My Dead True Love

 

My Dead True Love

by Kim Pierce

 

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GENRE: Women's literature

 

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BLURB:

 

When a newspaper reporter’s fiancé dies abruptly, she questions how he could just cease to be.

 

Dogged by unbidden thoughts, odd coincidences and unexplained phenomena, Ann Stewart becomes obsessed with finding out what really happens after we die and whether her beloved Gregory is still out there. She finds her answer, which takes her and a close-knit coterie of women to the edge of the cosmos—and the core of their own hearts.

 

Based on a true story.

 

 

 

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EXCERPT

 

 

“It was definitely Gregory,” Connie declared, forcing herself to return to the vision. “As clear as if he were standing next to me. Smiling.”

 

“If you saw him”—and I still wasn’t believing—“did he see you? Did he see me?”

 

It made no sense, but I had to know more.

 

“I don’t know. I tried to un-see him. I really did,” she said, turning to me, something akin to terror twisting her face. “This ‘seeing’ is a part of me that triggers so much shame—and reactivates the trauma. Like shell shock.” Red mottling crept up Connie’s neck and onto her cheeks.

 

She saw him. The words slid off my brain as if she were speaking in tongues. What did that mean?

 

“Could it have been your imagination?” I offered wanly, not wanting that to be the case. 

 

“Yes, I suppose it could.” 

 

Neither of us believed it.

 

I waited. 

 

“What would it mean for you to ‘see’ him?” I pressed. 

 

Tell me. Even if it makes no sense.

 

“That there’s something wrong with me,” came her acrid reply. “Deeply, terribly wrong. At least that’s what my father would say. And a lot of other people who make judgments about what I can do.” She slammed the car into park a little too aggressively. 

 

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” I said, getting out of the car. 

 

Connie shut down. 

 

“I need to go home for a while,” she said.

 

Tell. Me. More.

A Word With the Author

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Vanilla. But only in the purest, most artisanal ice cream.  

First book you remember making an indelible impression on you.

I’ll give you three. I loved Dr. Seuss’s On Beyond Zebra so much that I memorized it. I became entranced with tide pool life thanks to Pagoo by Holling Clancy Holling (illustrated by Lucille Webster Holling). And in junior high I read a YA novel about a boy in a bombed-out German city after World War II. It was called Doorway to Darkness, and I’ve never been able to find it since. No, it’s not the book of that title that pops up on Amazon.  

How did you develop your plot and characters?

Because my novel is based loosely on a real experience, I had a scaffolding for both. But I had to build them out. For the characters, there comes a point where they take on a life of their own, and I’m asking “Would this character do this?” or “How would this character navigate this?” For the plot, I relied heavily on the hero’s journey to build conflict and tension. A novel has to “go” somewhere, and when the reader arrives at the pinnacle point, s/he needs to feel almost a physical release. Like good sex. 

Describe your writing space.

The heart of my set-up is two screens perched upon cigar boxes on a wavy, modern desk. I look out a window on a fence, where squirrels and birds cavort. I’ve seen mama squirrels carrying babies in their mouths. And, oh yeah, there goes one with a fat tomato from our garden. I use a kneeling chair. I’m surrounded by bookshelves on two sides, with lots of cookbooks from my newspaper-writing days, including my well-used America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I also have a squatty contemporary chair where I switch to editor mode and read proofs. 

 

 

 

 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

 

Kim Pierce is a former Dallas Morning News writer and editor who completed the Writer’s Path fiction program at Southern Methodist University. My Dead True Love is her first novel, inspired by events surrounding the death of her fiancé in 1998. She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her partner and three cats.

 

https://mydeadtruelove.com/

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

 

A randomly drawn winner will receive a $50 Amazon/BN GC.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway