What's Coming Next

First off, I will have a new collection in print coming out in May. The date on these releases is always flexible, just depending on when the book gets uploaded and is printed and ready for sale but it will be in May. The title is Daring Directions and it includes four stories: Homeless in Heaven, Last Train to Clarkdale, A Different Drummer and A Game of Hearts. All of these are somewhat unique and even "off beat" stories although I'm sure my normal voice and style is very much there. They've been out in electronic form as individual releases for some time but I felt they fit together to become a print collection. To me, they are just kind of special! I loved all these characters, for all their quirks and oddities, for the twists and turns they led me on as they shared their stories. I think you will too! I'll let you know as soon as it is available and will l have a few autographed copies to sell at the new release discount (25% off list) plus postage. There will probably be one or two up for grabs as a giveaway prize, too.

Here are the blurbs:

Homeless in Heaven: Homeless for over two years, Merl has hunkered down to endure a second winter in Eden, Colorado. He has lost the ability to trust or accept kindness as anything but a sneaky attempt to weaken him for an attack.   Knowing he should seek to get back into the mainstream, he lacks the will to try. Nate has led a sheltered and privileged life as the only child of wealthy older parents, now deceased. He is working on a photo journalism piece about the homeless people in Eden when he first encounters Merl. Can he win Merl’s trust and cooperation in an effort to provide positive long term help to other homeless people in the area?  Even more important, can he forge a real partnership with the suspicious older man?

Last Train to Clarkdale:  For Clay, always a misfit and bullied at school, contact with the railroad and railroaders in the small town where he grew up was a lifeline. He went on to a career in the industry although not out on the track. Some odd compulsion draws him back to his long departed home despite the painful memories he has of the place. A chance meeting with Jon and sharing an afternoon’s tourist rail trip results from his impulse.  He gets an instant crush on the big, bluff man, but what can a geeky clerical type rail fan offer a famous world traveling scenic and wildlife photographer like Jon?

A Different Drummer: Jest has been on his own since his mid teens and still blesses the chance that let him realize his dream of playing percussion in a band, one who has become his surrogate family. Greene has struggled to build himself a life far from the undisciplined communal community in which he grew to his mid teens. Traveling aimlessly, he meets Jest and the other members of Taken By Storm. He’s intrigued but terrified of slipping back into a disorderly world like that of his childhood.

A Game of Hearts: Losing the love of his life, DeVore became a recluse. At one of the few social functions he steels himself to attend, he meets an amazing young man. Can he find new life and new love? Tim Hardesty was a preemie and always frail. As a teenager, an organ transplant was the only thing that could save him. Now grown to manhood he is still struggling to break away from family ties and find a purpose for his life. It’s a thrill to meet an idol whose powerful photographs move many. But is this attraction his own or coming from the stranger’s heart now beating in his chest? Sometimes to win in the game of hearts, you have to risk terrible pain and take fearsome chances.