John Greene’s The Fault in Our Stars. I really love this book and it inspired me to take on a YA (young adult) tale of a kid with cancer. I did have to add a dash of fantasy because it’s me.
Super 8, the movie. I really like the sweet, tentative connection between Joe and Alice in the midst of all the sci-fi madness. Aaron and Helena are older, but I wanted to capture something of that sweetness.
Joyland by Stepehn King. It’s a coming of age story with a young man a few years older than Aaron that takes place in the seventies with a dash of the mystic, the kind of balance I tried to achieve here.
Shuffled Off. Yup, I just mentioned my own book. The idea for this book came to me as a title, a bit longer one than the finished title: A Boy, a Girl, a Ghost, and a Graveyard. Well, it just had to take place in the ghost world I started with Shuffled Off.
It was all these components (and more, I am sure, that I am unaware of) that created this story.
Thanks to Jordyn Redwood for reviewing the medical details for me to make sure I got late 1970s leukemia and treatment right.
As always, thanks to Dianna Cox for her proofing and making sure I don’t do anything too terrible.
And a big thanks to my team of beta readers: John Bifano, Elizabeth Fitzekam, Roni Hornstein, and Eliot Schipper. Thank you for your time and your input and making this story better.
And finally, thanks to you, dear reader. Thank you for spending your precious time with Aaron and Helena.
Books by Robert J. McCarter
A Boy, a Girl, and a Ghost is my fifth novel in my “ghost world” and I have some shorter works too. Below is a brief description and then a bit about my other works.
A Ghost’s Memoir
The “A Ghost’s Memoir” series are modern-day first-person ghost stories (i.e. the ghost is writing the story of their time as earth-bound spirits):
Shuffled Off: A Ghost’s Memoir, Book 1
Sometimes death wakes you up…
“The wry humor and raw emotional truth of JJ’s journey will have readers rooting for him from death to eternity.” – Kirkus Review
Drawing the Dead
Life and death are not that far apart…
“You’ve GOT to Read This Book!” – Amazon.com 5-star review
(Just like A Boy, a Girl, and a Ghost, this novel focuses on the living interacting with the dead)
To Be a Fool: A Ghost’s Memoir, Book 2
Who wants to rest in peace?
“Though there are moments that bring tears, you will also be taken on a startling ride through a unique vision of the afterlife” – Goodreads.com 5-star review
Of Things Not Seen: A Ghost’s Memoir, Book 3
A question of faith, a matter of love…
“A Deep Tale of Ultimate Triumph” – Amazon.com 5-star review
For more information go to ShuffledOff.com
Walter Anchor, Ghost Detective
Like the Ghost Memoir books, these stories are first-person ghost stories about Walter Anchor who is trying to solve is own murder.
Case 1: “Detecting Haley”
Case 2: “The Ghost Brides Gift”
Case 3: “A Long Hard Fall” (coming soon)
For more information go to RobertJMcCarter/WalterAnchor
Other Books and Series
I write in a lot of different genres, here are some links where you can find out more or go to RobertJMcCarter.com/books for a complete list.
Wood and June versus the Apocalypse
The apocalypse has never been this much fun!
“Funny, Sweet, Different, and Incredibly Well Written!” – Amazon.com 5-star review
Neutrinoman & Lightningirl: A Love Story
Superheroes… falling in love… saving the world.
“Delightful, Charming. Surprisingly Romantic.” – Amazon.com 5-star review
Seeing Forever
A life worth living?
“In this quiet but far-reaching thriller, author McCarter explores the essence of what it means to be human… Sci-fi as it should be: engaging, moving, and grand in scope.” – Kirkus Review
Short Fiction
I am a finalist for the Writers of the Future contest and my stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Saturday Evening Post, Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Fiction River, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and numerous anthologies.
I have two short story collections out:
Life After: Stories of Life, Death, and the Places in Between
A Matter of Life and Life After Death
Anomalous Readings: Thirteen Curious and Confounding Tales
Explore the curious and confounding…
For more information on my shorter works, go to RobertJMcCarter.com/stories
A Boy, a Girl, and a Ghost
Copyright © 2019 by Robert J. McCarter
Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, this book may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover photography © Robert J. McCarter
Version 1.0, October 2019
ISBN: 978-1-941153-22-2
Find out more about this book at: ShuffledOff.com
Visit Robert’s website at: www.RobertJMcCarter.com
Published by:
Little Hummingbird Publishing
P.O. Box 23518
Flagstaff, AZ 86002
www.LittleHummingbird.com
Little Hummingbird Publishing is a division of Arapas, Inc. Find more about Arapas at: www.Arapas.com.
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