Teresa Cage, Love Lives Again
In Teresa Cage’s paranormal novel Love Lives Again, Lissa auditions for a Renaissance Faire. That innocent act leads her into the paranormal as the forces of good and evil fight for her life, her very soul.
Lissa meets two men and finds herself attracted to both. She begins to dream disturbing nightmares featuring both men, but who is the villain and who the hero? She fights hard not to lose herself in multiple lifetimes and in the various ways these identities lost their lives at the hands of one or the other. It all plays out for her in a pitched battle between good and evil.
After living in many states, Teresa Cage has settled in Texas. She has three grown sons and nine grandchildren. Today her household consists of her dog, Cleopatra, her mother’s dog, Kiowa, and her amazing tuxedo cat, Phantom. Together she and they are capable of getting into a world of trouble.
Teresa has tried out quite a few careers over her years. She holds master’s degrees in Anthropology and Education. After 26 years of teaching elementary school, she has made the change to middle school. She teaches science and social studies to students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.
As a teacher, Teresa’s creativity shines through as she employs out-of-the-box thinking to bring home lesson points to her “kids.” And of course, she gets lots of inspiration for her writing.
Debra Every, Death in FIve
In this supernatural thriller, Deena has done right by her Aunt Agatha, even while suffering a relentless barrage of verbal lashings. Agatha lies in a hospital on the edge of death…until a string of inexplicable attacks on Deena. A sound so piercing Deena’s nose bleeds. A smell so vile her breathing falters. After each attack on one of Deena’s five senses, her aunt’s health improves. But a connection between the two seems absurd.
Writing professionally wasn’t in Debra K. Every’s plans. She was too focused on a thriving opera career after a debut at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. It was an exciting time, singing in venues throughout the US and abroad. But ten years of travel is tough with two small children at home. Debra chose to retire and move from Manhattan to Rhinebeck, NY, where a café and baking business were begging to be birthed. Through it all, Debra wrote.
Debra’s quiet writing practice changed when a devastating fire and a twisted family relationship compelled her to focus, with intent, on a supernatural story based on events that were too painful to process. After a year of writing dangerously, she had accomplished what was needed. Blessed peace.
With a stack of short stories and two completed novels now under her belt, she spends her mornings, noons, and nights exploring the world of words.
Laurie Pittman, Vanishing Haylee
In Middle-Grade novel Vanishing Haylee, Haylee is the first in her family to learn her parents’ marriage is upended. Even more of a challenge, her mother’s new job means she and her sister must move from her beloved home in Chicago, Illinois to creepy Salem, Massachusetts. Making new friends in a strange place is a challenge for Haylee, because new peers and even family do not understand her odd habits. Haylee periodically escapes people and her school classes to be alone to think. Lonely around people, yet comfortable alone, Haylee often misreads her teacher’s concerns, new friends and their teasing, and especially, her father’s initial absence after the divorce. Haylee’s grandmother comes to live with them and finds an unusual pet for the home. When her sister blames Haylee for the pet damage on her Homecoming gown, Haylee goes on her longest escape ever.
Laurie S. Pittman knows divorce from various perspectives. As a young girl, she witnessed her parents struggle with what they assumed had to be a toxic dogfight. Later, in her late forties, Laurie would now be a parent navigating a nonthreatening divorce. Also, Laurie retired after thirty years of psychotherapy where she had the pleasure of helping children, teens, adults and families figure out their new roles from the dissolution of the marriage in their world. Ultimately, Laurie learned from primary sources divorce ends a marriage, however, the family unit remains intact.
William Edward Teague Jr., Staggering Past The Boneyard
In this contemporary novel, Tommy Gunn, a semi-famous, washed-up rocker, willfully chooses to live a life of boozing and drugging and has no desire to change. His adult children take up a crusade to fix Dad, all except his youngest daughter, Breezy, daddy’s little girl. She accepts him warts and all.
Tommy gets bad news and his substance abuse accelerates. He remains in a constant state of oblivion: Staggering Past the Boneyard.
This novel flips the script of a typical story of addiction that focuses on recovery. Here, there is no happily ever after scenario. Staggering Past the Boneyard focuses on the infallibility of the human condition. The specific theme is that there is dignity in every person, regardless of their shortcomings. Merely by the nature of being human, everyone endures suffering in life, no matter their circumstances, whether created by the world we live in or by one’s failings.
Early years of suffering with substance abuse and depression, and ultimately seeking treatment, William Teague found help and healing. The course of his natural path inspired him to work and volunteer in the area of the treatment for addiction and mental health issues.
Willliam is a writer, painter, photographer, and filmmaker. He has been fortunate to travel to distant lands, meet many people of all walks of life and cultures, and to live in those beautiful environments. NYC born and raised, he is currently living a humble life in the mountains of Virginia. Hobbies include cooking, playing guitar, singing, building cigar box guitars, and beekeeping.