Beam Me Up, Author

How can an author help? Let’s face it. Some days, we want to be beamed up or whisked away to some place refreshing, different, exciting, fun, and leave our troubles far behind. Just for a little while. Just to get our second wind.

In my opinion, nothing can beat a good book for taking me out of reality for a small, make-believe vacation. In the past few days, I’ve discovered two authors who have done just that: A. H. Gabhart and Christy Barritt.

Ann H. Gabhart caught my attention by having a male protagonist. Not just any man, but a handsome, thoughtful, thoroughly nice man who just happens to be an officer of the law, Michael Keane. He reminds me a bit of Lilian Jackson Braun’s Qwilleran, except Michael is younger and works out of the courthouse and…well, there are quite a few differences as well as some similarities. Ann writes more than one series, but I am definitely hooked on the Hidden Springs series. I’ve read the first one, Murder at the Courthouse and am now reading Murder comes by Mail. When the first book ended, I couldn’t wait to see what Michael, his aunt, and the down-to-earth bunch of nosy town folk would do next.

Christy Barritt’s squeaky clean series is about a young woman, Gabby St. Claire, who has an unusual occupation: she cleans up after crime scenes. Gruesome? Yes, to me and to a lot of others, but to Gabby it’s a way of earning a living and getting her closer to her goal of being a forensics expert. Gabby is young, breezy, combative, and has such a positive outlook on life that nothing keeps her down for long.

Reading a good book makes me feel as if I’m really in this fictional place with these fictional characters. Oh, wait–writing does that too. I get so caught up in Darcy and Flora’s or Ned’s mysterious happenings that I’m always surprised when I glance at the clock and find I’ve been in Levi, Oklahoma, or Ednalee for hours. But, tumbling down a hill, traipsing through a cavern, being shot at, nearly blown up, being the victim of a crazy person who is into killing people will do that to a writer. Or a reader.

I don’t mean that books are a form of escapism. Indeed, not! Books are a mode of transport to any place, any time period, any adventure you want to have true. They leave the reader or writer refreshed, happier, and a much more interesting conversationalist. Within those pages is a different world. Beam me up, author.

For an in-depth look at all the adventures waiting for you in the Darcy and Flora or Ned series, click on this link: Blanche Day Manos, Author’s Page. I promise you won’t be bored.