As the minister approaches the heavy wooden entrance of All Saints, he thinks of Dorothy’s house slamming down in Oz, so out of place, crushing a wicked witch. Entrusted with the cura animarum, the cure of souls, this thought comforts him as his freshly-scraped fingers fumble gingerly with an ancient key to the arched doorway. He must be more careful to keep all non-religious stigmata to a minimum, concealed as the vined parish until healed. No wounds, no questions.
Before he enters the musty narthex of the cruciform building, Andrew peeks once more over his shoulder. His neck is stiff. The young minister feels old. His whole body turns awkwardly in either direction to see who—or what—is lurking behind his back. Nothing. No one. Just some very loud birds.
St. Francis of Assisi used to preach to the birds. Preaching is for the birds, he thinks, humans never listen.
Stepping out of the light, Andrew closes the door but leaves it unlocked. The front vestibule, often cool and dim, is warm and radiant under a kaleidoscope of colors emanating from the circular stained-glass window just above the arch. Seven individual panes, each representing consecutive days of Creation, artfully combine to form the globe of the earth. Today is Monday. On the second day of the week the atmosphere was created. The tint of that specific panel glows green—like—like his night vision goggles.
Twenty-one percent oxygen is needed in the atmosphere to survive; anything below eighteen percent, people start to die.
Mrs. Thompson is dying. She can barely breathe. She used to sit in the same spot every Sunday. Andrew passes her empty pew. Soon, only the shy little girl will remain, motherless, pulling away from her gray-eyed stepfather, peeling out from underneath his heavy arm, inching along the scarlet pew toward the opposite aisle.
_______________
Andrew Dabar
(Excerpt from the short story, “Cure of Souls”)
So where do you hide “the rest of the story” for these excerpts you write? Do you have them published somewhere?
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These excerpts are from stories newly in process. I’m working on four at the moment. I’ll be finished by the end of this month and will likely publish them on kindle (these are practice stories . . . I’m sort of cutting my teeth and building courage to go long with a novel). I was hoping for individual responses to each clip . . . just to see if people like my style or not. But the thing that really slows me with self-publishing is finding an artist for the book covers; the writing is the easy part!
The poems are just me playing around between stories. I don’t consider myself much of a poet. Most magazines would scoff at what I write because rhyming poetry is considered a thing of the past. However, I prefer poetry that rhymes, makes sense, and captures a real-time moment . . . not esoteric, nonsensical stuff that never moves the heart. Thomas Hardy is my favorite poet. “Where the Picnic Was” and “The Newcomers Wife” are great examples of real-time, rhyming poems that have given me an emotional jolt.
I have other stories that you won’t see because I’m collecting them into a hard copy anthology (at least 12-14 short stories under one theme). I feel a surge of excitement even as I write these lines!
Thanks for asking.
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I hope you get them launched soon. My daughter used an artist to do her book covers. I can’t remember the persons contact info but I can get it for you. This is what (she?) did for my daughters book and since this ones a newbie the prices aren’t too high. I’m not working at advertising my daughters book on your site. You can delete this comment after you read it. If you like the style of the work I’ll contact my daughter and get the information for you.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Age_of_the_Vampires.html?id=dg3GjgEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description
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That’s a better likeness on amazon
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I very much appreciate your encouragement. Your daughter’s book cover is quite eye-catching.
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I’ve also known authors who simply found a photo that was perfect for their book on an amateur photography blog and made the author an offer for it’s exclusive use. Good luck.
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Great idea!
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I’m all about advertising! I wouldn’t think of deleting this comment. Best of luck to your talented daughter.
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