by C.L. Bevill
Coming in July 2013
Mountains of Dreams
Once Upon a Time…
Once upon a time, or so the story is supposed to go, the world stopped being the world we all know. In fact, no one really knows what happened. Sure, there’s conjecture. Everyone’s tossed down their opinion. If I had a dime for every time I heard the suggestions of aliens, communists, or secret projects from an enigmatic government, I’d have a lot of dimes that are pretty much worthless now. For a long time I thought there had been an EMP, an electromagnetic pulse. A sudden burst of electromagnetic radiation released from a nuclear bomb explosion would have halted everything that used electricity. However, the side effect of a nuke didn’t really explain why there suddenly was a herd of unicorns prancing around the forest. (Not the friendly unicorns with rainbows shooting out of their tushies either.) It also didn’t explain why a huge chunk of people just vanished, leaving the clothing they were wearing in piles on the ground or wherever they happened to be. And it certainly didn’t explain why the people with an extra-special set of senses were the only ones left behind.
Everyone’s got a story of where they were when it happened. I woke up on the side of a mountain. The sleeping bag beside mine once had my father in it. All that was left was some clothes he had been wearing and his wedding ring. I didn’t see another living person for a month or so. But I saw other things. The herd of unicorns was just the first. There were also the gryphon, a thing that looked like the Loch Ness Monster frolicking in a reservoir with its two babies, and a horde of miniature dragons that took up residence on a coastal Oregon bridge. Before I encountered the individual I called the Burned Man, who lured me to a bluff with a bonfire intent on homicide and a cannibalistic feast, I was beginning to think that I was completely alone and utterly bonkers.
Being nuts made the new world sound like something that was justified and understandable. People disappeared? You’re insane. New animals bouncing around? You’re cuckoo. Psychics are the only people left? You’re a few clowns short of a circus.
See? Insanity didn’t sound so bad. But I wasn’t insane. Not then. Not now.
Once upon a time sounds like it was the beginning of a fairy tale, but puh-lease, that wasn’t a fairy tale and it certainly didn’t transmogrify into one later. Trust me. I was living in it, and I was definitely not Snow White nor was I Cinderella. My shoes weren’t glass slippers and seven happy-go-lucky dwarves weren’t cavorting with me in a magical forest singing a perky song. To be perfectly precise, I was lucky that I wearing leather combat boots, considering the situation I was in.
Here it goes…
About the Author
C.L. Bevill has lived in Virginia, Texas, Arizona, and Oregon. She once was in the U.S. Army and a graphic illustrator. She holds degrees in social psychology and counseling. She is the author of Bubba and the Dead Woman, Bubba and the 12 Deadly Days of Christmas, Bubba and the Missing Woman, Veiled Eyes, Disembodied Bones, and Shadow People, among others. Presently she lives with her husband and her daughter in Alabama and continues to constantly write. She can be reached at www.clbevill.com or you can read her blog at www.carwoo.blogspot.com
Other Novels
by C.L. Bevill
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Mysteries:
Bubba and the Dead Woman
Bubba and the 12 Deadly Days of Christmas
Bubba and the Missing Woman
Brownie and the Dame
Bubba and the Mysterious Murder Note
Bayou Moon
Crimson Bayou
Paranormal Suspense/Romance:
Veiled Eyes (Lake People 1)
Disembodied Bones (Lake People 2)
Arcanorum: A Lake People Novel (Lake People 3)
The Moon Trilogy:
Black Moon (The Moon Trilogy 1)
Amber Moon (The Moon Trilogy 2)
Silver Moon (The Moon Trilogy 3)
Cat Clan Novellas:
Harvest Moon
Blood Moon
Crescent Moon
Shadow People
Sea of Dreams
Mountains of Dreams (Dreams #2) (Coming soon)
Suspense:
The Flight of the Scarlet Tanager
Black Comedy:
The Life and Death of Bayou Billy
Missile Rats
Chicklet:
Dial ‘M’ For Mascara