Regifted.

After I finished with The Songbird and the Broken Angel, I was done with the series Failure's Legacy. I began to work on a sci/fi novel. Set in the future; a genetically enhanced super soldier from the last war humans waged before agreeing to disarm the planet wakes up in a stasis pod on board a crashed deep space transport. He was going to help set up a colony on Proxima B. Long story short he woke up on occupied Earth, aliens had taken over and were terraforming the planet...

I'm still working on that book...

I was pulled off that project because I got a complaint that Hannah and Jennifer were unrealistic heroines because they were tiny petite women acting like bad asses. Okay, that's fair, I remember thinking at the time.

I came up with the idea of a 5'10" female body builder with a purple belt in Kung Fu. She couldn't reach black belt because she was not aggressive enough during sparring, had never been in an actual fight and was incredibly self conscious about her size when around smaller women. The nick name Barbell Barbie came to my mind. A young woman with a beautiful face and muscular body.

Staci Brown was born in my mind. To balance her size but lack of aggression I gave her a boyfriend Henry Severs. Henry the unapologetic nerd. Henry collects action figures, comics and dresses in costumes to go to conventions.

I originally intended for this book to be a stand alone book and only loosely associated with the series I had thought I completed. I started having news reports of Hannah Monroe's failing health in the background as a tie in. I never had plans to fully connect the stories.

Eventually I realized the stories need to entwine, but... I was sick of the rock n roll theme. Having already established Hannah and Jennifer's daughters as musicians I opted to skip a generation and use a granddaughter. I back filled some of the family history to loosely bridge the gaps and created Amanda Simmons. Amanda was the daughter of Jillian, the daughter Jennifer gave birth too. Jillian is a side character having left Amanda in Hannah's care as an infant and been absent from her daughter's life as she pursued a career in Hollywood. Amanda's father was a drummer for a one hit wonder band and was an addict incapable of raising a child.

While the bulk of this title, as well as the last one are centered around Staci and Henry the stories fit nicely into the series and The Last Matriarch - recumbentibus provides the perfect bookend to finish the series, I subtly weave past events into the current story.

I enjoyed writing about Staci and the feedback I received has all been positive. As I said in an earlier blog post, the first step is not deciding what the story is about, it's about deciding who the story is about.

Regifted's plot is trope, a memory card is hidden inside a stuffed animal that has both foriegn and domestic intelligence operatives willing to kill to acquire. People want familiar stories with different characters which is why so many books share the same plot.

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“In national news tonight, rock icon turned real estate mogul Hannah Monroe has been hospitalized and is listed in serious but stable condition following a heart attack earlier…” The reporter said

“Nobody cares about some old rocker we never heard of!” Staci turned off the television and decided to soak in the bathtub. While the tub filled she stood naked in front of the full length mirror. She slightly flexed her arms and sighed.

I guess it’s back to dating fuck boys from the gym, she thought. Her height and her muscular physique intimidated a lot of guys. She knew this, had been told this more times than she cared to recall. Henry had been the first guy she had been with that was not into fitness in some form or another.

Once everyone calms down, maybe I can get him back, she consoled herself with that idea.

She lay there in the bath debating on whether to get out or add more hot water when all at once it seemed things were exploding around her. She screamed and covered  her face with her hands as chucks of tile seemed to be jumping off the wall. It took several seconds to realize what was happening.

A fucking drive by! She cursed.

Once the shooting seemed to have ceased, she climbed over the side of the bathtub staying as low as she could and crawled on the floor to her pile of clothes, she fished her cell phone out of her jeans’ pocket and dialed 911.

After giving the operator her name and address and explaining her home had been shot up, she was still on the line.

“Someone is beating on my front door!” She let out on a panicked whisper. “Is that your cops?” She asked.

“Units are four minutes away ma’am is someone in the house with you? Is there another way you can exit?” The operator began to share her concern. Staci grabbed up her shirt and tried to sprint to the back door. She stepped on something sharp cutting her foot.

She managed to half run, half hop to the sliding glass door and fled the house nude into the dark backyard. She crouched behind a bush and pulled her shirt overhead. “How much longer, oh my god there are men in my house I see them through the window!” Staci told the operator.

“Just a few minutes, please stay on the line with me until officers arrive," the man said.

“I hope they hurry; this is fucking nuts!” Staci said. She knelt down on the sandy ground shaking from the adrenaline the operator kept trying to talk but she kept shushing him. She finally let herself relax when she heard the sirens. The men in her house heard them too and retreated from her sight. Staci remained behind the bushes even after she saw the blue lights pull up her street. The cars were obscured by the house but the lights cast their eerie blue strobe making it obvious the police were there.

“Ma’am officers are on the scene, they need to secure your home, if you’re inside, you need to identify yourself to them,.” the operator said.

“I’m out back, but I was in the bathtub, I’m not showing myself naked,.” Staci said with a tone of indignation.

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. Staci heard a woman’s voice calling from the back door,. “Staci Brown! Manatee County Sherrif’s office! Are you out here?”

Staci raised a hand over the bush “I’m here!”

“Ma’am we need you to come on out, okay?” The woman said.

Staci stood but remained behind the honeysuckle bush.

"I don't have any pants, I'm not coming out without a towel of something," Staci yelled.