Facing your greatest fear can be one of the most difficult things you ever do. But courage is often found when you have to face a fear in order to save someone else. The recent storms in our country provide proof of this.
Consider the father in Indiana who lay atop his son to protect him during the recent tornado outbreak. He truly feared he would die, but his love for his child gave him the courage to do what he needed to do. Another parent, a Kentucky mother, lost her legs protecting her children from the tornado there. Sacrificing for others makes these people true American heroes.
My latest novel, Onslaught, features a heroine who must face her fear of storms in order to protect someone else. Ronnie Clarke would rather wrestle with a difficult spreadsheet all night than walk the floor at 3 a.m. with a fussy baby. But she doesn’t have much choice when her unreliable mother drops a surprise bundle into her arms and then vanishes through the bathroom window of a cheap motel room. And Ronnie's mother left one other thing—a life or death warning. She kidnapped Baby Danny to save him from the religious cult leader who wants to sell him to the murderous leader of an illegal drug cartel. Oh, and Danny is Ronnie’s nephew, the son of a sister that she never knew she had.
If all that isn’t trouble enough, the only safe place to hide is in a small town on the Texas Gulf Coast, within easy striking distance of any devastating hurricane that might crop up. Since Ronnie has a phobia about thunderstorms, she’s practically set up for failure.
Onslaught is a full-length novel of romantic suspense, available in ebook format at:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Onslaught-ebook/dp/B007J5ZJBO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331558704&sr=8-1
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/onslaught-teri-thackston/1109464560?ean=2940014303620&itm=1&usri=onslaught+thackston
Smashwords (for PDF or other formats): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/140723
Showing posts with label texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label texas. Show all posts
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Ghostly Adventures - Grandma's Breath
Old enough to sleep on a mattress on the floor, I took the single bed in the front bedroom at my grandparents' farm that night. I don't remember how long Grandma had been gone by that time, but I do remember that I still missed her. I still became teary-eyed thinking that I'd never see her again. And for some reason I was thinking of her as I settled down alone that night.
My sisters were in the full bed on the other side of the room, several feet off the ground and safe from any creatures that might creep across the old oak floor, breathing quietly in the deep sleep of children.
Summer nights on the Texas coast could be still and dark and heavy. "Close" my kin would say. Where I lay was well below the windowsill and the night air had definitely been close all night. I had kicked off my sheets and stretched out flat on the thin mattress in my short cotton nightgown. I tried really hard not to think about the scorpion that Grandpa had killed in the other bedroom the previous summer. It hadn't been very large, but it terrified me and my sisters for a long time afterward. Usually all of us got to sleep up on the beds but that night the house was full of family and I was old enough to take a floor bed. Old enough and brave enough. Or so I thought.
I have the worry gene and very good hearing. Tiny noises convinced me that a giant scorpion, its tale full of poison, was creeping across the floor toward my mattress. Mom and Dad were playing 42 with the aunts and uncles at the other end of the house. They would probably have heard my screams, but I convinced myself they'd never get to me in time. And opening my mouth would only invite that monster from my mind to pounce. So I just tried to keep thinking about Grandma, about her smile and her cool hands and her sweet, sweet iced tea.
That's when the breeze touched me. Cool and soft, it drifted over my face. No other part of my body felt anything, just my face. Like a kiss blown from the palm of Grandma's hand. Instantly my fear eased. The tiny noises disappeared and I was able to open my eyes and look around. Moonlight filled the dark room and I could see that there was nothing to fear. I was convinced that Grandma had come to comfort and protect me, and I was able to drift off to sleep like my little sisters.
Some would say that breeze came through the open windows, a cross-current sweeping through the bayview farmhouse that early summer night. But I rarely experienced a night breeze there, just a hot and sticky stillness.
Now a cool breeze is weak evidence of afterlife, but that night I was certain that Grandma had come to visit. Even now, decades later, I'll take that incident as proof that some part of us continues beyond death. How about you? What are your experiences? Share.
And if you send me an email at t_thackston@yahoo.com that contains the name of any of the reviewers in the links below, I’ll enter your name into a drawing that I will hold July 5 for a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card.
Review site links:
http://www.theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/finalwordsthackston.htm
“I was on the edge of my seat for much of the story…”
http://www.paranormalromance.org/reviews/review.php?id=27963
“This is a great mystery with a spooky twist.”
http://www.theromancereadersconnection.com/reviews2/thackstonteri1508.html
“The story is guaranteed to keep you engrossed from the very first page.”
For a spooky, sensuous read, I hope you’ll check out FINAL WORDS at http://www.cerridwenpress.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419915246
Teri
My sisters were in the full bed on the other side of the room, several feet off the ground and safe from any creatures that might creep across the old oak floor, breathing quietly in the deep sleep of children.
Summer nights on the Texas coast could be still and dark and heavy. "Close" my kin would say. Where I lay was well below the windowsill and the night air had definitely been close all night. I had kicked off my sheets and stretched out flat on the thin mattress in my short cotton nightgown. I tried really hard not to think about the scorpion that Grandpa had killed in the other bedroom the previous summer. It hadn't been very large, but it terrified me and my sisters for a long time afterward. Usually all of us got to sleep up on the beds but that night the house was full of family and I was old enough to take a floor bed. Old enough and brave enough. Or so I thought.
I have the worry gene and very good hearing. Tiny noises convinced me that a giant scorpion, its tale full of poison, was creeping across the floor toward my mattress. Mom and Dad were playing 42 with the aunts and uncles at the other end of the house. They would probably have heard my screams, but I convinced myself they'd never get to me in time. And opening my mouth would only invite that monster from my mind to pounce. So I just tried to keep thinking about Grandma, about her smile and her cool hands and her sweet, sweet iced tea.
That's when the breeze touched me. Cool and soft, it drifted over my face. No other part of my body felt anything, just my face. Like a kiss blown from the palm of Grandma's hand. Instantly my fear eased. The tiny noises disappeared and I was able to open my eyes and look around. Moonlight filled the dark room and I could see that there was nothing to fear. I was convinced that Grandma had come to comfort and protect me, and I was able to drift off to sleep like my little sisters.
Some would say that breeze came through the open windows, a cross-current sweeping through the bayview farmhouse that early summer night. But I rarely experienced a night breeze there, just a hot and sticky stillness.
Now a cool breeze is weak evidence of afterlife, but that night I was certain that Grandma had come to visit. Even now, decades later, I'll take that incident as proof that some part of us continues beyond death. How about you? What are your experiences? Share.
And if you send me an email at t_thackston@yahoo.com that contains the name of any of the reviewers in the links below, I’ll enter your name into a drawing that I will hold July 5 for a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card.
Review site links:
http://www.theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/finalwordsthackston.htm
“I was on the edge of my seat for much of the story…”
http://www.paranormalromance.org/reviews/review.php?id=27963
“This is a great mystery with a spooky twist.”
http://www.theromancereadersconnection.com/reviews2/thackstonteri1508.html
“The story is guaranteed to keep you engrossed from the very first page.”
For a spooky, sensuous read, I hope you’ll check out FINAL WORDS at http://www.cerridwenpress.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419915246
Teri
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