UPDATE: The winner is…Pansy Petal!
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I’m busy working on a book this NaNoWriMo! It’s one I’ve been wanting to write for forever. Seriously. I shaped the opening of the story back in 2002—twenty-one years ago, and those first chapters were sent to many, many writer’s contests, and gained awards, but something happened that pushed this project to the back of the line—I got published. And then I got published again, and again, and again.
I learned what I could write that would sell, and every time I saw Little Green Dreams in my “Future Projects” folder, I’d sigh because I knew (know) it would be a hard sale.
So, why now? I love this story for a whole lot of reasons I’ll try to explain here.
#1 — It’s the only story I’ve set in Arkansas, where I currently live, and where I spent my high school and college years.
#2 — My father, who passed in 2019, led me down the train tracks in his hometown of Gurdon, Arkansas, so that I could get “the lay of the land” when I wrote about the Gurdon Light. He was delighted I thought the legend was “worthy” of a book.
#3 — Many of the characters I write about in the story are modelled after real people I’ve met. If you read the story, you may think I’ve written some over-the-top characters, but yes, they’re that funny and odd.
#4 — It’s a story that’s hard to pin into one genre. It’s contemporary, a romantic comedy, and it’s both a sci-fi and paranormal tale. So, there!
Despite all the reasons I know I should concentrate on something you’ll be eager to read, I’m stubbornly, finally, writing this story—a strange little homage to my roots and my dad.
Little Green Dreams
Still no official cover, but I’m working on it!
Sometimes, Joe Franchetti hates his job at the National Informer, especially when he’s sent on assignment to cover a story involving aliens from another world. When he is sent to investigate the story of a woman in rural Arkansas who claims her husband was abducted by aliens, he vows to debunk her story, no matter how much the truth might hurt her attractive daughter.
Sandra Billingsley has a problem. Her stepfather is missing, and her mother is the prime suspect in his disappearance. In addition to protecting her eccentric mother from a possible murder investigation, now she must contend with a national tabloid reporter set on exposing her mother as a murderess or a madwoman.
While the investigation turns up more suspects and the local townspeople scheme to profit from the “alien invasion”, Joe and Sandra work together to unravel the mystery, knowing their attraction is doomed to end in pain when the truth is revealed.
Contest
I’m a huge fan of Sci-Fi movies and TV. My favorites include ALL THE STAR TREKS, Arrival, Aliens, Farscape, and Firefly.
For a chance to win your choice of story from among my backlisted books, tell me which science fictions movies or television shows you would recommend!
