The featured backlist title for May (and June too, since I'll be travelling) is "Before I Wake". It's currently on sale on Amazon for 99c! AMAZON LINK HERE.
I wrote this story in 2012 for submission to a Torquere Press fairy tale themed anthology. The word count limit was pretty strict, so the story came in at 8K. I always find it an interesting challenge to tell a great story, the story I want to tell, in such a small amount of space.
I think the story worked well at its size, but when I got the rights back from Torquere I was able to add a longish epilogue that really capped off the story. The new version is now self-published.
There are a few things I particularly love about this story. First is the character of Jonesy, who is a huge man with a low IQ who works as a nurse's aide. His father was a gigantic boxer and his mother a sweet little wisp of a woman, and while Jonesy resembles his father, he has the tender-heartedness of his mother. He is immediately drawn to a young man, Michael, who is brought into the hospital after a hate crime and is in a coma. Michael has been rejected by his parents, so there's no one to root for him, come visit, or even care if he lives or dies. So Jonesy takes over that role, speaking and reading to the young man often, and trying to get him to respond and recover.
In case you haven't guessed yet, the story is a new take on the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty". :-)
The second thing I love about the story is the dream state that Michael is in and how he slowly becomes aware of and responds to Jonesy's voice.
It's a short book, but I think it packs a wallop, especially if you love hurt-comfort stories as I do.
Enjoy your late spring-early summer. I hope you find many wonderful reads!
Eli