THE REVIEW

AUTOGRAPHED COPY


Margaret, Jim and Bob joined me for our Meeting on Wednesday. It was wonderful to see Margaret close to her vibrant, chipper self again. She presented me with a signed copy of her book, “Blow Up The Castle”. Her publisher told her to always sign with her legal signature so it could be traced for authenticity after she becomes famous. Margaret also had emails from readers in Georgia and Arizona who had purchased her book and read it, laughing all the way through. They had bought copies from Amazon.com so there you go. She’s already making her mark internationally!

The downside now is that her publisher, West Pro Publishing, will no longer operate as a standard publisher but is moving to be only a vanity press, where the author pays all costs. That is so sad for authors.

Bob re-read two of his historical articles from the last meeting as Margaret and Jim had not heard them.

Margaret made up for her absence and read us two chapters from “Coffin And Dye”. We hear Mr. Creeps, the owner of the apartment building at 13 Ivy Lane, telling Dye that he can’t keep any tenants because of ghosts in the building. Unknown to Dye, that is where Coffin has moved. Dye thinks the ghosts were workers who moved crates of opium when the building used to be a warehouse. He tells Creeps he’ll come to take a look on Monday morning. When he arrives, Creeps shows him the building, and points out the two flats in the attic. Creeps wants to know about the ghosts in the lobby. Dye takes the job to eradicate them.

Jim read us the second half of Chapter 13 of “Coventry Ghosts”, where volunteer ghosts are hunting for the person/machine devoiding ghosts of their essences. Two young ghosts are captured and can not be found by the others. Meanwhile, Leanne’s boyfriend, Robin, dies and has to fight to become a ghost instead of moving toward the light. He succeeds and joins Leanne in her realm.

I was lazy and instead of reading, I played a tape of Roy Jacques reading my poem “The Ghost of Christmas”, which he read on air at CKWX on December 24, 1985. He had supplied me with a tape of his reading and I like to bring it out and play it every couple of years as I love listening to his voice reading my words. He gave my work such distinction and hearing of his passing filled me with sadness. Bless his soul. Jim and Margaret said I should ask the station to play it every year, but I don’t know if that would work as their format now is all news, and not the country station they used to be. But it’s amazing to think I had five minutes of fame twenty-five years ago!

Our next Meeting won’t be until Wednesday, January 5th, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all in the meantime, and I hope to see you in the New Year!

Lisa