Stories that speak, characters that linger
The House That Jack Built (A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups)
Once upon a time there lived a boy-man named Jack whose primary goal in life is to declare his independence from his
overbearing, wealthy, and sinister parents. So, Jack builds a house and moves into it.
Before long, Jack’s house becomes home to a motley assortment of larger-than-life characters, who may or may not mean Jack any
good.
Will Jack’s parents step in to exterminate the parasites from his house and life? Will Jack ever grow up and get his life together?
Will his fairy tale end with “happily ever after”?
Book Excerpt:
“I see.”
A quiet response, but one that carried with it an ominous gravity that alarmed Jack and managed to still all the background voices.
Jack stammered in return.
“Well, you see, Father, it wasn’t a sudden choice, I mean, not an impulse by any means, but, well, as you know, I had been building
the house for this very purpose, and well, the building is now finished, so it seemed the thing to do … I hope you understand …
and of course, you and Mother are welcome to visit here any time…and I’ll be by there to visit you with regularity, I promise
that,” he finished miserably.
“Of course,” his father replied calmly. A collective sigh heaved in the background and all of the previous noises resumed, as if on
cue. As Jack continued to talk to his father, he could hear his mother in the background, resuming her feigned heart attacks and epilepsy fits. This caused Jack to smile despite his discomfort, because his mother’s heart was strong and healthy, and she had never even seen someone with epilepsy. She had always considered “diseased people,” as she called them, distasteful and unsanitary, and the fact that she had resorted to acting like one herself told Jack how very desperate the present situation made
her feel.
The Chronicles of JimmyCrackCorn
Into each life, some rain must fall. But for Jimmy Lee Brown, it’s more than “some” rain – Jimmy Lee Brown is experiencing a deluge.
Jimmy is a good girl. A smart girl. But her circumstances are difficult. She has no shortage of people who love her, though. Will that be enough to get her through the tough times?
As you read her tale, you too may come to realize, like Jimmy: Life will either break you or make you. It’s all in how you look at it.
Book Excerpt:
Looking around and realizing that the officers were focused on her, Jimmy experienced a few moments of confusion wherein she thought that a dangerous criminal must be positioned somewhere around the periphery of her car, and she wondered if she ought to hit the gas hard and perhaps run over the perp, as an assist to the cops. She wasn’t sure if the car could accelerate that fast, though, so she abandoned the thought, and she did so right about the time that she understood she was the person of interest. It was a mistake, of course, and she was certain she would clear everything up in short order – still, it was disconcerting seeing the guns aimed at her, and she found herself shaking.
Putting the car into park, Jimmy nervously opened her car door. It was only then that she could hear the profanity-laced directions the red-faced and sweating officers were yelling at her, their words competing in their eagerness to be the one to get credit for her apprehension.
She managed to get one foot onto the ground, a development that seemed of grave concern to one particularly jittery cop, who immediately backed up a few feet and screeched at her in a voice that had progressed from tenor to alto: “Get your damn hands up, don’t you take one more step, I swear to God I’ll blow your ass to hell, you hear me, you stinking baboon?”
The Stepladies
Angela Broadnax has never met her real mother, but, thanks to her father’s irresistible attraction to women, she grows up with a spate of women cycling in and out of her home. Some are nice, others not so much, but all leave an indelible imprint on young Angela and her brother Calvin.
They call these women “stepladies” – ladies who are almost-but-not-quite stepmothers because their dad never officially married
any of them.
You will be charmed by this imaginative coming-of-age tale filled with family drama, fierce love, and adolescent self-reflection and may even emerge from the experience with more appreciation for your own family.
Book Excerpt:
I was 6 when Carolyn came, and Calvin was 10. I liked her, at first, because she was sparkly.
I used that word a lot at the age of 6: “sparkly.” For me, then, that word meant anything from flashy clothes to lots of jewelry, fake fingernails, gold-plated teeth, or big hair. In Carolyn’s case, all of the above applied.
She talked kind of loud, too, which irritated and embarrassed me at times but which I could forgive since most of the time she wasn’t talking to me.
She hardly ever talked to me, really. She didn’t seem to mind Calvin’s and my presence, but she wasn’t that interested in getting to know us. Mostly, she played spades with a drink in her hand and tried hard to make sure no one ever saw her without her makeup and wig.