Patti Shene woke up Thursday morning to discover her premises had been violated in a most unusual manner. Nothing seemed amiss until she strode down the hallway to the bathroom, where she discovered the door stood mysteriously ajar. This was a perplexing circumstance, as Patti had developed the habit of shutting the door at night (reason to be revealed later).

 

She initiated a search of her home, relatively confident no stranger had entered therein. She diligently checked her valuables: coins accumulated in her piggy bank, treasured photos of family, collection of Gunsmoke tapes, and stash of peanut M&Ms.  All items were accounted for.

 

However, when Patti proceeded into the bathroom to perform morning ablutions, she sustained a shock. Peering into the sink, she found herself staring into a dark hole. The strainer basket was missing!

 

After contemplating this bizarre occurrence, Patti surmised that her faithful furry four-footed companion, Duncan, had perpetrated the crime. Patti had been securing the bathroom door at night to prevent him from frolicking in the bathtub while she drowsed into dreamland.

 

Vigilant feline that he is, Duncan employed utmost stealth when he found the door shut but not adequately latched. Easing the door open and slinking across the vanity counter, he discovered the intriguing piece of metal with the little holes for catching hair could be removed with the dexterity of sharp teeth and clutching claws.

 

Looking back, Patti recalled that when she retired the previous night, Duncan, still in “play” mode, promptly hopped off the bed and bounded out of the room. She heard sounds of frolic as Duncan romped around the living room with what she assumed was one of his many toys. However, discovering the missing piece of plumbing peeking out from under a chair, she realized he had added to his repertoire of household playthings.

 

It was determined that no charges would be brought against Duncan for the felony, since this first offense of robbery reflected characteristics of a curious cat. However, Patti has been remanded to pet parenting classes, where she will learn techniques to protect her property from prying paws.   

 

Patti Shene Gonzales is published in two anthologies and local publications and has three western novels in progress. When not writing or reading, she is spending time with friends or attending her only granddaughter’s sports activities. Patti lives in Colorado with her devoted feline companion, Duncan.

 

 

SUBSCRIBE TO PATTI’S BLOGS HERE

 

 

FEATURED BOOK:  A New York Yankee on Stinking Creek

AUTHOR:  Carol McClain

GENRE:  Women's Fiction

PUBLISHER: Hummingbird Hill Press

SERIES OR STAND ALONE:  Stand alone

TARGET AGE: 30+ women

 

 

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR CAROL McCLAIN TO PATTI’S PORCH. CAROL SHARES SOME PERSONAL HISTORY THAT LED TO THE CREATION OF HER LATEST NOVEL.

 

 

CAROL IS OFFERING A GIVEAWAY! SIMPLY LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR WINNER’S CHOICE OF A PRINT OR EBOOK COPY OF A NEW YORK YANKEE ON STINKING CREEK.

 

 

 

 

ASSUMING THE WORST: FINDING THE BEST

 

I would leave New York after living there my entire life. As a thoroughbred Yankee, I understood the vast differences moving to Tennessee would involve. After all, as a young child, I yearned to ride with the freedom riders. They lived in the South. Tennessee’s coordinates placed it in the South.

 

As a hippie, I watched Easy Rider. Back then, I couldn’t dream of leaving the progressive North.

 

Then I saw Deliverance. Need I say more?

 

However, with maturity (we don’t say advancing age), moving to Tennessee became advisable and desirable. My writing friend Cathy became excited about my relocation and writing a novel exploring the vast differences between the North and the South. Her idea had merit.

 

Then I moved here.

 

My notions dissipated like the smoke from a barbeque. The people here were kind and liked New Yorkers. No one saw me as an intruder. They shopped at the same stores and attended churches similar to mine back in the northern latitudes. They served on Habitat for Humanity or the Lions’ Club. They wrote books, gardened and helped their neighbors. I visited schools as a clinical supervisor and found progressive, dedicated teachers, and students who learned advanced curriculum.

 

Except for the hill dialect, cornbread and a culture of Christianity as opposed to a culture of agnosticism, no differences existed. I had no story.

 

Still, Cathy nagged. “Write the book.”

 

While I ignored her command, I explored our area.

 

A quaint town with a horrid name lay a few miles to the north of my new home. Friends took me to Stinking Creek, a quiet hamlet of doublewides and stone houses. We drove down back roads where no homes existed and the theme of my book took root.

 

Assumptions.

 

They never tell the truth.

 

With a theme established, my story always develops.

 

A New York Yankee on Stinking Creek depicts two women with diametrically opposed philosophies. They are each other’s only neighbors and only help. One, an atheist abstract artist is wrenched from Manhattan. The other, a staunch conservative, never left Stinking Creek.

 

Both assume the worst of the other.

 

And we all know assumptions lie.

 

Nothing’s as it seems on Stinking Creek.

 

And if we judge and never check the facts, we will live a lie.

 

Paul, in Romans 2:1-3 says, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?” (NIV)

 

As humans, it’s easiest to see the speck in our neighbor’s eye and not the log in ours. Let us be like my two characters and learn assumptions make fools of us.

 

 

 

NOTHING GOOD COMES FROM STINKING CREEK

Alone, again, after the death of her fiancé, abstract artist Kiara Rafferty finds herself on Stinking Creek, Tennessee. She wants out of this hillbilly backwater, where hicks speak an unknown language masquerading as English. Isolated, if she doesn’t count the snakes and termites infesting her cabin, only a one-way ticket home to Manhattan would solve her problems.

Alone in a demanding crowd, Delia Mae McGuffrey lives for God, her husband, her family, and the congregation of her husband’s church. Stifled by rules, this pastor’s wife walks a fine line of perfection, trying to please them all. Now an atheist Yankee, who moved in across the road, needs her, too.

Two women. Two problems. Each holds the key to the other’s freedom.

 

Buy Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

 

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE PLACED IN THE DRAWING TO WIN A PRINT OR EBOOK COPY OF A NEW YORK YANKEE ON STINKING CREEK BETWEEN NOW AND TUESDAY, JULY 2ND AT MIDNIGHT MDT. (US residents only eligible for print copy).

BY LEAVING A COMMENT, YOU GRANT PERMISSION FOR YOUR EMAIL TO BE REVEALED TO THE AUTHOR IF YOU ARE THE WINNER TO FACILITATE RECEIPT OF YOUR BOOK.

 

Author Carol McClain is an eclectic artist and author of four books. Her interests vary as much as the Tennessee weather—running, bassoons, jazz, stained glass and, of course, writing. She’s a transplant from New York who now lives in the hills of East Tennessee with her husband and overactive Springer spaniel.

She is the president of ACFW Knoxville and the secretary of the Authors’ Guild of Tennessee.

In her “free time” she teaches life skills in the local jail and supervises student teachers for WGU.