Tag Archives: book series

Anomaly Book 2 Coming Soon!

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Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

Greetings friends! Happy New Year, now that it’s February 2! I hope you are all doing well.

So Book 2 of the series Anomaly will be coming out later this month! This book takes place a few years after the events of Book 1, Don’t Say a Word, and continues to feature Kaya, Grayson, Dr.Blake, and Graham while introducing new characters Alice, Tony, Emily, Brad, and Ponyboy (the guy pictured above, who is a very, very good boy), who will feature a ton in the whole series. Each book in this series contains a full story, beginning to end, so can be read alone, but it might be a bit confusing if you don’t read the books that come before. I also usually end my books with a very small cliffhanger, which is just a tease for the next book. So yes, I recommend you read them in order, but I think you will still be entertained if you read them as stand alones. At least the first few. But they’re better in order.

I am going to share chapter one from Book 2, which is called Blinding Justice. For those of you that read Book 1, this is the return of the prodigal father, and Kaya and Grayson’s inevitable wedding. It takes place in the late 1990s. I hope you enjoy the story!

Chapter 1

Peter stood behind the hedge surrounding the courtyard to watch the ceremony. He knew he wouldn’t be welcome by the family. His family. What used to be his family. But it had been his choice to walk away all those years ago. He had never walked away completely. He had been watching them, from afar, for years. Not in the ways of a stalker. The world had been invaded by the internet.  Information could be found online. He saw when his daughter made the cheerleading team in high school, and then when she was voted team captain during her senior year. He had found the yearly honor roll from his son’s school every year on the digital version of the town’s newspaper, and the list of names of the graduates when he finally finished school. His daughter was three years behind her brother, and then they were both at State University. Lucky for Peter, who was adept in the ways of modern technology, social media was becoming easier and easier to access. He was able to see pictures and stories on MySpace, and then Facebook. He could see his children’s activities and thoughts, at least the ones they made public. When he finally decided to make contact, he would have to urge them to be more private with who could see their information. But for now, he was glad it was available for him, so he could track their progress in life.

It was harder to track his wife. She was now his ex-wife, he knew. He could see her progress at work as she got promoted through the years, making great strides even after she was left to raise their two children on her own, with no financial assistance except the balance of their joint savings account. But the news that hit him the hardest had been the announcement in the Wisteria Weekly News. Janice had gotten engaged. And the man she was engaged to was the dentist he used to bring his children to see when they were small. The man that provided the children with a new toothbrush every six months. Maybe Janice liked the perks. Maybe Dr. Flagg polished her teeth for free. What hurts the most was thinking about what else of Janice’s he was polishing. He hadn’t left because he stopped loving his wife. He left because he did love her, and their kids. He didn’t feel like he had a choice. He didn’t really regret his choice. The children were doing great. Janice was happy. And today, on this beautiful spring day in Wisteria, his daughter was getting married.

He watched as his son walked down the aisle, escorting his mother to her seat in front, and then went back to walk his grandmothers to their seats with their husbands. The bridesmaids started their trek, and Peter shook his head in disbelief. His daughter’s friends had all grown up so much. He felt as though no time had passed, but this was the proof that it had. As if to mock him, his left knee started to ache again. He shifted his position to take some weight off of it. Soon, his son walked back down the aisle, this time on the arm of a woman he had never met, but he knew she was his daughter-in-law. They took their place at the altar. A tear started to roll down Peter’s face as he realized that his daughter-in-law was obviously very pregnant. He was going to be a grandfather soon. He had already missed so much.

The music stopped. Peter looked to the back of the aisle, and he saw his daughter. She was a vision of absolute beauty, an angel, with her chestnut hair wrapped around the back of her head, wavy tendrils framing her face, her fragile features, her beaming smile. He wasn’t close enough to see them, but he remembered her shining blue eyes. She was radiant. She was holding on to the arm of an older man whose face he couldn’t see. He braced himself to see the dentist walking his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. It was a job that should have gone to Peter, and it would have, if only he had made a different choice…but if he had made a different choice, this wedding might not have ever happened.

The music started. The Wedding March. Everyone stood as the bride made her way toward her true love. Peter tried to get a good look at the face of the dentist, only to find…it wasn’t the dentist at all. It was a man he had never seen before. He was a man of average height, with a deeply receded hairline. What was left on his head was a tufty gray fringe, and he wore a pair of lopsided round spectacles that appeared to be sliding down toward the tip of his bulbous nose. He was wearing a black tux that matched all of the other men in the wedding, but on this man, the suit looked frumpy, as if he had slept in it the night before. The man stumbled slightly, and Peter’s daughter caught his arm. They looked at each other and giggled before continuing their walk. When they made it to the altar, the groom stepped forward to meet them. His daughter kissed the older man on the cheek, took the groom’s hand, and went the last few steps to stand in front of the justice of peace, to be finally joined in holy matrimony. The ceremony progressed, and then came to its conclusion. The bride and groom kissed, everyone applauded, and the wedding party receded back up the aisle. Peter wiped the tears from his eyes. They were tears of joy, and tears of loss.

Peter Reed had lost years with his family. They were years that he spent searching, trying to find out the truth about himself, and by extension, his family. He did what he felt he had to, to protect them, and to be completely honest, himself. It made sense that they had all moved on. They had to. He wanted that for them. They were not obligated to stay in stasis until he returned. He wasn’t even sure he was ready to return. He only wanted to watch, and maybe establish some sort of brief contact…

“Hey, you, what are you doing back there?”

Peter turned to look behind him. There was a man in the formal clothing of a catering staff. He was holding a sealed trash bag in each hand, apparently bringing them out to the dumpster nearby. “I…uh, I’m just…”

“I told the other guy that came by earlier the family said we could leave any leftovers out on the south side of the venue after everyone leaves. But in the meantime, you need to clear out.” He turned to leave but then turned back quickly. “Oh, will you all be needing utensils? I can make sure we leave you some plastic forks and knives. And maybe some disposable napkins if you want.”

“I don’t…I guess…”

The man shook his head. “Listen,” he said apologetically. “I understand. I’ve been through some hard times myself. It’s hard to believe that our country has come to this, especially in a place like Wisteria. I’m sorry they don’t let you guys stay in the shelter during the daytime hours. I can’t imagine it’s easy to have to wander around all day. At least there are some shady trees at the park. If it gets too hot, I think the community center has an air-conditioned area where you can go and rest and get something cold to drink. And then come back later for the food. Probably around six?”

Peter stared at the man, and then he nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Yeah, thank you. You’ve been very generous. I’ll…I’ll just go.” He turned back toward the courtyard and took one more look. He saw her, his daughter. Kaya. She was standing on the lawn, talking to the dentist. The dentist had his hand on her elbow. On her right was the groom. His name was Grayson Pike. His son-in-law. Peter swallowed. He took one more sweeping look over the group of guests at the reception. There was Janice, his ex-wife, talking to Peter’s own parents, Tom and Candice. They all laughed. It made him happy to see them still being friendly with each other. Janice had never done anything wrong. She deserved to have their love and support. Maybe they had even befriended the dentist. And there, sitting at another table, was Graham, his first-born child. Graham had become a man. He was sitting next to his wife. Her name was Gina. She had her hand on her protruding belly, and she was smiling. The older man, the one who had walked his daughter down the aisle, was sitting at the same table, and he was talking. He was also looking around, as if he had lost something. Then he bent down and looked under the table. He came back up and shrugged. Graham and Gina laughed. Peter turned away. He was intruding here. He had to leave. If he didn’t leave now…he took a few steps forward.

“Hey!”

Peter stopped, but he didn’t turn around. 

“Hey! You! Stop.”

Peter took another step toward the street, praying his face had been shielded well enough by his baseball cap.

“I said stop! Come on! I can’t run in these heels. Give me a break.”

Peter took a breath, and closed his eyes. Then he opened them again, and turned around. And there she stood, about twenty feet away. He took off his hat.

She ran up to the edge of the courtyard, looking over the hedge at the sidewalk. When he looked at her, she stopped in her tracks, her mouth agape, eyes focused on the sight before her. A full minute passed as they stared at each other. Just as she went to take a step toward him, her new husband was at her side. “Kaya, what is it?” he asked, putting his hand on her arm.

She looked at him, and then back at Peter. She pointed. “Him,” she said.

“That’s the guy I saw behind the bushes during the ceremony,” Grayson said. “I’ll go talk to him.” He took a few steps toward the sidewalk, but Kaya grabbed his arm.

“Grayson,” she said softly. “No.” She held his arm tightly. “I…I need to go. Grayson…I thought he was just some creepy guy, gawking at us, but…that’s…I think that’s…”

“I’m  her father,” Peter said, taking a step toward her.

Kaya continued to stare, and then a sly smile spread across her face. “I knew you’d come,” she said. “I told Graham, years ago. I told him you’d come to my wedding, and you’d watch me get married, and then we’d talk…” She reached out toward him.

Peter quickly took a step back. “No, Kaya,” he said. “No. Not yet.”

Kaya jerked back, her arm still outstretched. She looked at her hand. “I…oh my God.” She dropped her arm to her side. “So it’s true,” she whispered.

“What’s true?” Grayson asked. He looked up and glared at Peter. “This is the absolute worst time that you could have shown up, Mr. Reed. This is our wedding day.”

Kaya nodded slowly, looking at her feet. “It’s the happiest day of my life.”

Grayson looked at her. “Kaya, what do you want me to do?” he asked, desperate to do something. “How can I help you?”

Kaya looked at him gratefully. “Go get Graham, babe,” she said. “But don’t tell him why. Just tell him I need him right now.”

Grayson nodded. He looked at Peter one more time, shooting him a warning look. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and he jogged away.

“He’s great,” Peter said. “I can tell. He really loves you.”

Kaya laughed bitterly. “So you don’t even need to touch him to tell, huh? I guess your skills are really advanced.”

Peter smiled at his daughter, although confused by her words. “You don’t need any special skills,” he told her, “to be able to see when a man is madly in love with your daughter. I could see it in every part of him. You did great, Kaya.”

“And you remember my name.” 

That statement ripped at Peter’s heart. “Your name,” he said. “I chose it, you know. Your mother had no idea what to name you. She was reading out loud from this baby name book she had taken out of the library. When she read off Kaya, I suddenly remembered a trip I had taken to Jamaica during spring break in college. These local guys were walking around the beach, trying to sell pot to tourists. They called it kaya. So when your mother said the name, it hit me funny, and I told her that was the name I wanted. I didn’t tell her why at first. She just thought it was pretty.”

“Everyone thinks it’s pretty,” Kaya said. “Some people ask me if it’s Hawaiian. I looked it up. It actually is a Hawaiian word. It means the sea. I think I like that better than meaning pot in Jamaican.”

Peter laughed. “Do you like the sea? Have you ever been?”

“No, “she said, rubbing her arms with her hands, as if she was cold. “I plan to, though, someday.”

Peter nodded. “We have so much to catch up on.”

Grayson ran back over. “Graham is coming,” he said. “He didn’t want to leave Gina alone, so he was bringing her over to your mom.” He turned to Peter. “She’s almost at full term,” he said. 

Peter could tell that Grayson was trying to convey a message to him. The message was, “This is my territory. These are my people. You don’t belong here. Watch your step.” He nodded. “I could see her earlier. She looks beautiful.”

Kaya looked toward the courtyard as her brother walked calmly over to the small group. “What’s up, Ky?” he asked. “Are those homeless guys from before bothering you again?” He looked toward the man on the sidewalk. At first, it appeared that he hadn’t made the connection. Then he looked back again and nodded. “Hello, Dad,” he said, still remaining calm.

“Hello, Graham,” he said. “Congratulations on the wife and baby.”

Graham nodded. “Thank you,” he said. He turned to Kaya. “Do you want me to…do anything right now?”

Kaya looked back and forth between her brother and her father. “He doesn’t want me to touch him,” she said.

Graham thought for a moment. “So we were right then.”

Peter watched his son’s face. “What were you right about?” he asked quizzically.

“You have the skill,” Graham said.

“What skill?” Peter asked.

“Oh for God’s sake, Dad,” Kaya exclaimed. “You know very well what skill.”

“Maybe I do,” Peter answered. “But maybe what some people call a skill, others call a curse.”

“And that’s why you left me to deal with the curse all by myself?” Kaya snapped.

Grayson stepped up. “I really don’t think this is the right time to get into this.” He turned to Graham for support.

Graham nodded. “Dad, I’m not sure what to do or say right now. Kaya suspected a long time ago that you would appear at her wedding,  behind the bushes. You did exactly that. I also remember her telling me that when you did show up at her wedding, she wouldn’t be angry, and she wouldn’t turn you away.” He looked at Kaya. “Remember that, Kaya? You said that you would listen to what he had to say.”

Kaya’s face softened. “I did say that.” 

“Kaya!” a female voice called out. “The photographer needs you.”

Kaya looked back at Peter. “This is my wedding day,” she said. “I…I guess I’m glad you showed up. It’s like you fulfilled a prophecy. But like Grayson said, this is not the time or place to get into this conversation. I do want to talk to you.  We have a lot to catch up on.” She reached for Grayson’s hand.

“Wait!” Peter called out quickly. He didn’t want the moment to end. He wanted to gaze at his daughter in her wedding dress for just a little bit longer. “Who was that guy, the one that walked you down the aisle? I know it wasn’t Steve Flagg.”

Graham shook his head. “You know about Steve?” he asked. “Well, I guess if you know about Kaya and Grayson getting married, you’d know about Mom and Steve’s engagement.”

“That’s Dr. Blake,” Kaya said. “He’s a close family friend. Graham and I met him at State. He’s…helped us a lot over the past few years. He’s been, well, like a father to me. I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d want to walk me down the aisle. And Dr. Blake, well, he knows things. About me. About us.” She motioned to her brother. “And I guess, by association, about you, too.”

Peter winced. “About me? What about me? What does this man know?”

Grayson spoke up. “Listen, Mr. Reed…”

“Peter, please.”

Grayson nodded. “Peter. We have pictures to take, and people to greet. Graham, can you…”

Graham nodded. “You two go back. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” 

Kaya gave Peter one last faint smile, and then walked away with her husband, hand in hand. 

Peter looked at Graham. There was so much he wanted to know, including what this Dr. Blake knew about his family, but right now, his son was standing right in front of him, all grown up. His face relaxed. “You must be close to six feet tall,” he said.

Graham laughed awkwardly. “Five-ten,” he said. “I think these shoes give me a little bit of extra height. I never got as tall as you, or even Grandpa.” He looked more carefully at his father. “I guess it’s a good thing for me that male pattern baldness comes from the mother’s side of the family, huh?”

Peter’s hand went straight to the top of his head. “It’s not that,” he said. “It’s just some thinning on top. Most of it has grown back.” He chuckled. “It started during a stressful period of time in my life, soon after I left…Wisteria. I started to pull some of it out methodically, when I was anxious. There’s actually a name for it. Trichotillomania.”

“Huh,” Graham said. “Is it hereditary?”

“I don’t think so.” Peter took a step onto the lawn, closer to his son. “Some things are just learned.”

Graham nodded. “I’m in school to become a psychologist,” he said. “I’ve been working in research for a few years, but now I’m back in grad school. It’s a bit different than that path you took.”

“To say the least,” Peter said. “I guess advertising isn’t for the faint of heart. But you’ve done well, Graham. I’ve followed your progress since high school.”

Graham looked at the ground. “I always wondered if you knew what we were up to.” He looked back up. “Internet?”

Peter nodded. “Internet. Son, I have to say I’m very proud of you. Of both you and Kaya. You’ve really done well. I was a bit skeptical when I saw that Kaya had been working for the police, and was planning on attending the police academy. I’m both proud and scared for her. She’s a brave girl.”

“Woman,” Graham corrected. “She’s easily the bravest person I’ve ever known.” He turned back to look at the crowd at the reception. He caught sight of Gina, still talking to his mother and her fiancé. “So do you want to wait, or do you want to talk about the elephant in the courtyard right now?”

Peter felt a palpitation in his chest. “The elephant?” he asked. “What elephant are you referring to?”

Graham smiled in amusement. “I might still be young, Dad,” he said, “but I’m not stupid. It might have taken us a long time to figure out what was going on with Kaya, and most likely with you, but we did figure it out eventually, and the hard way. Dad, Dr. Blake has found out that Kaya has the anomaly. I’ve been tested, and I have it too, but it doesn’t express itself the way Kaya’s does. We’re assuming we got the anomaly from your side of the family, but we’d have to do some testing to know for certain. We’d probably want to consider bringing in Grandma and Grandpa, too.”

Peter looked at Graham, his eyes wide. “Son,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re gonna have to enlighten me. Because you’re saying a lot of things here. A lot of confusing things. And to be honest with you, I have no idea what in the hell you’re going on about.”

I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek at my new book, and that you will look for it on Amazon, KU, and Barnes and Noble later this month. It will also be available on Ingram Spark in case you want to order it at your favorite book store. Be sure to check my social media pages for more information!

Facebook: Debby Meltzer Quick Author

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Email: debbymeltzerquickauthor@dbmquick817

Book 4 Launch!

McKinney High Class of 1986, McKinney High Class of 1986, mental health, self-publishing, The Stories That Must Be Told, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This one seems like it’s been a long time coming. Book 4 of the McKinney High Class of 1986 series! And of all the seven books in the series, I have to say that this one is my favorite. I think every author has at least one book that they have written that seemed to flow out of them like water down the falls. I barely had to think, and the words appeared on the page. It’s possible this is the book have been meant to write all along. Afterall, I’m a social worker. I’ve worked with some people who have had really bad things happen to them, and have come out on the other side, sometimes somewhat dented or broken. We’ve all had things happen to us that we’ve thought might break us for good. I know I have. This is a story about two young people who experience some bad things, and then some more bad things, until they actually do break. But then they have to find all of their own pieces, and with help, put themselves back together again. This isn’t a book about being saved by love. It’s a book about finding love after saving yourself.

Meet Darlene Feinman

Darlene and Kim Drake have known each other since they were babies. Their mothers are best friends. They were pretty much inseparable as preschoolers. They started kindergarten together, and were placed in different classes. Darlene made a new friend, Michelle, and she felt loved and accepted by Michelle. Over the years, things change between the three girls, and the power differential shifts. Darlene has to make some decisions based on loyalty and making sure that she makes everyone happy. But Darlene has a secret. Everything is really not as wonderful as she leads everyone, including her own mother, to believe. The world is wearing Darlene down, but damn if she ever lets anyone in on what’s going on inside her head. She divides her time between the homes of her mother, who is supportive and giving but oblivious to what is going on, and her father, who is demanding and critical of her every move. She is an only child, so she is often left to her own devises, with her own thoughts. She develops a set of coping skills to help her get through, but sometimes, they just make things worse. As Darlene navigates life in high school, college, and beyond, she must figure things out, and make some major changes, before things go drastically wrong. She feels a sense of loyalty to her friends, and she must honor her promise to one of them that she will do whatever it takes to stay safe. Then she meets someone, and it is like she is hit by lightning. She is finally at a place in her life where she feels she can make good decision, but sometimes, emotions make it impossible to think straight. She will again turn to her friends for advice. Maybe it’s never too late to find happiness in a world that has treated you cruelly in the past.

Meet Stavos Karras

Stavros endured a horrendous loss at a very young age. He had to learn to adjust to go on with his life and help to take care of his infant sister. He has been loved and cared for by his parents, and taught to appreciate kindness and gentle words. But when he experiences another loss as a young adult, he has to learn how to cope. He makes many choices that lead him in a direction that he didn’t originally anticipate. He must use great determination to get himself back on the right path. With the help of his beloved family, he does his best to put the pieces back together. Then, out of nowhere, a new woman falls into his life, and she has had just as many, if not more, challenges than he had. Can Stavros continue to look after his own well-being, while also supporting a wonderful, fragile woman, who might just be the true love of his life?

This story spans 25 years, from the time before Darlene was born, to when both of the main characters are in their mid-twenties. Although they both have relationships throughout the book, they do not meet until the end of part 6. Slow burn? Maybe a little. Second chance romance? Maybe a lot!

Also starring all of your old McKinney High friends, Sally and James, Kim and Carl, Michelle and Chris, and Traci. And introducing the Karras family:

Rebel Karras

Rebel (short for Rebecca) Karras is the wife of Andreas and the mother of Stavros and Drea. She is originally from Pittsburg, but moved to Amherst, MA, after marrying Andreas, for his job at the university. There, Rebel attends classes, and gets a degree in philosophy. She is beloved by her fellow students, and she often brings baby Stavros with her to class and study groups. She cherishes the tine she spends with Stavros, often taking him on long walks, and teaching him to cook food from his Greek and Jewish heritage. Rebel struggles as the Vietnam war rages on, and young men are returned hoe from the war in coffins. She grieves for the losses, and wants to do whatever she can to make the world a better place. She tells Stavros stories, the stories that must be told and passes on through the generations. She reads to him, and when he learns to read, she gets him books to help him learn to be a better person. She would do anything for her children, up to and including the ultimate sacrifice.

Andreas Karras

Andreas is Stavros’s father. He lives in the house he bought along with his wife to raise their family, Stavros and daughter Drea. He is a teacher of Greek literature, true to his Greek heritage. He has a large family that lives in Pittsburg. He is the only male sibling. His sisters can be demanding, but also very kind and helpful. Andreas does not spend much time and attention in choosing his clothing. He often wears blazers with patches on the elbows. He is very wise, and a very patient father. He helps his children learn their own lessons, and he supports them unconditionally. He has endured a lot of loss and pain, but he never lets it slow him down. He would do anything for his children. He takes care of them while encouraging them to learn to care for themselves.

Drea Karras

Drea Karras is the daughter of Andreas and Rebel Karras. She was born during a very difficult period of their lives. She doesn’t know anything different than the life she has lived, and she has been very happy. But she has a lot of questions. For answers, she turns to her brother Stavros, six years older than her and her biggest fan. Stavros and Drea are very close, and are always there for each other. Drea needs her brother and her father very much as she grows up and learns some truths about herself that are difficult to handle, and they are both there for her every step of the way. Drea moves on through life having many experiences and making new friends, but she never imagines that one day she is going to meet the person of her dreams, and fall for them with one short glance. And this person will connect her with the group of friends from McKinney High for the rest of her life.

And now meet…Lindi Leahy

Lindi is a young girl in junior high when she meets Stavros through their mutual friend, Deanna. They become friends, and then they become more. They spend almost their whole high school years together, and Stavros anticipates that their love will last forever. But as all good things, this must come to an end. In this case, it’s Lindi who says goodbye, due to her move to college across the country, and some demons that have lived in her head, and have only gotten worse in the last year. The last thing Lindi wants is to hurt Stavros… You will be able to read Lindi’s full story in the future, in my next book series (it’s actually already written, but won’t come out for some time!).

I hope you have a chance to read this book, and I hope it gives you all the feels, like it does me. If you do love it, please write a review, and then go back and read the first three books, if you haven’t already!

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

And here’s the link to the new book, at least the ebook version and Kindle Unlimited! Look for the paperback version tomorrow:

What’s Coming Next?

Anomaly, I Just Can't Say I Love You, May I Have Your Attention Please, McKinney High Class of 1986, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Any new book releases? Any new news? Both, of course!

Remember James and Sally from May I Have Your Attention Please? They were in for quite a shock on the first day of junior year of high school, when Sally returned from private school, had an early morning run-in with James, and the fabric of the whole universe was changed for them both. We followed them through a year of discovery, finding love and their place in the world.

At the same time, Kim and Carl were struggling to get past their challenging childhoods and letting themselves fall for each other fall hard in I Just Can’t Say I Love You. They took a chance on each other, leaving their lifetime homes and everything they knew behind them to venture out west. Along the way, they found themselves learning about what loyalty and happiness meant, and they learned who they could really trust with their hearts, and their lives.

And then there was Chris, in Absolutely and Totally Smitten. He was the ultimate rebel, king of the Bad Boy Posse. Suddenly, everything changed, and Chris found himself alone and confused. None of his old habits and skills could get him out of this one. But one thing he still had were his friends. And he a was amazed when one day, in college, one of those friends became something so much more to him. But was he in any place to open his heart again and let love in? Or would he only be facing a world of pain, maybe even one of his own design?

So what comes next for the friends of McKinney High Class of 1986?

Get ready to meet Stavros. He doesn’t go to McKinney High. He doesn’t even live in Eastboro. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even meet anyone from Eastboro until years after high school. So what is he doing in this series? I’ll tell you what: Stavros is getting ready to overcome one of the worst traumas that can occur in childhood. He is able to try to live his life like normal, not knowing that normal just doesn’t apply to his life. And when everything finally blows up after graduation, Stavros is left in pieces, not knowing how to cope. He makes some decisions that lead him down a very dangerous and destructive path, one he will have to spend years trying to dig himself out of.

In the meantime, Darlene is struggling with her day-to-day life in Eastboro, making friends in elementary school, faking her way through social issues in junior high, and coming close to crashing when something horrible happens to her at junior prom. But Darlene must always keep the smile on her face. She must show the world that everything is just fine, especially her mother. And she must follow the path that her father set in motion for her life years earlier. Inside, she is dying, but somehow, she keeps going. It’s all good until she finally collapses in college, leading to suspicion from her mother. She still powers forward, getting through to graduation, and even into the working world. It’s not until she starts the path to graduate school that the one event that could make her break occurs and puts her out of commission. From that day on, Darlene must work to save herself, and to prove to herself that she is worthy of saving.

What happens when at last Stavros and Darlene meet? What can they possibly offer each other? Are they too broken to let love into their lives, or can love help them to continue in their own recovery journeys?

Coming in September: The Stories That Must Be Told. The story of loss, self-destruction, and final redemption. And overall, learning to let love into your heart, no matter how scary it might be. It might just be the best thing that ever happens to you.

In other writing new:

Coming this September: Don’t Say A Word is coming out in an audio format! I’m so excited to let you all know about this! I have had so many requests for audio versions of my books. This is the first try. I am very pleased to have found a wonderful, experienced narrator, making me feel a lot less nervous about the process. More to come on this venture soon!

COMING IN DECEMBER:

Book 2 of the Anomaly series, called Blinding Justice. Kaya and Graham are back, along with Grayson, Dr. Blake, and a whole new group of characters with various skills and abilities. I don’t want to give away too much right now, but just know this: Kaya is NOT the only person in the world who can do what she does…or other things. And we will be meeting some of them in this book. I can’t wait until you start to meet the gang. I love these characters like they were my own friends, which makes sense, since I’m actually currently writing book 13 of this series!

More to come as all of these releases get closer. If you have any questions, you can contact me. I’d be happy to tell you more about these series, and these dynamic characters!

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

And here is the link to my new book, Don’t Say a Word

7 Books, 7 Authors, 1 Launch Day!

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May 25th is the Big Day!

Shar’s Story by Leya Layne

Dead Inside by Piper Anderson

Masque by Tink Mauveen

Don’t Say a Word by Debby Meltzer Quick

Feathers of Truth by Britton Brinkley

Bryce by Ashley Willow

Echoes of the Rose Gracie Cooper

Seven books by seven authors, various genres. We have all gotten together and decided to do a massive book launch. We have all been through this journey together, and want to see it through!

Please consider checking out one or all of the titles!

I’m very excited to be associated with the other six women in this group. I have known Leya Layne for some time, as we are in a writing sprint group together every Sunday morning, and she has introduced me to the other ladies listed above. They are all very talented writers with amazing imaginations! I am honored to be a part of this project!

We will be posting more information this week on our social media pages, culminating in a live launch party on TikTok at various times throughout the time zones of our fine country! For the Pacific region, it will most likely be around 1:30, but I will update as needed.

I am really pumped about releasing book 1 in my new series, Anomaly. Book 1 is an introduction to the continuing story of Kaya and her group of friends, The Merry Misfits, The Anobalies, or the Opposite Horsemen, as they dub themselves at varies times in the series! They are fun, witty, intelligent, and quite skilled. Learn what brings them together, to become the closest of friends and allies, and why you want to always be on their side, never against them. For your own sake!

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

And here is the link to my new book, Don’t Say a Word:

Sometimes I Screw Up

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Photo by Liza Summer on Pexels.com

ADHD is a much bigger part of my life than I give it credit for. I’ve most likely suffered from it since elementary school, or even before, but it went without formal diagnosis until I was in my 30s. That’s pretty common for women of a certain age. My age. We had no idea that we had something going on that was beyond our control. It was always explained as a character defect, and we believed it. At least I did. I thought I was lazy, because I couldn’t self-start. I spent a lot of time sitting on the couch, watching TV, because that took no planning, and no skill, really. Well, at least until they invented remote controls, and then even more complicated remote controls. And they you had 4 of them for the various devices attached to the TV, and if you hit the wrong button, you could never turn on the TV again, or you messed up the cable channels, and you couldn’t find your shows, or…

(Going off on tangents is a symptom of ADHD, BTW)

I made it into adulthood without absent mindedly falling through a manhole into the center of the earth. I still find that hard to believe. I think I’ve run into a few metal poles because I wasn’t paying attention. *Rubs forehead delicately* But I made it. Here I am! I still struggle. The struggle is very, very real. Only now I know that it’s not my fault. But now that I know it’s not my fault, it’s my responsibility to get over that fact and do what I can to make it better. To let go of the guilt and self-blame and do the work. I took a great class on ADHD at Kaiser Portland via telehealth during the COVID shutdowns. It was fantastic. The instructor didn’t tell me all the stuff I already knew. She told me stuff based on evidence. Not only about my affliction, but also about things that can be done to make it better. Exercise. Good food choices. Sleep. For some people, medication. There’s stuff you can do to your vagal nerve to stimulate it and decrease anxiety. You can practice mindfulness. You can make schedules, and post little reminder notes for yourself all over your house so you don’t forget to make that important phone call that you couldn’t make over the weekend because the place was closed. I personally email myself to my work email to tell myself to make the stupid phone call. Otherwise, I don’t think about it until I get home after work, see the empty prescription bottle on my table, and slap myself in the forehead in frustration. So yeah, lots of stuff you can try. You can also remind yourself that you’re not faulty because you forgot something. You can explain to others that you’re not faulty, while still taking responsibility for your actions. ADHD is not an excuse…it might explain why you did something, but then you have to come up with a plan so that you can show it won’t happen again. But the most important thing to remember is, you’re not faulty. You really aren’t.

Sometimes, I feel faulty. And that’s okay. It really is. Not in the moment. In the moment, it feels like crap and I’m full of nasty things to say about myself and what I did or didn’t do. No one can beat me up any better than I can beat myself up. And you know what happens when you beat yourself up for something that you just did? Your memory of all the other things you ever screwed up on in your whole life pops into your head, and you beat yourself up for those things, too. Man, I’m kind of a bitch! Never get on my bad side! I can be very mean. To myself.

But then, later, I remember. My brain works differently than those of many people in our society, the people who made the rules about how our brains should work. Then I just get mad at them. We’re not all alike. We all have our own ways. We need to celebrate the way we think, and how it makes us special. Without my special brain, I would never have written 20 books, and now be writing number 21. I wouldn’t be able to have the singular focus it takes to sit there on my couch with my computer, day after day, typing, creating stories, and bringing them to life. I’m not a planner, as I’ve said. It’s too hard for me to sit down and complete an outline, and then stick to said outline. So every time I sit down, I have no more idea of what will happen next in my stories than you do. It’s always a surprise. I love reading back what I wrote. “Oh!” I exclaim to myself. “That’s pretty good! I wrote that? What will I write next? I can’t wait to find out!”

But then I do stupid things. Like last month. I was planning my release of my third book, Absolutely and Totally Smitten, and in preparation for the release, I ordered 20 copies of the book, to sell at the launch event. Well, they never showed up. Grr. I was upset, because I really wanted to have them there. But my guests bought copies of my first 2 books, which was nice, so the day was a success. A week later, the books still hadn’t arrived on my doorstep. Curious, I went to the web site to see what was going on. And of course, what I found out was…I had filled in the order, but I had never hit the last button, the one to send the order in. Oh Lord. I should have known. I rolled my eyes at myself, pushed the button, and closed to the computer, laughing at my silly ADHD antics. Then I moved on with life.

Well, yesterday, they finally arrived! Finally! I took to the box with a pair of scissors and wrestled with the packing tape. I finally got the tape off and readied myself for the reveal of…20 copies of the wrong book. Groan. Yes, in my haste, I had pushed the order button on the wrong book, my first book, titled May I Have Your Attention Please, a book that I already have a bunch of copies of. Well, okay, I’m pretty sure I could sell some more copies of it, so I won’t return them. I went on the website again today, found the order I had started for the correct book, and completed that order. AND HIT THE SEND BUTTON. And then I beat myself up. Just once. JUST ONCE I would like to find that it was a mistake at the publisher. Yes, this is not the first time I have completed a task without checking the details before hitting send. I mean, yeah, right????

So all that being said, does anyone want a signed copy of May I Have Your Attention Please? Because, I just so happen to have a few on hand!

$16 USD for the book, and $4 for shipping (US only). So $20 for a signed copy that someday, may be worth, well, less than $16! If you’re in Portland, hit me up, and I can bring it to you personally!

Let me know. I’ll send one to you. Real quick. If I don’t forget! Damn ADHD!

My books can be found here.

Have a great week, y’all!

…And a Happy New Year!

holidays, I Just Can't Say I Love You, May I Have Your Attention Please, McKinney High Class of 1986, self-publishing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Photo by Todd Trapani on Pexels.com

Hello all of you out there in blog land. I wish you all a happy holiday season. My holiday is over. Chanuka was early this year. But I get to have some fun with my spouse and his family on Christmas day, and there will be food and presents. It should be fun. There’s always a good amount of chocolate, which makes any day complete.

The year is also coming to an end, and it’s a good time to review what I have accomplished in the past twelve months. I think it has been a wonderfully productive year for me. I have put out two books into the world, and I’m getting ready to set number 3 free. Book sales have been fair. I mean, they’re good, but would be better if I had a publicist. But it’s just like anything else. People don’t buy things they don’t know about. Maybe next year I’ll invest more money into marketing (and Powerball). But whatever the case, I can feel really proud about what I’ve done. I’ve also made some friends on social media, and that has been wonderful. I have two lovely ladies that I do a writing sprint group with at the butt crack of dawn every Sunday (they are in other time zones, so it’s not as early for them). There are also some folks on Facebook who have read my book, and I have read their books, and there’s just a love fest going on. I have read basic love stories, why-choose books that include alien invasions, space soap operas, and some that just evade description. I have made enough progress on my Facebook business page that I am now getting paid for making popular posts (not enough to make a living, but money is money, and free money is the best!). I have gotten much better at creating videos for TikTok. It has taken A LOT of practice!

A few other things: I changed jobs in July, and I am now going in to an office every day. In my mind that marks the end of the pandemic. I love my new job. I loved my old job as well, but I missed the companionship of being around other people who do the same work that I do. I hope to never work from home again.

I’m doing some private supervision for people who are working toward getting their social work licenses. I love this stuff. I love it better than doing therapy, which I don’t love so much. I don’t hate it, but it’s not really my thing. But I love helping to shape the minds of new social workers. I have been doing this work for 25 years. I’m glad I can share my knowledge and enthusiasm.

I attended a wedding in New Jersey, and had a lovely visit back home in Massachusetts. There are two more weddings coming up in the next year, bringing me to the total of 4 nieces and nephews getting married in 2 years. Aside from getting stuck in NY for three days on the way home and Jet Blue sucking with its customer service, everything went really well on the trip.

I started writing outside of my usual genre. I’m currently writing a book that’s what could be described as an urban fantasy. It has just a touch of un-realism, enough to make it seem like it could exist in the real world. I’m not sure if I’d call it young adult, but young adults could easily read it. I can see potential for a 4-book series here.

I finished my second series of coming-of-age romance books set in the 1980s, and also take place in the same “world.” Actually, world is a strong word. They are all attached to each together in some way, but each story is unique, even within each series. It feels amazing to have completed 14 books. I am hoping that I can release more than two per year going forward. That would take a very long time!

I guess that’s about it for now. I’m sure there’s more to report, but this is enough to share for now. I hope everyone has had a wonderful year, and has great Christmas and New Years (if you celebrate…otherwise, happy something, or happy nothing).

Photo by Shivkumar Sd on Pexels.com

My new book, title not released yet, will be coming out on February 14, 2024. Keep your eyes open for it. It’s a bit different than the first two. A little more twists and turns to get to the love part. That’s what’s so fun about it! Here’s a small clue:

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!-Anniversary

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Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com

Happy Thanksgiving to my not-IRL friends! This is also a big anniversary for me. It was two years ago this November that I had the dream that led me to start to write my first book. It was a vivid dream, one I can still see in my head if I concentrate hard enough. I was back in school, and it was high school. But it wasn’t my high school. I was at the public high school in my hometown. Somehow or other, I had ended up back at public high school after a year at private school. I was in the cafeteria, and I had finished my lunch. I was dumping my trash in the garbage can, when suddenly a boy I had not seen since I was in junior high approached me and asked me if it hurt. When I inquired about what would be hurting, he answered with a crooked smile, “when you fell from heaven.” In my dream, that pickup line led to a whirlwind relationship, and I got flashes of the next two years and how wonderful it was. I was so happy that I had gone back to public school. The dream was heading for happily ever after, when suddenly, a voice over spoke. “But none of this ever happened,” it said in a flowery but professional female voice, “because someone was out sick that day and the two never met by the garbage cans.

I don’t know if any Star Trek fans read my blog, but if so, do you remember the classic Next Generation episode where Jean-Luc Picard gets zapped by an alien probe, and ends up living decades on a strange planet, including having a wife, children, and grandchildren, and even learning how to play the flute, until he was a very old man, and he was returned to his ship, only to find that only 25 minutes had passed? Yeah, that’s kind of how it felt for me when I woke up from this dream. It had seemed so real, so vivid, that I had to sit there for a minute and remind myself that I graduated from high school, and not a public one, 35 years earlier! I was a bit disoriented, and couldn’t stop thinking about the dream for days.

It wasn’t the content of the dream so much, but the feelings it brought. I felt like I had missed something. There have been several times over the years when I have wondered what my life would have been like if I had gone to public school. Who would I have been friends with? The same people from junior high, or some other people from other junior highs that all converged on the same high school? Would I have met some new boy in high school, and would we have hit it off? Maybe whoever he was, he was at a private school somewhere thinking the same thing as me, about what it would have been like if things had gone differently.

I could have let it go right there, but actually, I couldn’t. I was anxious. We had just started with the Omicron variant of COVID, and things were not looking up with the world at that moment. I was stuck at home, working a job that I felt I could perform better with in-person collaboration, especially with my ADHD. I was craving change, something different. My family was doing the best they could. My poor daughter was stuck doing on-line school, which was not the best plan for her, and my retired husband was trying to keep the house together and also respect my need for quiet and confidentiality while I worked. Poor guy. And there I was, sitting in my tiny little home office, which was more like a glorified closet with windows on the far side of our bedroom. With a desk and a bookshelf in there, there was barely room to push back my chair, and my bed was two feet away, reminding me every moment that I was not in the office, and I had just crawled out of the covers right there only hours before, and would return there later that night. I HATED working from home. And there was no end in sight.

I mentioned before that I had been knitting, and I ended up completing 42 hats. That’s a lot of hats. They were in piles on a table near the front door, and my husband kept asking me what I was going to do with them. They kept falling over. I had no idea what to do with them. But then, the dream. I couldn’t stop thinking about the dream. The feelings. The not knowing. It was pushing at my brain. So one day, I decided to do something about it.

I started to write it down. I created some people. There was the girl, Sally, who had left her friends and gone to private school, to find her way, and see if it was a better fit for her than private school. Her parents had given her a choice, and she had decided. Then there was James. James was slightly troubled. He had difficulty with focus, and a brother with lots of problems. James represented the unknown to Sally. I had to give them a slight back story, so I did. They were acquainted in junior high, but he was a bad boy, and she was, uh, well, she hadn’t figured out what she was yet at the time. But somehow, she had some kind of connection with the bad boys.

And that’s where reality ended. When Sally meets James again in the hallway of McKinney High on the first day of school, every bit of that book becomes fiction. Sally and James set the stage and told me what needed to happen. Characters do that. They tell you about themselves, and when you put them together, they tell you what they are like together. You can write something else, but it won’t work. There is a chemistry, and if your characters have it, you have to go with it. You. Have. No. Choice. But I’m glad. Because Sally and James’s chemistry worked. It worked well for them, and for me. And the next thing you know, there’s a really long story about Sally and James. And my dream is satisfied.

The only problem, of course, is that once May I Have Your Attention Please was completed, Sally and James told me something else, something new, something unexpected. Their story was over, sort of, but there were lots of other stories to tell, and I already knew the characters. They were Sally and James’s friends, the ones that supported them, and helped them to make it all happen. They all had stories. And I had to tell them.

So I did. I wrote six more books in the series, each of them featuring supportive characters that were present in the hotel room on the night of junior prom. Junior prom. Something I didn’t go to, but Sally did. And it was the most wonderful time of her young life. I’m happy for Sally. And for James. They had it easy, and they found love.

As the series progresses, things are not so easy for all of the other characters. Kim and Carl have a tough time getting it together in Book 2, I Just Can’t Say I Love You. And some of the other characters don’t even end up with who they started with, as you will see in Book 3, coming in February. In Book 4, our female lead doesn’t even really have a high school boyfriend, and in Book 5, the female lead has more than one, but is not who we thought she was. Books 6 and 7 will surprise you, and if you’re anything like me, they’ll make you cry just a little.

I am now working on another series, which is in the same time period, but not featuring our McKinney High friends. They are there in some of the books as minor characters, but this series introduces you to new players, and new settings, including New York, Delaware, and Colorado (Eastboro is still in there, though. I love Eastboro). I’m on book 7 of 7 now, so I’m about to have to figure out what I’m doing next. I might leave the 1980s and Eastboro all together, and maybe try a completely different genre. Maybe add some magical touches. Only time, and my imagination, will tell.

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

Enjoy your holiday that has nothing to do with turkeys, and make the most of being with your family, whether the one you were assigned at birth, or the one you have chosen for yourself.

.

Book 2 is Coming! Book 2 is Coming!

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It’s coming soon! My new book, book 2 in the series, “McKinney High Class of 1986, ” I Just Can’t Say I Love You! I’m so excited about this! Launching Book 1 was exciting and stressful. And launching Book 2 is, well, stressful and exciting! It definitely was less scary. I mean the whole process. I was so terrified to send my files to the distributors the first time, like something I did would break the whole system and steal all my money. I had to actually go to Best Buy last time to have them help me load one of my files due to the imbedded fonts. This time, everything went through almost much too easily. I’ve requested proofs to be sent to me and I just have to wait to make sure, but then I can order real copies, and start to sell them! To be honest, I love my first book, but I really feel that each of my books gets better and better than the last one. I’m writing number 11 right now. Maybe it will be a Pulitzer Prize winner! Haha.

But the struggle has been real. This whole indie scene has been a struggle. Nothing is easy about self-publishing, and the payoff, well, is not much of a payoff. I was aware that it would be slow going, but I had no idea how frustrating it would be, not being able to break through to the public. I know I have this great product, but I just can’t get it out there. I have sold a bit above 100 copies of my book. I have given away several more. I have sold a couple in bookstores, which is exciting, but there are soooo many books to compete with, including those that have become best sellers (I’m talking about you, Colleen Hoover). It doesn’t help that I have to work full time in a very stressful profession at the same time as trying to market my books. I can’t spend all day trying to push my books. So I do as much as I can on social media. I feel a bit like a telemarketer! Recently, I changed jobs, and I no longer have a commute where I can read, write, or go on social media. Sometimes, I would even market on the bus. That was fun. I would read my own book on the bus and when someone asked me what I was reading, I would tell them. And show them. And sometimes impress them. But now I have a five-block walk to work. I could try to sell to the pigeons along the way, but they like mystery books better as a group. What I need is a carrier pigeon to drop some books on the heads of random passersby.

I’m going to try to sell my new book on Kindle Unlimited. Have you tried it? I used standard Kindle for the first book. I’m not sure if it will be a different experience. I hope that doing this gives new people an opportunity to see my book who might otherwise not. I haven’t tried joining Kindle Unlimited yet. I prefer paperback books myself, although I do partake on the occasional eBook. What’s your preference? What do you like about each one? I like books because they don’t have backlighting. I like the way they feel in my hands. I like the way they smell. I like pages to turn manually. I like that they can be signed by the author. What I like about eBooks is that I can get them so quickly. If I have my Kindle in my bag, and I’m stuck somewhere, I can just order up a new book, and read it right away. Maybe some light reading or something I wouldn’t have ordered on-line and waited two days or more to receive. Right now, I’m rereading Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I read it last when I was about 14 years old. I referenced it in one of my manuscripts, so I thought it was about time for me to read it again. And it’s so worth it. Such a great book. I wish I had as good marketing as that book had! 🙂

This is the last cover reveal image I’ll show you. I still have three more days to complete on social media. Maybe you can extrapolate what it looks like from what I’m giving you here. What does it look like to you? Do you judge books by their cover? I do. I know it’s not always accurate, but I’ve read a lot about the science (well, social science, I guess) of book art. You develop your cover based on your genre. So what happens if your book covers more than one genre? I guess you go for the most prevalent one. In my case, I go toward the romantic imagery. It can be stunning, and it’s really hard to make a cover around a 1980s retro high school friend/families coming-of-age love story with social issues theme. So yeah, romance seems to sell. And there is romance in my books. Quite a bit. But for those of you who don’t love romance, there is more. There is a lot of family dynamics, and function and dysfunction. There is the connection between a group of friends who have been through so much together. There is the spanning of years in the series, and the overlap of storylines. There is the fact that every one of my books in the series has a scene that takes place at the McKinney High junior prom. And stuff happens at the prom. And not all of it is sex. Some of it might be, though, so, yeah. But other stuff, too.

Here’s the book blurb:

Kim and Carl became fast friends in kindergarten, but they were struck by the cooties plague in second grade. For years, it was the boys versus the girls, but Kim has missed her first school friend. Now they are juniors, and Kim has a plan. She has gotten Carl to agree to go to the Junior Prom with her, and she has some ideas about how the evening will end. Carl won’t know what hit him. But both of these teens have no idea that their childhood traumas will affect their ability to thrive in a romantic relationship. As Kim and Carl start down a road to love, they must learn to trust each other with their lives, and their hearts. Their journey takes them through high school and across the country, into a new life that neither of them could ever have expected.

I Just Can’t Say I Love You is the second book in the McKinney High School Class of 1986 series. Learn about Kim and Carl during their early years, and well into adulthood as they explore growing up with the help of their loyal high school friends.

(For those who read May I Have Your Attention Please, you may remember that Kim is one of Sally’s friends, and Carl is one of James’s posse friends)

“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that eBooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!

I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

Be True to Your School

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Here is it, McKinney High. It stands in the heart of Eastboro, MA, a fictional town in Central Massachusetts. The school is completely fictional, I swear! This photo was generated by Artificial Intelligence. It’s not exactly what I was looking for, but it’s close. I would hate to have to climb those stairs every morning, especially on a Monday! I imagine the parking lot is on a higher level, so the kids with cars get the advantages over the kids who have to walk to school and then hike Mt. McKinney! Sally Bachman is one of the walkers. In May I Have Your Attention Please, Sally lives about one mile away from school, and complains to her mother about having to walk, after being driven to private school every day the previous year. Granted, private school was seven miles away! Thank goodness for James Newell, with his 1973 rust colored Vista Cruiser station wagon, even if the heating fan is busted. Sally will endure the cold in order to be able to ride to school. And spend extra time with James.

Here’s a short excerpt from James’s first day of junior year at McKinney:

James slogged through History and Biology before entering English class right before lunch period. He stopped short when he saw Sally Bachman sitting in the second to last row, in the center. He realized he had taken too long to get to class, and as the second bell rang, the only seat remaining was at the back of the room, directly behind Sally. He squeezed by the student-filled desks between them and exchanged smiles with her before he fell heavily into the chair-attached-to-desk contraption which would be his home for the next hour. Their teacher, Mrs. Clark, closed the door, and a small breeze passed through the classroom, causing the smell of strawberry to waft from Sally’s hair to his nose. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the scent,  before realizing what he was doing.

Poor James, having to slog through classes. But it seems like school’s about to be much more fun for our hero, as he gets to spend the whole year sitting right behind Sally Bachman and her strawberry scented hair. Let’s see how the first day went for Sally:

When lunch finally came around, Sally was starving, having thrown away most of her breakfast. She met up with Michelle in line in the cafeteria, and once they had their steaming hot square pizzas secured on their trays, they made their way to a table where three other girls were already sitting. She knew Kim Drake and Darlene Feinman from Randall, and was introduced to Traci Walsh, who had gone to Fremont Junior High. It was an easy group to talk to, and soon Sally was feeling at ease as she laughed and ate. She continued to feel conspicuous in her new surroundings, however, and at times felt people were looking at her. When she looked up and around, she realized her fears were unfounded. Everyone else was focused on their food and their friends, and they were not concerned about the new girl. She let herself relax and concentrate on the conversation.

It’s hard to be the new kid, especially in a giant school like McKinney High. But luckily, Sally had some friends she remembered from junior high, and they came to her rescue. But what if she was to figure out that someone actually was watching her? Maybe a boy she sat near in English class?

School is not always drudgery and stress, though. Sometimes you get a break. Remember how it felt when you went into class, and you saw the big cart with the TV on it, and the teacher said you were going to watch a film? Even if was a movie about mitochondria, it was still better than listening to the teacher drone on for an hour.

Ronald Reagan took his second oath of the Presidential office on Sunday, January 20th, The inauguration had not been in the public square due to record low temperatures in Washington DC, and the whole eastern half of the United States was experiencing unusually cold weather. Massachusetts, which usually had temperatures in the freezing range during the month of January, was also experiencing a deep and prolonged freeze, leaving students feeling chilled and unmotivated in school. On Monday, all of the History teachers in all of the grades at McKinney High showed their classes special educational videos about inaugurations and presidential celebrations. The students loved to watch movies in class. It meant the lights were turned out, and more mischief happened in the dark.

Mischief at school? No way! Everyone was a perfect angel at my school. Wasn’t it like that for you, too?”

“I was trying to say,” Chris went on, “that my cousin Vince might be able to hook you up with a new muffler. Your car sounds like a motor boat.”

“Vince Bishop?” Carl asked. “Uncle Frank’s son? I thought he moved to Framingham this summer.”

Chris shook his head. “No, Vince Farmer, Uncle Benny’s oldest son. He’s the one who was expelled from Murphy a few years ago for trashing a teacher’s car when he failed his class.”

OR:

Fourth period was English class. James had arrived first and was sitting at his desk. The bell was about to ring, so Sally came into the classroom hurriedly, and slipped into her seat breathing hard from exertion.  She could feel James’s breath on her neck, and then she felt his hands on her shoulders as he gave them a quick massage. Mrs. Clark  entered the room.

“Mr. Newell,” she  called out, “hands to yourself, please.”

Everyone turned to look at them, and Sally sank slightly in her seat. It was no secret amongst the students at McKinney High that she and James were a couple. She was used to the looks when they walked through the halls holding hands. But she still felt uncomfortable with the attention.

Or even:

“Where are Kim and Darlene?” Sally asked, secretly glad Kim wasn’t there to ask her any awkward questions.

Michelle swallowed her bite of burger and washed it down with some milk. “Darlene’s out sick, and Kim has lunch detention for smoking outside on school property.”

“She needs to learn how to not get caught!” Rhonda stated, shaking her head, then scooping up a spoonful of chocolate pudding. 

I clearly remember being in the girl’s room in junior high when the girls who were smoking in there got busted! But more often they didn’t get caught, and they smoked in the strangest places and situations.

When you’re a teen, most of your life happens in school. There are academic classes, electives, gym and music classes, shop, lunch, extracurricular activities, times in the hallway between classes, standing at your locker, confiding in your best friends. Then there are the extras: the after school clubs, committees, and sports, and the social events, such as homecoming, prom, and other dances.

Michelle and Darlene talked Sally into volunteering for the homecoming decorating committee with them. They were on it the previous year, which is where they had met Traci. They had fun, and thought Sally would enjoy it too. It would give her a chance to make some new friends at the same time.  

And:

Sally quickly found Michelle and Carl, and together they all watched people dancing and listened to music as they chatted.  Soon, their other friends filed in, and in no time, the gym was full of noise and dancing bodies. Sally and Michelle tugged their dates out to the dance floor, and they all moved awkwardly to the music, enjoying the feeling of letting loose. The place was too crowded for anyone to observe and judge their dancing, and they took full advantage of it. 

And we mustn’t forget the most special day of all, junior prom:

When the first notes of “Purple Rain” came on, everyone got up to dance. It was slow even for a slow song, and James held Sally tight, only pulling away to kiss her. She rested her head contentedly on his chest. As soon as the song ended, the DJ put on Madonna’s “Crazy for You.” James knew Sally loved the song. He continued to move her around the floor, dodging other couples, as they clasped their arms around each other. Their friends were also dancing in couples around them. Kim had her head resting on Carl’s chest, and Carl was smiling his biggest, cheesiest smile. James felt it was the perfect prom moment. 

So there are a few glimpses into the school lives of the main characters of May I Have Your Attention Please and their friends. McKinney High is a huge part of what goes on in my series, McKinney High Class of 1986, obviously. I imagine the members of this class looking back fondly on their classmates, their teachers, and the events at McKinney, and the music and other culture they experienced back in the mid 1980s at their huge fictional school!

I hope you decide to read the series, and you start to fall in love with the characters and their stories as much as I have. And here’s a little clue for you all. There are six books in the series. And guess what? There is more than just one high school in Eastboro, MA. There is also Murphy High. So you can guess, all the characters you love, and ones you haven’t even met yet, will show up again after book six, in a new series, yet to be named. Stay tuned!

“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that eBooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!

I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

So you wanted more characters? Here they are!

May I Have Your Attention Please, McKinney High Class of 1986, self-publishing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

There is no end to the list of characters! Well, there is an end. I lied. But there are quite a few of them. I’ll keep them going until I exhaust them. Or you get exhausted. I’m already exhausted but that’s another story!

Tracy Walsh

Traci is a very, very minor character in “May I Have Your Attention Please.” She has one or two lines in two scenes, and if you blink, you’ll miss her. She shows up a bit more in book 2, even more in book 3, and by the time you get to book 4, she is a big time major character. She even gets her very own book down the line!

The McKinney High girls have known each other for a long time. That is, all except for Traci. Traci moved to Eastboro, MA, in ninth grade, and went to Fremont Junior High. She then transfers to McKinney Sophomore year and befriends Kim, Darlene, and Michelle. Fate, is it? Or did Traci know exactly what she was doing all along? Traci is very sweet, and she fits right in with the group, as if they have known each other forever. The group soon learns that Traci has some very special skills. She does not possess magic powers or ESP, but she is extremely intuitive. Traci has extremely sensitive, acute sense, and she has learned to interpret the input subconsciously. She can walk into a room, into an ongoing conversation, and instantly know that someone is lying. She can tell if someone has a crush, or if they are feeling poorly. Her interpretive skills are also excellent, so she can extrapolate predictions of what might happen next. Her new friends are bowled over. But there are some things, and some people, that Traci cannot sense, and it drives her crazy! She has no idea why. It could be a glitch, or it could be that they are hiding things. Traci’s parents have made some decisions for the family that Traci and her brother Bobby don’t understand, and sometimes, these choices can lead to heartbreak for their children. Traci and Bobby cling to each other for support. But soon, there will be some major changes occurring, and Traci is not sure if she can face some emotional losses that she is facing. It’s possible that her McKinney friends might be the key to her future happiness.

Darlene Feinman

Darlene and Kim Drake have known each other since they were babies. Their mothers are best friends. They were pretty much inseparable as preschoolers. They started kindergarten together, and were placed in different classes. Darlene made a new friend, Michelle, and she felt loved and accepted by Michelle. Over the years, things change between the three girls, and the power differential shifts. Darlene has to make some decisions based on loyalty and making sure that she makes everyone happy. But Darlene has a secret. Everything is really not as wonderful as she leads everyone, including her own mother, to believe. The world is wearing Darlene down, but damn if she ever lets anyone in on what’s going on inside her head. She divides her time between the homes of her mother, who is supportive and giving but oblivious to what is going on, and her father, who is demanding and critical of her every move. She is an only child, so she is often left to her own devises, with her own thoughts. She develops a set of coping skills to help her get through, but sometimes, they just make things worse. As Darlene navigates life in high school, college, and beyond, she must figure things out, and make some major changes, before things go drastically wrong.

Rhonda Jenkin

Rhonda was the prettiest, most popular girl in her junior high. She developed early, and boys started to notice her. She finally focused her attention on one lucky boy, only to find herself feeling forced to break away from him in high school. Rhonda soon finds new love with Chris Mahoney. They had flirted with each other back in junior high, but Rhonda chose someone else. Now, they are hot and heavy, and falling in love. The only problem is, Rhonda knows that their relationship is not built on honest intentions, and knowing this is killing her. She finds herself getting closer and closer to Chris, which is confusing and does not serve her true purpose. Rhonda is seeking revenge. Not on Chris. On someone in his circle. The problem? This person doesn’t even know she did anything that might have hurt Rhonda in the first place. When the quest for revenge blows up in her face, Rhonda must make a decision that will not only break her own heart, but also that of the boy she has fallen in love with. But deep down inside, she knows it’s the right thing to do. She only hopes that this decision doesn’t haunt her for the rest of her life. But it might. Rhonda has an older brother and an older stepsister. She lives with her brother, mother, and stepfather, who is basically her father. She hasn’t seen her biological father since she was three and no one knows where he is. But he has been keeping a very big secret. And it’s a secret that will lead Rhonda to a very, very dark place.

Howie Newell

Howie is the most tragic figure in the series. Howie is the older brother of James Newell, lead character in “May I Have Your Attention Please,” and also featured in every other McKinney High book. Howie is mainly featured in the first book, but does make guest appearances in others. He is three years older than James, and two years younger than their older sister, Erin. He is the middle child, and he meets all the criteria. He grows up pretty normally, with caring and loving parents, until age twelve, when something happens to change him. Howie falls in with some older kids who start him down the path to trouble. As the years go by, Howie gets in more and more trouble at school and home, much to the dismay of his family. He gets suspended from school often and for stupid reasons, but he is never expelled. He is the reason that James decides to go to McKinney High School rather than Murphy High. James doesn’t want to be classified as being just like his brother. Howie somehow graduates from high school, but no one understands how. Trouble starts again about a year later, when he gets in more trouble at home, and is told he must move out. Howie complies, but he still comes home often to visit, use the washer and dryer, and take food from the fridge. His mother worries about him. James can’t understand him.

“May I Have Your Attention Please”  is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that ebooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!

I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.

Have a wonderful week y’all! Happy Pride!

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