Here's a taste...
Across the street, mouth agape, Mrs Parker watched and wondered. A phosphorescent shimmering light blasted from the window across the road, turning everything in her line of vision a glittering blue, just for an instant. It all happened so quickly, she barely believed it. Was it an explosion? Her brain wriggled through the possibilities. There was no obvious damage. All she heard was a whooshing sound carrying voices on the wind. Was there a scream? She couldn’t remember, everything was swallowed up. She wasn’t even certain that she’d heard anything at all. It was surreal. She slumped back into her chair. Tendrils of fine grey hair clung to the tiny droplets of perspiration forming on her forehead.
What next?
Currently I am working on the first draft of my next novel. It's working title is "Return to Sender", but that has to change, because it makes no sense, I'm working on it.
My inspiration came from a true story. In 1993, a relative of mine living in Holland received a letter written in 1944 by a prisoner in a Nazi Concentration Camp. I have no idea what it contained, but had it been me, I would have done everything I could to find the rightful recipient. The story is only a germ of an idea at the moment, but the first draft is on it's way. Here's a sample.
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Thump! Annalise tossed the clump of soil onto the mahogany lid of her mother’s coffin. She stood expressionless, no tears, just the mechanics of grief moved her arm.
“I don’t even know who you were,” she whispered to the grave.
Annika Hendricks had been quite the presence; her constant self-pitying whine, mingled freely with doleful, needy looks, drove the family mad. Yes, she’d had it tough; yes, she’d seen and suffered, but did she have to display that like a military medal? No, Annalise couldn’t forgive her for the damage she’d done—pitching her children against each other and alienating her husband to the point where he just disappeared one day, presumably to help a friend. He was never seen again, it was shortly after the family had immigrated to Australia.
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An Innocent Life