’t about to give credit to some man, even Santa Claus.
The idea took root that I wanted to write about Mrs. Claus. It was around this same time, my oldest daughter and I started to go to a local assisted living to call out bingo. She got her community hours for school and left, and I stayed. Sometimes, I have to gather myself, right in the middle of calling, because I think of my grandma, Salena Nelson. She was the sweetest woman, and she lost her mind. I am humbled by the human mind, but this book, is for the human spirit. The story is special to me because I like the idea of an undercurrent of magic in an assisted living. And for those who have to go through letting go of their parents, or any loved one, The Lost Claus is relatable.
Mel Wisman’s life was supposed to be starting over again with her grown children out of the house and time to travel with her husband of over 25 years. But life had other plans when her father’s forgetfulness forces Mel to find different living arrangements for him. Guilt turns to curiosity when she learns some of the nursing home’s residents, including her father, think Mrs. Claus resides at the home.
The reader journeys in time, visiting the North Pole, to meet young Adaline, aka Mrs. Claus. Assisting Adaline are a few native elves, a spunky snowy owl and an endearing penguin. When Mel and Adaline, finally meet, Mel must decide if she believes in the magic of Christmas in order to rescue the iconic figure. But not everyone wants Mel to be successful in the endeavor of returning Mrs. Claus to the North Pole. This would shift power from the hands of evil. A burglary, a murder, and a disappearance mean more is at stake than Mel could imagine.
Just as young Adaline had to prove solitude, strength, balance, and sacrifice in the North Pole, Mel will find herself on a parallel path. With the help of some “old folks”, it becomes evident her personal life is changing for the better, including a potential love interest after a devastating discovery in her marriage.
The Lost Claus is intended to be the middle of a trilogy, but has stand-alone potential. I’m a big fan of CS Lewis and one of his quotes comes to mind, “One day you’ll be old enough to believe in fairy tales again.” When I’m asked, who is the audience for The Lost Claus, honestly, the answer is anyone and everyone who wants to believe in magic.
Magic Begins (prequel to The Lost Claus)
Somewhere along the way of writing The Lost Claus, it became evident to me, the story had something before and something after…. Magic Begins is the prequel to The Lost Claus. In Magic Begins, the entire book takes place in the North Pole or places surrounding it.
When their home is destroyed, Abby and Iris are two orphaned girls. They are lost until they find their way to the North Pole, directed by a clue from their missing father, a renowned woodworker. Abby, a restless soul, continues to seek what became of her father and “tree” family, while her younger sister, Iris, is content to acclimate to the new life with their doting caretakers, the town’s carpenter and his wife. But when an unexpected death and the arrival of a strange young man occurs, the girls are set on a course, spanning two decades, to find the elusive Santa Claus, whom they believe holds the secrets to their past, as well as the answers for their future.
Abby holds the same gift as that of her father to create life from wood, a skill she masters under her new guardian. And Iris has her own special talents, such as being able to talk to animals. Each of the girls are wooed by different men. Abby finds she is able to relate, for perhaps the first time, to Ethan, a charming boy, who can strangely move forwards or backwards in time. And Iris is enamored with the mysterious traveling salesman Robert, while her child hood friend, Bruce, waits patiently for her. But it is the enduring love of the two sisters for one another that drives the two to overcome obstacles.
Talking wolves and penguins, silvery bamboo, and flying deer give Magic Begins’ readers a fantastical look at the age-old fairy tale of Santa Claus. “Land of Misfits,” a waiting place called “Le Flou,” and marsh crossings are captivating places the girls encounter in their quest for truths.
How can a world where the pure white snow falls, and the cold is not felt, be anything but wonderful? But like all wonderful places, there are those who like to pollute it. Magic Begins introduces the element of commercialism with Christmas and the prevalent dark forces at work to conquer overarching good.
Letters to the North Pole
Its Christmas time again. A year after Mel left her father and Adaline, Ms. Claus, in the North Pole, Mel is still answering questions about their disappearance. When her father returns to Myers Park assisted living with no explanation, Mel doesn’t understand why a resident takes the blame for the entire affair. Before Mel can pursue answers, one of her daughters goes missing as well.
Resistant but willing, Mels estranged daughter agrees to follows the only clue given, a name, to locate her lost sister. Mels father, Mr. Thompson, snaps out of his dementia to join the duo on a trip to Christmas shop in Texas. Along the way, Mr. Thompson is killed in a tragic accident and Mel is left to follow through with their search.
In another place and an earlier time, Abby and Iris, the two daughters of the first Santa Claus, are on a journey to eradicate the curse to forget about the North Pole and Santa Claus. Abby inherits a store in New York City, she changes into Christmas in Manhattan. Unable to return to the North Pole, Abby is encouraged by a mailbox found behind the walls of the building, one that seems to be a means to communicate with home. Meanwhile back in the North Pole, Iris is taking care of Abby’s daughter, Adaline and entertaining a relationship with her childhood sweetheart. However, there is chemistry between Iris and the man across the bridge who goes by the name Santa Claus. The two have a child and Iris flees the North pole when she believes her child is in danger of dark forces. An evil that delights in elves forgetfulness and wants to squash the story that perpetuates the belief in a Santa Claus.
Ultimately Mel, Abby and Iris stories all converge making sense of the one that originated in an orphanage where three boys form a friend ship and discover a magical book.
A book that is written and interweaves Magic Beginning, The Lost Claus and Letters to the North Pole.
Sudie May
Sudie May Cooke’s childhood was complete with fire
fly jars and farmers markets. She didn’t mind sharing a room with her younger sister or that her brother teased her relentlessly, because it was safe, championed by her practical and ever- present parents. Plus, there was the keeper of her secrets, Willow, a tree she planted in a barren corn field. When her father takes a job outside of Tarsboro, Sudie May is riddled with guilt because she’s the reason the rest of the family stays.
The school accommodating the ‘advanced and gifted’ is promising with new friends, Destany and Jacob, and equally annoying with a crush on the seemingly arrogant jock, Thomas. The four juniors connect when they form the debate team and draw closer together discovering their favorite teacher is hit by her husband at home. Trying to help, Sudie May and Destany, invite only more chaos -an ambulance, a cop car and a hearse.
With Destany’s medical news, Thomas’ sudden aloofness, and her parents’ marital crises, Sudie May gladly says goodbye to Tarsboro. But before she leaves for Columbia University, she buries a gun.
In New York City, Sudie May meets a dreamy man, graduates Summa cum Laude and starts a tech company. However, with her mother’s unexpectant death, she is forced to return home and face her past. Jacob will make sure of this by orchestrating a cross-country trip. Visiting Graceland, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, Destany and Sudie May, along with their traveling companion, a deaf 17-year-old, find a little fun and a lot of healing.
Set in the 1980s, this 60,000 words fictional novel returns to a time when domestic violence wasn’t discussed nor the AIDS epidemic, both issues hurting communities silently. Amidst this culture, Sudie May grapples with her identity and fears, only to ultimately learn, just like her tree Willow, she can and will stand strong.