Saturday, November 17, 2012

BEST GIFT EVER!!

AVAILABLE NOW IN PRINT ON AMAZON.
 FINALLY!! AVAILABLE FOR XMASS.
GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST BY JUDY HOWARD
 

In this mystery-romance, widow Judy Howard drives her RV along Route 66, encountering the ghosts of her teenage past when she was drugged, raped, and forced to undergo an illegal abortion.
 
 
The story flashes back to Judy as a sixteen-year-old, growing up in the Midwest in 1965. She is naive and shy with a painful crush on Brad, her school’s James Dean-like bad boy. Brad and Judy flirt, their desire for each other as an opposites attract couple obvious to all those around them. Yet tragedy strikes when Judy is drugged and date raped on a Saturday night in the parking lot of the town’s roller rink.
 
She is rescued by Brad, who helps her deal with the crime perpetrated against her, even going as far as to arrange an abortion for her, though the practice is illegal at the time. Judy must live in fear as the drug prevented her from knowing the identity of her attacker. Racked by guilt over the abortion and panic over the sexual assault, she accepts a college offer in California and flees to the West Coast, hoping to escape her personal history.
 
After college, she marries and hopes to believe that her past can remain buried. Yet after four decades of marriage, her husband dies and a high school reunion invitation from Brad threatens to shatter her illusory peace. Nonetheless, she summons up the courage to go, loading up her motor home and heading out on Route 66 with her cat, Sportster. Meanwhile, Brad is making his own preparations for the reunion, hoping to reignite the teenage passion he once had with Judy. Now a cop, he realizes he has lived a life more or less married to the police force.
 
As both Brad and Judy confront haunting questions of “What if…?” Judy Howard’s Going Home with a Cat and a Ghost builds toward a satisfying emotional climax where both parties will be confronted by their past and pointed toward a new vision of the future.
 
 


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

PRE-BLACK FRIDAY SALE

Get your Christmas shopping done before Black Friday for your book loving friends.
COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST



KINDLE - $1.99
PRINT - $10.99

GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST
AVAILABLE IN 3 DAYS
 
 
 
 

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Friday, November 2, 2012

TIME, TIME TIME.


 

 Where does the time go? What have I done? Where have I been?Weeks whizz by at my age, weeks that used to drag in the fifties. Do you remember?  Do you think we get a 4G connection when we reach a certain age? 

I spent a few days at one of my favorite places, Jojoba Hills RV Resort. Every October the park, which is run entirely by volunteers, conducts an annual yard sale to raise money. I came to help but it turned out my help was more from my pocket book than from the contribution of my time. Someone's trash  has now become my treasure and in the process,I added my small contribution to the $16,000.00 they raised this year.
The amount of money raised is extraordinary, but more impressive is  all the work of sorting, pricing, and selling  the massive inventory- many manhours - is all done by the residents of Jojoba Hills. The sense of community is what makes this place special and although I am not a resident, these people make me wish I were.




While I was visiting at the park my friend, Ron Dingee, a fellow author, came by with his newest book, NANNA (OR … HOW TO EAT AN ELEPHANT).  It is a story as intriguing as his first book, MISSIONARY MEMORIES. Check out this accomplished author at www.rondingee.com

 
The next weekend I in another place that lifts my spirit and stirs my soul - Joshua Tree.  I meant to visit the park itself but instead toured the area of Twenty-nine Palms, Yucca Valley and Morongo Basin.




Rusty remnants in the dessert.
Sunrise and sunset makes this desolate place worthwhile.


This time the amazing city of Twenty-nine Palms, home to the largest Marine base in the country, left its imprint on me. My friend, Julie and I toured the murals that has made the town a must see.

        



The scenes, images, and friends, from Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree and Twenty-nine Palms will comfort me with their beauty and familiarity. When I travel I will remember these impressions and they will play in my mind like a soft melody.
For now I am staying close to home. Working, writing and waiting. Waiting for GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST to become available. Time, time, time.