Going back to the once weekly reading of chapters of works in progress.

This week, I am starting The Jumpstart Discoveries. The working title of this story was “The Magnolia Connection”. This story is a bridge, in terms of timeline, between The Magnolia Chronicles and the just concluded The Secret of Possum Hollow.

“Jumpstart” centers on Christopher Michaels – the semi-estranged son of Glenn Michaels. Christopher is living alone in an efficiency apartment on the southwest side of Houston when his life is interrupted by a pair of events which happen in the late-night/early morning hours leading into Mother’s Day weekend. As the story progresses, the interconnections between this story, Saving Magnolia and The Magnolia Chronicles become increasingly obvious.

This first chapter developed from two separate incidents which happened when this author lived in an efficiency apartment in Houston roughly 35 years ago.

I came back from a trip, stopping at a small grocery to purchase perishables. Pulling out of the parking space, I noted a car with a pair of men waiting to pull their car forward into the space I vacated. Later that evening, a police helicopter buzzed the area. I thought nothing of either event until the next morning when the local news reported a robbery at that same market less than five minutes after I had left the place. The manager was shot stone cold dead.

On a separate occasion, a young woman came to my door at three in the morning seeking refuge. It took her a good half hour to figure out that I was dressed in nothing more than my briefs – and another hour or so for me to convince her that she had nothing to fear from the outside. I drove her to another apartment complex a mile away and that was the end of it.

I hope you enjoy how I merged the two incidents.

A quick note involving The Secret of Possum Hollow – The book version should be ready for purchase in the next 6-8 weeks. The manuscript has been sent for formatting and an appropriate back cover is being designed. There are a couple of what I refer to as “continuity errors” popping up in the last chapters of the book. They will remain in the e-version… the errors are corrected in the print version. You may spot the differences, or you may not.

Anyhoo, here’s the first installment of The Jumpstart Discoveries.