The Samsara series started with an image from a dream. It was a young woman and a dog approaching a man listening to music outside of a market in the French quarter. The story evolved in an organic manner, revealing its sexuality, violence, and insanity as I walked the streets of the quarter and wrote in local coffee houses and bars.
The city calls out to those who listen; a siren song of sorts. To some, it is an inspiration and muse. To others, it is an addiction and debauchery. Wolf Howling, the first book, tells the story of a young woman and her dog as she guides Wagner to a revelation about his life, his character and nature.
To be a writer is to be a voyeur. The world reveals itself to those noticing things that exist just below the natural observation. It’s like that science experiment in 7th grade where you stay in one place and watch a two-foot square patch of grass. Writing New Orleans in like that. Pausing enough to see the deeper connections and bringing them together in a story.
Samsara blends a fast-passed narrative as a mystery unfolds in the first book, Wolf Howling. It’s my hope to bring you this story in different formats: paper and electronic copies with illustrations as well as an audio version, for those who prefer to hear their stories.
There are several inspirations for the book. I’ve always been drawn to Hemingway’s short, descriptive style as well as the existential nature of The Fall by Camus, No Exit by Sartre and Waiting for Godot by Beckett. I love a good mystery that unfolds with vibrant and diverse characters like those from Oceanic Flight 815 in the TV series LOST and the Ka-tet found in King’s Dark Tower Series.
Wolf Howling is in final production and expected to be available in print, audible, and electronic versions the summer of 2018. The second book, Catching Ophelia, is in final copy-editing and will follow shortly in the fall. I’m currently writing the third book, Oracle Gazing, while overlooking bourbon street and in search of the perfect Americano and comfortable leather chair.