Selected Works
Carousel Dreams
Orange Rose Finalist, 2006
True Story - Not too many years ago, a carousel of ponies and chariots was
built by the townspeople of Missoula, Montana. Some learned to carve;
some painted; some sponsored all or part of an animal. School children
collected pennies to pay for a pony, one named “Merriweather” whose tack is
decorated in, you guessed it, pennies. Another is “Moonlight,” a circus pony.
“Dispatch” is a Pony Express horse. “Avalon” from the mythical Arthurian
tale. A Norwegian Fjord horse. An Indian Appaloosa (shown). Each lovingly
carved character has a history.
As I contemplated the idea of a story based on this unique carousel, I learned that an
historical 1906 Loof carousel in my own hometown was due to be dismantled and moved to
another city, so I visited one last time. The place seemed deserted until a man in overalls
and a twinkle in his eye appeared.
“She is the last great time machine,” he stated proudly.
I almost felt a shiver run up my spine. He could not possibly have known I had been mulling an idea for a time-travel centered around the Missoula merry-go-round ponies. I looked at him with a bemused smile.
“Ah, but it’s true, “he said. “It takes you back in time. Back to your childhood. To innocence and cotton candy. Sundays in the Park. You can see it on the faces. The smiles. The whimsy.”
“And children?” I asked. “They're too young to go back, aren't they?”
His smile broadened. “Children have the most magical moment of all! Their imaginations take them on the painted pony to the Wild West. Or the armored stallion to a king’s battle. A tiger to the jungles of Africa!”
“So you are the carousel operator,” I surmised, wondering if he would be out of a job when the ride was moved.
He paused for dramatic effect, I’m sure. With a sweep of his hand and a deep bow, he introduced himself, “I am the Gatekeeper. The Guardian of the Treasure.”
And so a story was born . . . READ AN EXCERPT
Summer Song
4th Place Finish, Orange Rose Contest, 2006
When smoke from an 1889 San Francisco theater fire damages the singing voice of Mary McKissick, she is taken in by her two aunts who run a boarding house in the Cascade Mountains. If her vocal chords do not heal, she faces a risky operation that could render her mute for the rest of her life. But the days cannot pass quickly enough when the local blacksmith accuses her of luring his daughter to the stage. Although Mary denies his accusation, she cannot deny her puzzling attraction to this overprotective father.
Years earlier, a young Wil Reichart had fathered a child by an older woman – an actress whom his parents would not allow him to marry. After she abandoned her infant on his family’s doorstep, he vowed to raise his little girl far from the lure of the footlights. But the arrival of the beautiful Miss McKissisk threatens to destroy his relationship with his sixteen-year-old daughter, enticing her to follow her own mother's path.
Suspicions
Orange Rose Contest Finalist, 2006
When retired special forces agent Mitch Fargo learns that his kid brother died in a plane crash while ferrying drugs from South America, Mitch has only one witness to help him find out the truth – a badly beaten woman who had been rescued from the downed aircraft in the waters off Key West, Florida.
Days earlier, newlywed Kristine Montgomery had fled for her life from a bloodied and empty honeymoon suite, not knowing if her new husband was dead or alive. When she awakens one morning in a hospital bed, facing police interrogation, she has no memory of her previous life let alone the drug-running pilot who is thought to be her boyfriend.
When more bodies pop up around Kris, she soon learns that she can trust no one, least of all Mitch Fargo, who has his own mysteriously unknown past.
