The modern hero, the modern individual who dares to heed the call and seek the mansion of that presence with whom it is our whole destiny to be atoned, cannot, indeed must not, wait for his community to cast off its slough of pride, fear, rationalized avarice, and sanctified misunderstanding.  "Live" Nietzsche says, " as though that day is here."  It is not society that is to guide and save the creative hero, but precisely the reverse.  And so everyone of us shares the supreme ordeal - carries the cross of the redeemer - not in the bright moments of his tribes greatest victories, but in the silence of his personal despair.


     Joseph Campbell
     The Hero With A Thousand Faces
     1949, 1968, Princeton University Press
     Princeton, New Jersey

Have you ever longed to discover an old house, one that existed before time began, and follow its steep winding staircase to the attic, an attic containing ancient books, mysteries, artifacts with secrets, forgotten paths and cobwebbed doorways, leading to all you could ever hope to know? If so, you are approaching the right place, the place within yourself.

I have reached mine.  Tragedy, heartache, beauty and growth brought me here.  My husband, Phil, arrived on his own, in his own way, the way that was right for him.  In quiet simplicity we share our findings with each other.  As we share them with you, you will begin to explore your own inner attic.

The Book Attic is a place where dreams become reality, where everything we could ever need is provided, where the finite merges with the infinite, and we uncover all-that-is.  We would like to take you along, as you are ready, as it is your time.  If what we say speaks to you, the real you, the part of yourself you may have forgotten - then listen.  It is calling you.  Do you hear it?  Have the hopes of your childhood faded?  Are you restless, jaded, fearful or distrustful without them?  Rediscover yourself.  Start here, today, in this moment.  It will be the best decision of your life.

In days of old, rememberers passed on ancient wisdom through stories.  Joseph Campbell, mythology expert, said one of the reasons we are floundering worldwide is because our old myths have failed us.  It is time for new adventures, stories and myths to help of us each forge our own path among the myriad paths winding their way through all-that-is.

For these reasons Phil and I present our stories to you, hoping you will find shards of truth sparkling in the crystalline stream of our words, and that those words will lead you home to your own heart.

Below are the beginnings of our offerings.  As they secure publishers and become available we will let you know where you can find them.

The paradox begins with a large geode - an ancient nexus. It invades the lives of characters in In Ways We Can't Imagine, Once Without Dying and The Pacifist's War.

In Ways We Can't Imagine

Staying dead is not an option.  Being reborn and growing up again would take too long.  What's a dead guy to do?  This is Kendal's quandary, a puzzle with many pieces.  These pieces are hidden from Arranah St. Germaine, the protagonist, the woman in torment without him.  The dreams, the voices warned her death was coming, like they had with her MIA brother, Peter.  Now heartache is back bearing Kendal's name.  This time Arranah has to give old life to new dreams and make room for a stranger who might not be a stranger, as she struggles to discover if death is the truest test of love.  Sensing her answers lie in an ancient cave, one she and Kendal tried to find, Arranah discovers a woman who knows of legends and the impossible fix.

In Ways We Can't Imagine is for every woman, every man, every child who considered suicide after the death of a loved one.  It is for those who walk between life and death to recapture the connection to loved ones lost.  It is for the weary, living without hope.  It is for everyone who knows we are reborn in the heart of legends.



Once Without Dying

Sheeawna McMillan bears the mark.  Her mother, Doris, says it means that Sheeawna is evil, cursed.  Because she is hot, her manipulative boyfriend, Kevin, does not buy into the curse.  Grampy, who saves her life when she is young - despite religious taboos - disagrees with Doris.  He knows of Sheeawna's purpose, her purity of soul, her beauty that transcends her outstanding physical attributes.  Tormented by her mother, protected by her grandfather, Sheeawna survives until his death, her thirteenth year.  Afterwards she feels lost, abandoned and takes solace in Kevin's amorous attention.  Warding off her mother's attacks, facing the future Grampy prophesied, Sheeawna worries that the things he said about her are true, and she frets they are not.  Once she finishes college when death offers itself again, she has choices to make, including the most difficult one of all - the courage to be herself under all circumstances, even if it means forfeiting all she knows and holds dear.  Driven by an unseen force, she redirects her life, learns of her role in The Legend of Thirteen Women and begins a quest with those very different from herself.

Once Without Dying is a book for every child who awoke in the middle of a Sunday night shivering from dreams of hell.  A book for every teenager who read The Late Great Planet Earth and decided there was no point in getting a career.  This is a book for every pregnant teenager who was cast out and abandoned or put away in some weird little home for unwed mothers.  And for every troubled adult who was told that their sins were the cause of all sickness and pain.  It will appeal to young and old, anyone who has confused attraction with love, those wishing to take a stand against familial tyranny, individuals who have struggled with their beliefs, and those who love the intrigue born of legends.  This is a book about peace.



ThePacifist's War

Peter St. Germaine, RN, knows what war can do to the soul.  Out of compassion, he volunteered, so more soldiers would make it home, alive.  The problem is, when it comes his time, he has forgotten how to find his own way home.  He has forgotten his family.  He does not remember his profession or anything important to himself prior to the war, except his opposition to violence.  In the swamps of Vietnam, Peter embarks on an amnesiac's quest.  Wearing a name he does not remember, he is alarmed when he receives medals for atrocious acts, ones he is sure he could not have committed.  His search leads to a cave, encrypted writings, a dog named Emmanuel and a mysterious woman, all guiding him to his identity and the place legends begin.  Following what appear to be hallucinations, in a place that cannot be real, he uncovers the mystical woman's identity and his part in The Legend of Thirteen Women.  Characters from all three books converge at Grandmother's cave and activate covenants on hold for thousands of years.

The Pacifist's War will grip those whose mental, physical and emotional lives have been nearly destroyed by war.  It is for all who long to recapture their humanity.  It is for those who search for the rebirth of hope and new direction.  It belongs to those who, like Joseph Campbell, know the purpose of new legends - to provide a course when the time is right.

The Sword of Ruth

The Sword of Ruth is set in two time periods.  The idea nagged at me until I succumbed to writing it down.  As the segments unfolded, the story seemed like my own ancient history - like I was once Ruth and had come full circle.  The work is sculpted around lives and events, that if embraced, could change the perceptions and beliefs of readers.  Yet it is not a religious story, nor is it the opposite.  It is the revelation of lives, then and now, and how the present is unavoidably woven from the past.

I present The Sword of Ruth:

Despite my upbringing I did not believe in him nor was I ever likely too.  But something happened that night in the community center that set it all into motion - the learning about who I had once been, the reason my brother, Demmy, committed such brutal crimes and why I loved Tad.

My name is Raven.  A professional artist, as I began painting murals of Jesus' life, I did not know I had been part of it, that female as well as male members of his team existed nor that I had been one of them.  Spanning two time periods my quest led to my first husband, John the Baptist, who according to available history, never married, my second husband, Peter, considered the rock, and the insights my brother, Jesus/Yeshua, actually provided - teachings counter to what we have been led to believe.  Once I discover who these people are today, the story turns romantic, even violent.

The Sword of Ruth is for everyone who emerged from Sunday school class suspecting what they were being taught could not be true.  It is for all those persecuted for their unbelief. It is for women denied the opportunity to improve their lives because of their gender.  It is for those who realize history is spun to support prevailing powers, for those who have always suspected that women played a more significant role and for those who love the enigma of a good story that could possibly be true.



I am currently working on my sixth book.

  Inspired by meeting and marrying Vi, the story is set in various locales in the Pacific Northwest, forty-three years ago to the present.  It is a myth-based adventure about reincarnation and soul mates . . . about The Mystical granting the ultimate, unforeseen happy ending.

  Inspired by the unasked question to Teri Schiavo and Karen Ann Quinlan, "Where were you while your body lay in a coma?"  The Cat Did It is the mystical, sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, story of life's unavoidable journey into the afterlife and how human frailties and unknowing can complicate that transition.


   A third work, Vortex, is in partial draft.  Several additional novels are awaiting their time of construction.