GHOST WALLS

Happy birthday to me!
I live in a tree!
My mouth needs a cookie
And my favorite letter’s Z!

Is it? Hmm. I’ve never really considered my favorite letter before. But if I have one, I’m sure Z is in the running, if not at least in the Top 5.

But we aren’t here to discuss Z (although we certainly could… maybe some other time). Today is my birthday and it’s one of those special ones if you’re a literary dork.

I’m 42 today! Do you know what that means? If you’ve read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, then of course you know that 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. But what does that mean? Maybe I’ll find out this year. I have some ideas. I’d venture to guess that the all encompassing answer of 42 has to do with love or your kids or some junk like that.

Oh no, stop it!

I won’t! I won’t stop it! I’ll keep going! Because I’m 42, ya’ll! Man that’s old.

My Birthday Present To You

If you haven’t yet done so, I encourage you to sign up for my monthly newsletter. In it, I often send links to free book giveaways and tend to also discuss updates on my writing, even more so than I do here on this bloggy. This month, and probably forevermore, if you sign up through BookFunnel, you will receive a brand new, spooky Lost Identity tale entitled: GHOST WALLS.

Ghost Walls! I mean c’mon! What could that possibly mean? Here’s the tagline, to wet your noodle:

Kevin just woke up dead. If only that were his biggest problem.

Whaaaaa? That’s totally insane and not at all hack! You should go check it out. It’s a short story which means it’s short, and it’s a story. And it will have your screams bouncing back to you off the eponymous GHOST WALLS.

I was inspired to write Ghost Walls when my writerly friend, Ron Dean, told me how his daughter laughs at most things he says and does. One day, Ron was playing the clown for her and he banged his head against a wall. His daughter immediately broke into a fit of laughter and Ron then told her something akin to, "Daughter," <name omitted to protect the innocent> "It only hurts when I do this because the wall is solid. If I were a ghost, I could walk right through this wall. Ghosts must have to bang their heads against ghost walls to get the same effect." Or some such. My paraphrasing is God awful. I hope I have not bungled Ron's quip too much!

That said, the story I wrote is much darker than all that. I don't usually write grim, Poe-esque tales, but I guess the Halloween season has struck a discordant chord in me this year.

I hope you like it! I'd love to hear what you think. And if it's not your cup of tea well heck, that's OK too because it didn't cost you a single, bloody cent.

Happy Halloween!

Cover design by Megan Dorazio