Miami Book Fair
A group of indie authors from Indie Authors Monthly got together to support our marketing efforts by purchasing a table at the Miami Book Fair.
We’ll have a table at the fair featuring all our books and, over the course of 2 weeks, we’ll share about these great indie authors across our combined social media including blogs. Today, I’ll feature the first group of indie authors.
Each contains information about the author, a little about their books, and cover images. If you like anything you see, there’s a link to buy the book.
Paul turned from the dark window, twitching the drapes back in place. It was cold in the house; it had the dank feel of being unused. It had only been empty for a week, and yet it held a stale feeling of overripe food and decaying garbage.
The kids would be coming home tomorrow. He had sent them to his sister’s place for the past week. It was too hard to have to worry about their schedules when he was sitting by Allison’s side. The funeral was yesterday, and he asked his sister to keep them one more day. He needed to have some time to collect himself. He’d spent the last twenty-four hours sitting in the dark, staring at nothing, his mind too numb to think
Lisa had taken over with the brisk efficiency of the nurse that she was trained to be. Stella was eating once again and Jesse and his twin, Veronica, were able to sleep at night. His sister was the safe house, and while he desperately missed his children, he couldn’t deal with their everyday drama while he stayed with Allison for her final weeks.
He played with the chain around his neck then placed the gold band that hung from it on his lips. He closed his eyes, feeling alone. It was his wife’s wedding band and it had never left her finger from the time he had placed it there almost fifteen years ago.
Everything happened so fast. Too fast. His mind replayed the last six months in a montage of colors flashing like an out-of-control merry-go-round. Only it wasn’t a happy ride. Well, he sighed, he had to admit that he did feel relief. It felt wrong to have this burden taken off his shoulders, but his wife didn’t have to suffer any- more. He admitted to himself that he was weary too. She had gone from bad to worse in such a short time. She had slipped into a coma. He held her skeletal hand for a solid week, watching hope die alongside his wife. His family had brought in food, but he felt no hunger. As he stayed by her side, nothing seemed important. Paul stared at her face, memorizing every curve, her deep dimple, the mole she hated above her upper lip. Every second counted, and he wouldn’t waste a minute on himself. His future yawned ahead in a great vastness of nothing that stretched endlessly before him. Alone, mute, and his thoughts jumbled in his head, he couldn’t find words to say what he needed. Did she know how happy she had made him? Did Allison understand how much she meant to him? Could she know that his heart was so numb, he felt as though he were a corpse? Though he sat caressing her hand, could his wife sense the man next to her was spent, empty? It was that burnt-out feeling like after drinking so much that the liquor loses its taste and cigarettes burn with dying fire.
Panic increasing at the sound of punched flesh and skull cracking against cement, Sophia pulled harder on any fabric she could grasp and pushed the person wearing it towards the nearest wall, procedure and policy of not touching the youth out the window in her need to get to Aiden. Behind her she could hear the shouts of teachers as they tried to herd the agitated youth back into the classrooms or at least against the walls.
The energy of those continuing to watch amplified. Quinn’s reputation was well known, and his peers knew that his entrance into the battle would be an even more impressive show. Not only was this far more entertaining than school, or daily life on the unit, but it allowed a momentary purge of buried frustration, a long-distance release of futility. It was intoxicating; a dangerous moment, infused with emotional lightning, making one feel energetically alive. Sophia knew better than to attempt to physically control two feuding teenage boys, so she turned her attention to the throng of on-lookers and Aiden.
“Back to class or line up on the wall!” she repeated in the loudest voice she could muster in her anxious state. “You know the procedure! Anyone not complying will face unit sanctions!”
It was a feeble attempt, she knew, but she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. As she shouted at the crowd, she knelt down next to Aiden to check on the damage.
Leave a Reply