I Just Jumped Off a Cliff...Without Any Safety Gear

For my birthday this year, I wanted to do something exhilarating and frightening all at once.

But I didn't want to cause any actual bodily harm.

Just do something that I would normally never do.  Something that would take me so far out of my normal comfort zone that I would remember the great 36 for a good long while.

I wasn't sure what to do.  Until my boys picked up some of my books off the dusty shelf, read them, and gave me feedback.  They told me that others should have the option to read some of my books.

Enter a complete meltdown.  It is one thing to share my books with a friend now and again, it is quite another to send my creation out into the cold, hard world.

And even more so, to send one of my favorites, but probably the least commercially viable of my stories, out into the great beyond.  I have long since known that Emberlin: A Heavenly Adventure is not a story for most people.  I take so many liberties with the afterlife that I probably tick off all people that believe in some sort of after existence.  And I paint such a detailed picture of an afterlife that I probably turn off everyone who thinks the idea of an afterlife is a joke.  Any reader would have to take the story as a fictional adventure and just roll with the world I created.

But, Emberlin was the loudest.  I would almost say shrieky, but I would hate to have her haunt me.  She demanded her literary wings.

The first draft was completed in January of 2009.  Since it is 2015, I suppose it is time to let her free.

And my two oldest boys were able to get through the story and enjoy it (although not the kissing scenes - sorry boys!) so I figured she might be readable to the genre she was created for in the first place, which is female young adult.

Emberlin is a completely fictional adventure that I had an immense amount of pleasure in creating.

Here is a brief synopsis.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "A man is not completely born until he is dead."

Emberlin Avery, bright, athletic and filled with all the potential of youth, looks upon her own empty body, a separation created by her recent, unfortunate, and untimely death and wonders, "Does anyone choose to die?"

Understanding that she is dead, but not understanding what death is, Emberlin leaves her body and ascends to Paradise Holding, a place where, even in death, adventures may be had, sorrows may come, and surprises may delight. Learning to live, even if one is dead, may be the hardest thing she will have to do in her life.

I am under no delusions that the story is perfect in any way.  I just hope that it is readable to any who are interested.  And if no one ever reads it...well...at least I can tell Emberlin that I did the best I could by her, in my own flawed way.

And in the meantime, I will be alternating between hyperventilation in a dark closet and patting myself on the back for doing something that scares the hell out of me.  Happy Birthday to me...

Check out Emberlin Here