The Fourteenth of September by Rita Dragonette

$16.95 Print

$9.99 Ebook

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About the Book:

On September 14, 1969, Private First Class Judy Talton celebrates her nineteenth birthday by secretly joining the campus anti-Vietnam War movement. In doing so, she jeopardizes both the army scholarship that will secure her future and her relationship with her military family. But Judy’s doubts have escalated with the travesties of the war. Who is she if she stays in the army? What is she if she leaves?

When the first date pulled in the Draft Lottery turns up as her birthday, she realizes that if she were a man, she’d have been Number One—off to Vietnam with an under-fire life expectancy of six seconds. The stakes become clear, propelling her toward a life-altering choice as fateful as that of any draftee.

The Fourteenth of September portrays a pivotal time at the peak of the Vietnam War through the rare perspective of a young woman, tracing her path of self-discovery and a “Coming of Conscience.” Judy’s story speaks to the poignant clash of young adulthood, early feminism, and war, offering an ageless inquiry into the domestic politics of protest when the world stops making sense.

A brief interview with the Author:

Rita, what do you love about this book? 

I love the fact that this is a woman’s story and point of view about the Vietnam War, which is an era we think about as being all about the men and their voices. As we note the many 50th anniversary milestones of the period, it’s time, as we sit back and are able to be less raw about the subject of the war, to realize that there are many angles and stories that are important that have yet to be told. The story of women is and should be at the top of that list. 

In my novel I wanted to present a female dilemma with the same emotional intensity as the key issue of the day for the men. For them it was: do I go and probably lose my life to fight in a war that I don’t believe in and my country no longer supports? Or, do I go to Canada, which is another kind of death, where I lose my history, my family, my country. I’d be alive, but everything else would be gone. 

In The Fourteenth of September, Private First Class Judy Talton, in college on a military scholarship, goes on a similar journey to her “Coming of Conscience,” as she weighs her concerns about the war and her role in it. 

Rita, introduce us to your most challenging character. 

By far the most difficult character to write, all the way through the penultimate version of the manuscript, was Judy’s mother. It was important that she reflected her military background and the overall generation gap in her determination to ensure that Judy stayed on her version of the straight and narrow path. It was what she had learned was lacking in her experience. She wanted Judy to have a better life. 

However, I continued to make her so mean and unyielding that she always ended up a one-dimensional villain. Perhaps I was letting in too much leftover anger from my own relationship with my mother, and it’s true the computer really “smoked” when I wrote those scenes. 

Eventually, I settled into what I hope is a vision whereby the objective reader can clearly see that although her mother’s methods may be a bit harsh, she clearly is trying to help Judy in the only way she knows how. And Judy, being a teenage girl, doesn’t see this at all. 

Share two things you learned while researching this story. 

The first were the rapid developments within the timeframe of the story. Though I had lived through the real-life incidents depicted in the novel, I had a researcher fact-check and was astounded at how quickly the historical events unfolded. This influenced the pacing of the novel. I originally wanted Judy to take far longer to “change” and more slowly evolve into what would become an imperative to make her very important decision. However, this being historical fiction, I had to make it happen within the very short time constraints of the real occurrences. The entire story takes place in only a few months. The time between Judy walking into the Tune Room and the Moratorium is only a month, the March on Washington only a month after that, the Lottery another month. The rhythm of the plot had to move from genuine historic incident to incident. 

The speed of events also dictated the structure of the story. Originally, I had been planning a narrative about the three key women—Judy, Vida and Marsha—showing different aspects of the women’s experience of the time and how they were drawn into the movement, etc. However, there just wasn’t “time” in the historical framework of the novel, so it became Judy’s story. 

The second thing I learned was about the women’s movement in these early days of feminism. Though I had a clear focus of what I’d experienced, through research I learned more about what happened outside my own campus. Though many of us had felt disenfranchised, I came across those who knew that women had actually been in charge of much of the antiwar movement and bristled at the old phrase that “men manned the battlements while women made the coffee.” I ended up acknowledging that although there were always strong and vocal female leaders, the tremendous sexism of that early-feminist era intimidated many others. And sometimes that intimidation—as in my own case—was self-imposed. 

What are you reading now? 

I’ve been reading a lot of local authors as I’ve become more involved in the literary community while bringing my own novel to market. I’ve offset the frenzy of final editing and book-launch details by immersing myself in wonderful books written by writers of staggering talent: Swarm Theory, by Christine Maul Rice, Once in Lourdes by Sharon Solwitz, and The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. Next up is Paulette Livers’ Cementville, another female point of view on Vietnam. 

What’s coming up next? 

I have three projects in various stages of development: 1) a homage to The Sun Also Rises about expats in their ’50s and ’60s who have come to San Miguel de Allende with their last dream; 2) “Master Race,” a novel about women (German and American) in World War II and how their war experiences shape themselves and their children and grandchildren; and 3) “Violating the Prime Directive,” a memoir in essays.

Those sound exciting. Thank you, Rita.

About the Author:

Rita Dragonette is a writer who, after spending nearly thirty years telling the stories of others as an award-winning public relations executive, has returned to her original creative path. The Fourteenth of September, her debut novel, is based upon personal experiences on campus during the Vietnam War, and she is currently at work on three other books: an homage to The Sun Also Rises about expats chasing their last dream in San Miguel de Allende, a World War II novel based upon her interest in the impact of war on and through women, and a memoir in essays. She lives and writes in Chicago, where she also hosts literary salons to showcase authors and their new books to avid readers.

My review:

The Fourteenth of September is a glimpse into the life of a co-ed during the tumultuous draft lotteries of 1969-1970. At Central Illinois University, Private First Class Judy Talton has a lot to consider as she walks in her mother’s footsteps. An army nurse who served in World War II, Judy’s mother pushes her oldest daughter into the one avenue that would get Judy out of their narrow lower middle class lifestyle and into the bigger and better world. Their timing is terrible, as Judy, scheduled for nurse’s training through Walter Reed Hospital, will most certainly be sent to Vietnam once her education is finished.

Judy jumps out of her shell at age nineteen during her sophomore year to force open her own eyes and heart about the student protest movement. Can students—can she—really change the world? Is that what life is all about?

Rita Dragonette, a Chicago author and former public relations executive, uses her experience of being on campus during the turbulent years when the lotteries were being held, as the structure for her debut novel.

Written in three consecutive parts, the novel traverses a transformative period in which Judy meets a dynamic campus leader, David, and his cadre of dedicated fellow rebels seeking to make their voices heard. Vida becomes her closest friend. They want to stop what they view as a senseless war, to stop the killing using any means, even violence, and join the outcry from campuses across the States.

Once Judy makes her fateful decision on her birthday, September 14, to immerse herself in counter-culture, she can no longer go back to her former naïve self. “She was starting to feel there was an incredible groundswell everywhere she looked,” Dragonette writes, “and in everything she listened to about love and understanding and a common agreement that there was no longer any need for war. The army was wrong and Vida was right. She felt the world had started to turn a corner, and was convinced she didn’t want to be left out of it.”

As the story progresses, Judy tries to stay out of any limelight that will betray any or all of the fronts she’s fighting: her friend Pete in the ROTC who reminds her that she made a vow to serve her country; her new friends who are practicing what they believe with a fervor she partially fears; and her mother who cannot accept Judy’s need to see both sides of the story.

“This is a different war,” Judy tries to get through to her mother.

In Part II, student groups from CIU join thousands of others who travel to Washington DC in an attempt demand President Nixon hear their opinion. By Part III, the second semester opens upon reality. Until now, the students have been protesting for something they’ve heard, or read about, or watched on television. When the lottery starts, the war hits home, especially when Judy sees her male counterpart with the same birthday, Wil, receive the lowest draft number, meaning a certain call to report for service. Wil chooses to accept his fate, prompting Judy to continue to reexamine her own choices. When betrayed, Judy has more decisions to make which shows the extent to which she’s willing to go to end the violence, the killing, in her own place and time.

The story is beautifully written with compassionate and thoughtful narrative and engaging characters who play out all the angst of the era set on a Midwestern college campus when America was at its most vulnerable. Dragonette show us what we can be, both in our best and in our worst. The story contains liberal drug use, sexual situations, and language that parents may want to discuss with their early high-school-aged children prior to reading.

Dan Burns and A Fine Line

A Fine Line (A Sebastian Drake Novel) by Dan Burns

“I don’t need the second shot . . . but you’re worth it.” Sebastian Drake

About the Book:

When a struggling author with a secret government past is hired by a wealthy philanthropist to investigate a cold murder case, he has no choice but to expose the dark and buried secrets of a powerful political family in Chicago.

Sebastian Drake is a novelist working out of a dilapidated apartment in the city who’s trying to come up with his next story idea. But he’s stuck.

Drake receives an unexpected visit from a man interested in hiring him for a project and who thinks he has just the solution to Drake’s writing challenges. He also thinks that Drake’s past and secret life with a shadow government organization is a valuable asset. His proposition to Drake is simple: become a hired agent to investigate a cold murder case involving one of Chicago’s most powerful political families. The job comes with a decent paycheck, all the support he might need, and the types of real life experiences that can form the basis for great fiction stories.

This is a story about a man with a new lease on life, who leads a dual existence. Behind his desk, he is an aspiring author. On the streets, he is a rogue undercover and unknown vigilante. His biggest challenge is keeping intact the fine line between reality and fiction.

Publisher: Chicago Arts Press

ISBN: 978-0-9911694-2-9 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 978-0-9911694-4-3 (E-Book)

Publication Date: June 6, 2017

Genre: Mystery

Website: www.danburnsauthor.com

Signed Copies AVAILABLE HERE 

Also available at Barnes&Noble, Amazon, and Independent Bookstores Nationwide

My Review

The premise of Burns’s thrilling detective story grabbed my attention. Sure, Sebastian Drake is almost a Sam Spade pulp-alike, a forties-era anti-hero for today, but honestly, how can you not love the wounded but capable man-of-few-words detective with a soft spot for his family? Who’s also an author!

Drake’s initial success has not led to the subsequent best-seller notice he needed to survive in the authorial world. His agent dug deep and found a contract for a book he has yet to complete. Time’s running out and he’s desperate. Unlikely help comes through his former secret life. His shadowy employer knows things Drake would rather not remember, but Drake is fascinated by the request to dig back into a long-cold mystery.

Drake’s hefty financial reward for a little detective work isn’t necessarily the main attraction to get his hands dirty once again. He’ll hopefully reap the material he needs to finish his novel—if he survives. Combing his acquaintances for help and returning to the scene of the crime as well as revisiting the original police files is not quite like old home week. Enemies and friends are suspiciously hard to differentiate. Drake slowly peels off layers of dust as well as fresh scabs from wounds both professional and personal, until the answers are bared.

Told through Drake’s perspective, readers are pulled into a side of Chicago off the tourist trail. A Fine Line is a tale of winners and losers, and the chance to move forward and find both retribution and redemption. Those who enjoy detective adventures, particularly set in a familiar town, will find much to like about this novel.

A Brief interview with the Author  

Dan, what do you love about this book?

What I love most about this book is the path I had to take to see the novel come to fruition. My protagonist, Sebastian Drake, appeared first in a short story, Letting Go, which I wrote back in 2012. My process for the story was simple: put him at a table in a coffee shop, have him meet a person from his past, and see what happens. When I finished the story, I learned a little about Drake—who he is and where he came from—and I thought that was the end of his story. But Drake would not leave me alone. He had more to say and forced me to develop his story further. So, I went back to work and wrote a screenplay for a feature film that put him in the middle of a cold murder case in Chicago. The process was exhilarating and fun, and again, I thought that was the end of the story. The screenplay received national recognition and won the Best Screenplay Award at the Naperville Independent Film Festival, and fans at the festival asked, “What’s next for Drake?” I thought about the question often, and it seemed to me that the story I told in the screenplay was not quite complete. I could not get the story or Drake out of my mind, so I forged on and developed the story as a novel. I love the book and the story, and through the process, I came to the realization that Sebastian Drake is a part of me. He’s taking the lead now, and his story is just beginning. Where he will take us is anybody’s guess.

Congratulations! What a great way to find a story.

Introduce us to the character you had the most fun creating.

I had the most fun creating Sebastian Drake because he needed to be a complex, conflicted, and sympathetic character. He also had to be different, with character traits, experiences, and skills that we haven’t seen in other mystery series characters. I feel I accomplished that objective. However, I also feel I’m just getting to know who he is and what he can become. He’s not a typical protagonist or hero—he’s really an antihero, since he lacks the conventional attributes of a heroic character. Drake continually walks the fine line between the past and the present, right and wrong, and reality and the fiction he writes. His life is an endless high-wire act, and there is no safety net.

In a mystery novel, there has to be a nasty character, an antagonist, and in A Fine Line, there are many of them. But I especially enjoyed developing the character of Jerry Fitzsimmons: “an older man, thin and gaunt, almost sickly looking.” “He’s always grinning, like a cat who just ate a mouse.” From his “thin lips pressed together like a cadaver” to his “yellow teeth,” I found I disliked him more with each sentence I wrote about him. He gives me the creeps, and he adds a necessary dimension and complexity to the story. Fortunately, Drake doesn’t care much for him either and effectively addresses all of Jerry’s issues.

Those are fun characteristics put together in a believable way!

Share two things you learned either researching or writing-related during the production of this book?

A Fine Line is a murder mystery set in Chicago. To make the story interesting and believable, I felt it was necessary to make the city a character and include details about the city that would pull the reader in, whether local or not. I grew up on the North Side, but the story had to take place in and around areas I didn’t know about, where I haven’t been—unknown places, darker places. The Chicago Police Department also plays a large role in the story, and I had to make sure I understood the hierarchical structure of the organization and the basics of police procedure, especially because there’s at least one character who doesn’t follow procedure.

In researching both topics, what I learned is that even though I have lived in the Chicago area for fifty-four years, there is so much I still don’t know. I find that realization fascinating. There’s always more to learn and experience, and I think Sebastian Drake will make sure my education continues.

Readers--take this and run with it! Explore your own community.

What are you reading now?

I just finished reading Speed the Plow, by one of my favorite writers and playwrights, David Mamet. I’m in the middle of a memoir by Oscar Levant titled, A Smattering of Ignorance. He was a talented musician, composer, actor, and writer, and I find his writing insightful and humorous. I used one of his quotes as the epigraph for my book: “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.”

Dan, what's next for you?

I’m always juggling several projects. I recently completed a stage play script, Grace, and I’d love to produce it at a Chicago theatre. I am also continuing to write short stories and hope to have another story collection ready for publication next year. And Sebastian Drake continues to pester me. He has another story to tell, and together, we’re in the process of figuring out what that story is.

Theater is fun!

And I'm looking forward to seeing what trouble Drake gets into next.

Thanks for sharing about you and your work.

About the Author

Dan Burns is the author of the novels A Fine Line and Recalled to Life, and No Turning Back: Stories, the short story collection, He is also an award-winning writer of stories for the screen and stage. He resides with his family in Illinois and enjoys spending time in Wisconsin and Montana.

Author Website: www.danburnsauthor.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/danburnsauthor/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DanBurnsAuthor

Coming soon: Dan Burns and A Fine Line

A Fine Line (A Sebastian Drake Novel) by Dan Burns

“I don’t need the second shot . . . but you’re worth it.” Sebastian Drake

About the Book:

When a struggling author with a secret government past is hired by a wealthy philanthropist to investigate a cold murder case, he has no choice but to expose the dark and buried secrets of a powerful political family in Chicago.

Sebastian Drake is a novelist working out of a dilapidated apartment in the city who’s trying to come up with his next story idea. But he’s stuck.

Drake receives an unexpected visit from a man interested in hiring him for a project and who thinks he has just the solution to Drake’s writing challenges. He also thinks that Drake’s past and secret life with a shadow government organization is a valuable asset. His proposition to Drake is simple: become a hired agent to investigate a cold murder case involving one of Chicago’s most powerful political families. The job comes with a decent paycheck, all the support he might need, and the types of real life experiences that can form the basis for great fiction stories.

This is a story about a man with a new lease on life, who leads a dual existence. Behind his desk, he is an aspiring author. On the streets, he is a rogue undercover and unknown vigilante. His biggest challenge is keeping intact the fine line between reality and fiction.

Publisher: Chicago Arts Press

Coming June 6!
Read my review and an intriguing interview with the author then!

About the Author

Dan Burns is the author of the novels A Fine Line and Recalled to Life, and No Turning Back: Stories, the short story collection, He is also an award-winning writer of stories for the screen and stage. He resides with his family in Illinois and enjoys spending time in Wisconsin and Montana.

Author Website: www.danburnsauthor.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/danburnsauthor/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DanBurnsAuthor

Southside Hustle by Lou Holly

Southside Hustle by Lou Holly

“Every tough guy has a weak spot, and Trick’s is his love for his son.” Lee Graham

About the Book:

When a Mexican gang threatens his son, ex-con Patrick Halloran must turn back to crime.

Ex-con Patrick Halloran is trying to get a job and go straight. He missed out on his child’s early years, now all he wants is to spend more time with him. Getting back with his fiery ex, Ginger, would be a bonus.

In jail, Patrick concentrated on one thing: getting his head in order to do right by his son. He trained, studied and kept out of trouble; now he is hoping he can lead a normal life.

However, under pressure to pay off a debt, and unwilling to turn snitch, Patrick takes a risk, and ends up on the wrong side of a Mexican gang.

Having to raise cash quickly takes Patrick straight back into Chicago’s dangerous underworld where life is cheap, and deeper and deeper into an impossible predicament until he gets an offer he can’t refuse.

If you like tense and gritty crime fiction, look no further than SOUTHSIDE HUSTLE.

Published by The Book Folks crime action thriller publishers, March 27, 2016

E-book $2.99

Print $12.99

Buy on Amazon 

A brief interview with the Author

What do you love about this book?

The thing I like most about Southside Hustle is the realism. Some of the most outlandish things that take place are based on real life situations from the era, the mid-1980s. Southside Hustle was my attempt to write a crime novel that would appeal to women as well as men. Judging from the reviews that I’ve received from women, I succeeded. I like to think of Southside Hustle as a crime novel with a heart. Often, novels are either plot driven or character driven. I try to get a nice balance of the two in my stories.

Introduce us to your most difficult character.

The most difficult character to write was the protagonist, Patrick ‘Trick’ Halloran, because he walks a fine line between good and bad. He’s a thirty-year-old man who has just been released from prison after serving a term for a cocaine conviction. Now that he’s a free man again, all he wants is to reestablish a relationship with his now five-year-old son and work to pay off a financial debt he owes to an impatient, ruthless drug dealer. His attempts to stay out of trouble go terribly bad when an unusual situation draws him back into the dangerous world of crime in the southside area of Chicago.

Share some things you learned during the writing and publishing process for Southside Hustle.

The thing I learned most in writing Southside Hustle was the vast number of rewrites that it takes to polish up and complete a novel. The fun part of a project is the initial writing. The work is in the fine details.

What I’ve learned most about publishing is that you have to be willing to let your publisher make changes to the book that you’ve labored over for many months. Sometimes the changes can be minor, but sometimes they can be as major as writing out a character. There is a lot of negotiation that takes place. But hopefully, you can trust your publisher in their efforts to make your book as good as it can be. They are the experts, after all.

What are you reading now?

I just finished reading a 1957 paperback, Some Slips Don’t Show by A.A. Fair, who as many will know is a nom de plume for Erle Stanley Gardner of Perry Mason fame. I love the intricate plotting and the surprise parallel plot that is revealed later into the story. I’m now reading Suitcase Charlie, published 2015, by award winning writer John Guzlowski. John, like myself, is drawn to noir inspired tale telling.

What's next?

I recently finished writing another crime novel titled Razorback. It's about a bank robber named Vint Mercurio, who hops off a freight train in a small town in Arkansas, 1953. Vint gets into an altercation in a diner and accidentally kills a man in self-defense. While stuck in the town awaiting a hearing, he gets involved with two very different women, a shady English lawyer and two separate nefarious schemes. After he is cleared of the killing, the marshal wants Vint out of town, the brothers of the man he killed want him dead, but the temptation of a big score makes him stay when he should leave.

About the Author

One of six children, Lou Holly grew up on the southside of Chicago. As a young man, Lou worked in a number of factories to pay for community college classes. Otherwise, he has been self-employed most of his adult life. He owned a very successful band-booking agency in the 1980s and started his own limousine business in the 1990s, which attracted an array of celebrity customers. Lou’s writing career began as a reporter for a local newspaper in the late 1980s. His next foray into writing was a self-published book titled How to Succeed in the Limousine Business. With the success of the self-help book, he was invited to contribute articles to limousine publications in exchange for advertising and was awarded a bi-monthly column in Limousine Digest called "Chauffeur’s Corner." In 2009, Lou and his wife, Liz, launched the high-quality publication Keep Rockin’, a 1950s and 60s nostalgia magazine. Keep Rockin’ had subscribers in all 50 states and 11 countries. Lou retired in 2013 to become a full-time novelist. His first novel, Southside Hustle, was published by The Book Folks of London in 2016, and is receiving excellent reviews. Lou lives in Naperville, Illinois with his wife.

Facebook: Lou Holly Author

Twitter: @louholly_sr

Web: www.louholly.com

Meet Danielle E Shipley and her tales of Sherwood Forest

About The Ballad of Allyn-a-Dale (Outlaws of Avalon 1)
Danielle E. Shipley

Welcome to Avalon, a Renaissance Faire where heroes of legend never die. Where the Robin Hood walking the streets is truly the noble outlaw himself. Where the knightly and wizardly players of King Arthur’s court are in fact who they profess to be. Where the sense of enchantment in the air is not mere feeling, but the Fey magic of a paradise hidden in plain sight.

Enter Allyn-a-Dale. The grief of his father’s death still fresh and the doom of his own world looming, swirling realities leave the young minstrel marooned in an immortal Sherwood Forest, where he is recruited as a member of Robin Hood’s infamous outlaw band. But Allyn’s new life may reach its end before it’s scarcely begun. Their existence under threat, the Merry Men are called upon to embark on a journey to the dangerous world Outside – ours – on a quest which must be achieved without delay, or eternity in Avalon will not amount to very long at all.

Buy the Books:

Behold, the author’s Outlaws of Avalon page for access to all available books in the series

For the full Danielle E. Shipley catalog, look here

Danielle's Amazon Author page

Danielle's Barnes and Noble page

What do you love about this book?

           

The Merry Men! I love their banter, their audacity, and most of all, their friendships. Probably one of my biggest deathbed regrets will be that I was never a member of their band, but since I don’t get to be, watching my little fairytale minstrel become one of them is the next best thing.

Introduce us to your most difficult character.

Most difficult to write? Possibly Allyn. For one, he has been known to break out into spontaneous song – which is all very delightful to read once I’ve written it, but a minstrel’s lyrics aren’t as easily come up with as prose. For two, he’s not the most forthcoming fellow; likes to hold his spirit in close, where people can’t see or touch or deem lacking. It’s lucky for me I have direct access to his thoughts, or he might never have let me get to know him!

Most difficult to live with? Will Scarlet. He is as much a joy as he is a lot to handle.

Most difficult to fully understand? Merlin. Wizards, amirite?

Share 2 things you learned during the writing and publishing.

Writing discovery: I actually can crank out over 50 thousand words in under 30 days! It was my first-ever National Novel Writing Month project, and my novels like to flirt with novella length, so I didn’t know for sure.

Publishing discovery: Wow, trying to wrangle reviewers to look at your book is … not easy. Ask maybe a dozen, get maybe two replies – one “yes,” one “sorry, too busy.” For those of us who are mildly terrified of reaching out to people, it’s not a great ratio.

Danielle, what are you reading now?

I’m a few pages into A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman – a YA novel in verse about a young Indian dancer who loses her leg. While fantasy stories tend to be my favorite to write, I like to experience a wide range of reading material. Mo’ variety, mo’ better, I always* say.

(* Never once have I said it, till now. But I stand by its truth!)

What’s next for you?

 

Outlaws of Avalon 2 (The Marriage of Allyn-a-Dale) released this past March; Outlaws 2.5 – a flash fiction collection right up a word nerd’s alley – is scheduled to launch in July; and the trilogy proper concludes this fall. I’ve saved the most emotional ride for last, so hold onto your hankies, readers!

And if anybody wants to talk books with me in the meantime, feel free to hit me up on my website, deshipley.com – or at this year’s Printers Row Lit Fest; I’ll be there selling (for the first time!) Sunday, June 11, 2 pm till closing.

~I hope you have a good time! I enjoyed Printer's Row!

About the Author:

 

Danielle E. Shipley is the author of the Wilderhark Tales novellas, the novel Inspired, and several other expressions of wishful thinking. She has spent most of her life in the Chicago area and increasing amounts of time in Germany. She hopes to ultimately retire to a private immortal forest. But first, there are stories to make.