Indie Publishing

Tuesday Tales: Endless Doors Part 1

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The Tuesday Tales feature continues with a new story this week. Last week Shadow of the Beast ended. To read the story, click on each link: Shadow of the Beast Part 1 | Shadow of the Beast Part 2 | Shadow of the Beast Part 3

This story is a a departure from fantasy for me and into a bit of science fiction where the science is more setting and the fiction is nuanced with it.

Endless Doors

by P. H. Solomon

Part 1

The dark abstraction of mourners loomed on Jake’s left. The blurred faces with indistinct mouths opened in song and weeping, gray set against black matched the somber music in the room. He hated abstract art.

Jake thumped the carpeted floor with his heel. Why were they waiting? There were no more goodbyes left for him. Just get this over.

White hair dropped across his eyes and he brushed it back. He’d given up on haircuts after the government pulled him from active service. The living cared about haircuts. Let the EES cut it if they wanted. Even better since there were no decisions left to him. When had his hair turned white? Jake sighed, hating the color and its meaning for him.

Mona leaned close, slipped her arm under his and squeezed his hand. “It’s not fair for them to make you when it’s not my time yet. We’ve been together so long and now…” Her lips quivered as her words trailed into silence.

Photo by Alessio Lin on Unsplash

Jake patted her hand. “It’s what’s required. We’ve had our time for all this.”

Along the line of chairs his family waited with him. Jake blinked at Marsha’s bulging belly. Her third and he wouldn’t see it. He’d just be a picture on the shelf. The story of a shadow. Marsha wiped tears away and leaned against her husband, Bob.

On his left, Jake’s son stared at his shoes. James’ worried faced sprouted a brave smile but he hesitated with a nod. The mourners hovered in pictorial silence that shrouded the waiting room.

The door hissed and light flared into the room. Jake jerked at the suddenness. His family sat agape.

“Jake Lassitter, please step into the light.” The mild voice ended in abrupt silence.

Jake pulled free of Mona’s grip. He stood as his family wept. He walked through the open door and paused in the light. Jake never waved nor spoke another word to them. He had given them his love over the last few months. The door whispered and shut his family’s lives away. Jake hesitated for a moment and then left them.

Thanks for reading today. For more information about my writing, please see the page about my epic fantasy series, The Bow of Hart Saga, which includes two award-winning books.

About the Author

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3 Things I Learned from Spark

Spark is a character in The Bow of Hart Saga who is based on my two German Shepherds – mainly the male, Sam.  This dog has an oddity that I’ve previously shared in that he talks with his tail (click the link for an explanation). He will answer some basic questions by wagging his tail for yes and not wagging for no. Now Sam isn’t always too keen on having a conversation and, after all, he’s a dog and gets easily distracted with, say, things like food and treats. So, I don’t always get a good conversation with the dog but they sometimes turn out humorous and informative.

Sam understands quite a lot of conversation. In fact, I think I read in some recent studies that dogs can (not always) understand a lot more of what we’re saying than we think – they even process language the same way (again, feel free to check that if you like). Sam is a little older so he has some aching joints – a few questions and you can find out what ails Sam.

In fact, a few years back we were talking and asked Sam if he remembered our old cat, Becky, who died when he was just a few years old. Of course he did (tail wagged furiously). So we asked him if he wanted another cat – and he did! Sam likes cats and babies (really goes crazy about babies) almost as much as swimming!

Anyway, yesterday I was cooking in the kitchen and normally that’s not a good time to talk to Sam because he is interested in food. But, he was lying down and rather attentive so I started a conversation with him by asking a few questions. In hindsight, I really should have gotten this on video but my phone was handy and leaving probably would have meant missing the moment. Anyway, the dog was answering questions as expected, yes and no for the obvious things. Well, I some good questions popped into my head and I interviewed my real-life character. Here are three things Spark (Sam) told me yesterday:

After I asked him if he and the other dog are guard-dogs, he answered yes to both of these. Then I asked Sam if Chloe was a better guard-dog than him.

Answer: Yes!

Wow, that was an unusual answer but Sam really doesn’t have much guile so he was just answering truthfully.

After I asked the dog if he liked our new cat, Minou, and got the affirmative, I asked if he wanted the cat to go outside.

Answer: No!

Sam doesn’t want the cat to go outside? That was odd but then I suppose he would really worry about the cat.

Then I asked Sam if the cat was his pet.

Answer: Yes!

So, Sam doesn’t want his pet cat to go outside.

And there you have it, an impromptu interview with Spark about what he thinks about a few things that matter to him. These were really funny and surprising facts to learn – just like when we found out he even wanted a pet cat. Now we know our dog has a cat!

That’s all for today. Thanks for stopping by and reading about the humorous and informative little interview with the dog. Please leave your responses in the comments section and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Click here to read a fictional interview with Spark. And here’s a bit more about the character:

Spark appears throughout The Bow of Hart Saga. To find out more about the character, click the links for The Bow of Destiny, An Arrow Against the Wind or The White Arrow. The entire series is not available on Audible from Podium Publishing:

Amazon

 

About the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. His first novel, The Bow of Destiny was named 2016 Book of the Year by Fantasia Reviews and is the first book of The Bow of Hart Saga. The sequel novel, An Arrow Against the Wind, was released in April of 2017. The third book of the series, The White Arrow, is due to be released during the Fall of 2017. P. H. Solomon also authored the award winning short story, The Black Bag, which won best published short story at SCWC 2012. P. H. is also a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Prequel short stories to The Bow of Hart Saga:

Trading Knives – Amazon

What Is Needed – Amazon

Download and listen to the prequels for free at AudFans

   Trading Knives 1   What Is Needed 4 

The Bow of Destiny Character Interview: Spark

SparkAs I mentioned on on release day (couple of years go), I added an animal character to The Bow of Destiny at the suggestion of a beta reader. What I settled on was a dog based on my German Shepherds and named him Spark. If you haven’t read the part of the scavenger hunt from Monday please take a look since it shares a funny way of communicating that my male dog has – his tail. That’s correct, when you ask him simple questions he wags his tail for yes and doesn’t for no. So Spark does the same thing. However, Athson is the only one who can see him besides, you, the reader. But, Athson doesn’t quite understand that Spark is communicating with him. Now that you know, you can read the book and understand something additional happening in the book.

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With that in mind, I decided to interview Spark for a bit of unique fun:

Q: How are you today, Spark? Er, I mean, are you well today Spark? (Gotta stick to the question rules!)

Spark: wag, wag, wag.

Q: So you’ve been with Athson since he was orphaned?

Spark: wag, wag, wag.

Q: Do other people see you?

Spark: no tail wag.

Q: Are you real?

Spark: wag, wag, wag.

Q: Is there a reason you follow Athson?

Spark twists his head sideways and lets loose a low growl.

Uh, right, we’re not getting int that now (and that question didn’t follow the rules).

Q: Let’s find out your favorite place. Do you like Auguron Forest?

Spark: wag, wag, wag.

Q: Do you like the Troll Heaths?

Spark: no tail wag

Q: Do you like Chokkra?

Spark: one, slight tail wag.

Hmm, guess he’s got an opinion that we can’t quite understand at the moment.

Q: Do you like Athson?

Spark: pants , wag, wag, wag.

Q: Do you have a deeper propose in the series?

Spark: cocks his head and growls again.

Uh, well I guess he doesn’t want to talk about that.

So that’s Spark and now you are in on the secret that not even Athson has figured out. I hope the interview was unique and fun and you’re a little intrigued with the book.

Spark appears throughout The Bow of Hart Saga. To find out more about the character, click the links for The Bow of Destiny, An Arrow Against the Wind or The White Arrow. The entire series is not available on Audible from Podium Publishing:

Amazon

 

About the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. His first novel, The Bow of Destiny was named 2016 Book of the Year by Fantasia Reviews and is the first book of The Bow of Hart Saga. The sequel novel, An Arrow Against the Wind, was released in April of 2017. The third book of the series, The White Arrow, is due to be released during the Fall of 2017. P. H. Solomon also authored the award winning short story, The Black Bag, which won best published short story at SCWC 2012. P. H. is also a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Prequel short stories to The Bow of Hart Saga:

Trading Knives – Amazon

What Is Needed – Amazon

Download and listen to the prequels for free at AudFans

   Trading Knives 1   What Is Needed 4