North Fairhaven Girl

North Fairhaven Girl 4: Millicent Library

I was a reader before I became a writer. My teachers at Oxford School got me started. But it was the books I borrowed from my town’s Millicent Library that got me inspired.

As I’ve mentioned before, my mother was a voracious reader, who brought us to the library to borrow enough books to last a week. During the summer, the library sent a bookmobile to St. Mary’s parking lot at the bottom of our street, but I preferred going to the library because it was like stepping into a castle, the building was that grand. See the photo above that I took on a visit.

First a little history: The Millicent Library is one of the extraordinarily beautiful buildings given to my hometown of Fairhaven by Henry Huttleston Rogers, a resident who became wealthy thanks to oil. Charles Brigham, the noted architect, designed the Italian Renaissance building, which took two years to complete. The library is dedicated to Rogers’ daughter Millicent, who died at age 17. It appears she once said, “I wish we had a good library.” It was dedicated on Jan. 30, 1893, the anniversary of her birth.

Friends from Taos, New Mexico, where Hank and I lived for 11 years, will recognize the name Millicent Rogers. In Taos’ case, this Millicent was the granddaughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers. She lived a fabulous, artistic life. An art museum, which we visited often, is named for her.

But back to Fairhaven … the children’s room was to the left of the circulation desk, where Rita Steele, head librarian, was in charge. There, I vowed to read the entire Wizard of Oz Series, all 14 books. I don’t recall how far I got. My sister Christine and I got hooked on the Nancy Drew Series, taking turns to read each chapter as we proceeded through the story — believing like most everyone else the author was indeed Carolyn Keene. Books that captured my imagination: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, and, of course, The Diary of Anne Frank. There were so many more.

Another memory: the Samurai sword on open display. The 14th century Tachi sword worn in court ceremonies was a gift long ago from the then-Japanese ambassador — in recognition of the town’s connection to his country. Unfortunately the sword was stolen in 1977. The library now has a replacement.

When I stopped using the kids’ room, I ventured into the adult section, including nonfiction. I wanted to read every one, an impossible task, I realize.

By the way, I was happy to learn the Millicent Library carries several of the books I’ve written. I also did a reading there in October 2023, which was a homecoming that included a cousin, classmates, and even my ninth-grade history teacher.

Besides my adult fiction, I write children’s books, specifically for middle grade readers. For my Twin Jinn Series, I created a family of magical beings — jinn or genies — who live among humans. So far, I have published two: The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries and most recently, The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine. 

I wanted to write books that inspire young readers. And I thank the Millicent Library for getting me going on that.

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The Swanson Shuffle

My Next Book: The Swanson Shuffle

Today I am giving you a sneak peek at my next book: The Swanson Shuffle. Unlike my last release, this one is not for kids nor does it have anything to do with magic. This book is about a young woman’s experience living and working in a psychiatric halfway house and the people she encounters. That’s the Kindle cover above designed by my son Ezra Livingston. Release will be in April.

Here’s a brief synopsis:

Two years out of college, Bia Fernandes leaves a dead-end job to work and live in a psychiatric halfway house, where she learns more than she expects from its ex-patients — just as the Watergate scandal in the U.S. comes to a head in 1974.

Swanson House is a derelict mansion that will be torn down for a highway coming through a dying mill town in Massachusetts. The state, which is closing its mental hospitals, hires inexperienced staff like Bia to help people make the transition. 

But where others have failed, Bia has it in her to help what the staff member she replaces called dented cans. She tries to see the good in them.

Yes, I lived and worked in a psychiatric halfway house, but this is Bia’s story to tell. The Swanson Shuffle is strictly a work of fiction although I believe having that experience helped me create realistic characters and setting. As I’ve said before, I take what I know and have my way with it. 

I actually began this novel in 1999. I was about a hundred pages into it but my then agent, who I acquired the following year, wasn’t interested in representing it. So, I wrote other books instead.  But the story stayed with me. 

On my computer I have versions going back to 2012 when I took up the book up again. We were living in Taos, NM, then and I tore the book apart. I kept the same characters—more about them in future posts — but seriously changed how the story unfolds. Over the years, I kept working it. Last year, I added an epilogue after two trusted readers, Teresa and Fred, felt the book needed better closure. 

Besides The Swanson Shuffle, the book has had two other titles, Walking in Place and Crazy Daisy. Why call it The Swanson Shuffle? For a few reasons. The name of the halfway house is the Swanson House. A few of the staff take a drug with a side effect that makes them constantly step in place. And, unfortunately for some, there is the constant shuffle between a mental hospital and halfway house.

Yes, this book has been a Work in Progress for many years. I will be honest, I have queried oh so many agents and publishers who didn’t want to take a chance on it. So, here I am publishing it myself and hoping readers will prove them all wrong.

ADDITION: In the first graph, I mentioned my most recent book was written for young readers. The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine is the second in a series. A family of magical beings move to a small town where their 11-year-old twins, Jute and Fina, go to school. The twins are supposed to keep their magic hidden — they can fly, be invisible, cast spells — but they get carried away creating an alchemy machine that works for their science fair project.

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Professor Groovy

Turn On, Tune In, Write About It

It’s time to give a little love to my new audiobook, Professor Groovy and Other Stories, a collection of four short stories inspired by my college experience as, yes, you guessed it, a hippie girl. Previously, it was only available only in Kindle, but now you can hear me reading the stories aloud. Before I forget here’s the link.

You may read or heard me say this before, but I will do it again: I take what I know and have my way with it. That is certainly true of myIsabel Long Mystery Series and my other fiction. But in this case, I relied on my experience in college for these short stories.

When I arrived at Bridgewater State College — now a university — I was a shy girl who lived a sheltered life. I never dated, except for coercing a boy to take me to the prom. I so enjoyed my classes at Fairhaven High School and look forward to going to college. I was the first of my family to do so. They and I thought I would return home and teach school afterward.

Well, things didn’t go as planned. I found myself attracted to the college’s counter culture thanks to a woman in my dorm who introduced me to her circle of friends. And from there I enjoyed a great social life that included imbibing in all sorts of mind-altering substances. I was no longer shy or sheltered. And, yes, I did graduate with good grades and a teaching certificate. It was too important for me not to do that. But I moved onto another kind of life, which included raising a large family, moving about this country, and, yes, writing.

Here is the pitch for the short story collection: Lenora Dias, her college hippie friends, and a notorious professor try to make sense of life during the sixties. A prequel of sorts to the novel Peace, Love, and You Know What.

When I was in college, I encountered college professors who were figuring things out themselves. Was there a Professor Groovy? I recall one who liked to, uh, socialize with my group of friends. There were others. But what happens to Ned Burke in Professor Groovy did not take place in real life. When Bridgewater’s literary magazine, The Bridge, published the short story in an appeal to alum, one of the editors asked which prof. inspired the character. My lips were sealed.

In Ripple in the Jungle, Lenora Dias meets a friend for coffee at a locals coffee shop. Yes, there was one in the town’s center, Buddy’s, where I hung out with my friends, but this is a highly fictionalized meetup. Lenora is secretly corresponding with a guy she never met who is stationed in Vietnam. She sends him a bottle of Ripple as a gift, but there’s a bit of glass floating in the wine so he doesn’t dare drink it. Yes, I did mail a bottle of Ripple to a soldier and was amazed it even arrived intact except for that sliver.

In Smart Girls Like the Cool Guys, Lenora hooks up sort of with a local guy when she is back home for the summer. The guy has had a rough life along with a self-made tattoo of a dagger with the words “Born to Lose” on his arm. Let’s just say he was an inspiring character, but the story is pure fiction.

Fat Mark Writes It Down: I had a college friend who was indeed overweight and kept a journal in spiral notebooks. But, no, I never read any of them or did anything like Lenora does to one of her friends who has a similar habit. I wish I had.

There you have it. I recorded that audiobook in my son, Nate Livingston’s Mudroom Sound Studio. It’s a quick listen at 1 hour and 15 minutes. Recording this book was a learning process since it was our first. I thank Nate for taking on the project. We are talking about recording the Twin Jinn Series, complete with music he creates. Sounds like a great project to me.

Find Professor Groovy and Other Stories on Audible: here’s the link.

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The Twin Jinn

Using Magic on Humans

I was amused Saturday when Amazon noted The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine was No. 1 in Alchemy. Well, that was unexpected. But turning metal into gold is one of the talents of the magical beings I created for this series for middle grade readers.

Jute and Fina Jinn can fly, be invisible, shrink, and cast spells. But sometimes the best magic they do is to help humans change for the better. That’s what happens when they attend school in a small town in The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine.

In the first, The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries, the twins and their parents perform a magic act in a traveling carnival after escaping from their power-hungry master. In that book, Jute and Fina help a new friend, Jonathan, overcome his shyness.

In The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, their parents, Elwin and Mira, move to a small town where hopefully they will not be discovered. They live in an apple orchard and the twins attend fifth grade in a local school. Elwin and Mira also feel it’s a good way for their children to learn more about humans although they are supposed to keep their magic hidden. (Good luck with that.)

One of their lessons about humans is dealing with a boy named Brian Morgan, a bully who picks on his classmates. He makes fun of the twins because they look and dress differently. He calls them names like Hoot and Greener, Cute and Cleaner,  and Toot and Weiner.

Here’s a scene from the first chapter, when at recess Brian makes fun of the clothes Jute and Fina wear.

Fina jabbed a finger against the boy’s chest so hard and fast he hopped backward.

“Be careful or I will put a spell on you,” she said.

Brian’s eyes locked on Fina’s.“Go ahead and try, Fina. I dare you.”

“Oh, yeah?” she said. “How would you like it if I turned you into a little pink pig? Or a big, hairy bug?”

Fina could make either of those two spells happen. She was thinking about which one would be better when Jute tapped her shoulder.

“No, Fina,” he whispered. “Don’t do it.”

Fina nodded. If she changed Brian into a pig or a bug, she wouldn’t be able to turn him back into a boy. Humans can’t handle that kind of change. Neither can animals. Fina found that out after she shrunk a goat to only a few inches. She thought she was saving the animal from an unhappy life. Fina planned to make the goat full-sized when she found a good home, but her mother told her it was impossible. Resa the goat would be tiny forever. Fina learned a lesson although she loved the goat that was now her pet.

Fina made a low laugh.

“Well, Brian, I guess I will let you go for now. Besides, recess is over.”

Jute and Fina do get into trouble when they use a magic spell to stick Brian to his seat and the floor. No matter what he tries he can’t get himself free. Eventually they let him go. Their teacher suspects they are responsible although he can’t figure out how. Because jinn can’t lie, they admit to doing it. Fina tells him, “We used magic.” That earns them a visit to the principal’s office.

Then there is the scene in which they are waiting outside the principal’s office when their class walks past them to the library.

Brian was in back of the line. He mouthed the words, “Crook and Steamer.”

Fina stuck out her tongue, but Jute had a better idea. He made a spider appear on the back of the boy’s shirt. The spider was as large as a stone good for throwing. It wasn’t poisonous, and it wouldn’t bite. But the spider would give the boy a scare. Jute watched Brian follow the others to the library. So far, the boy hadn’t noticed, but Fina did. She covered her mouth as she squealed.

“Oh, Jute, good one,” she whispered.

“I wonder when Brian will see the spider,” Jute whispered back.

“I think we’ll hear all about it, don’t you?” Fina said.

“Uh-huh.”

But after their parents are called to the school, they insist the twins find another way to help Brian be a better human than the ways they were using. They succeed, but I will let readers find that out for themselves.

By the way, Brian never knows the family’s true identities as jinn or genies. But there are two humans who do — Alice, who owns the orchard where the family lives, and Winston Moody, who has a farm next door and cleans their school —  naturally with good reason. More about them soon.

Here are the links to The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries and The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine.

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The Twin Jinn

The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine Is Live

Sometimes I love my characters so much they deserve more than one book. I did that for my Isabel Long Mystery Seriesfor adults. And for a totally different writing and reading experience, I created the Twin Jinn Series for middle grade readers.

And exciting news: The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, the second book in the series, has a Feb. 26 release in Kindle and paperback on Amazon. Here’s the link.

I began writing the series when I lived in Taos, New Mexico, which is a magical place for many people. As a child, I got so much enjoyment going to our town’s library and choosing books to read. For a while, I was fixated on the Wizard of OzSeries. The author, L. Frank Baum, wrote fourteen, and as I recall, I got through many of them. Then there was the Mary Poppins Series by P. L. Travers. A book that caught my interest was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.And as a parent and a grandparent, I got to read many, many more.

So, I channeled that book-loving girl to create The Twin Jinn books.

In writing my own, I wanted to create magic beings who live among humans, which led me to genies or jinn, as I call them. I wanted the main characters to be twins — alas, in real life I wasn’t one. Jute and Fina Jinn, brother and sister, are 11 jinn years but 111 by human. They have special powers that include the ability to fly, cast spells, shrink and be invisible. They are at the age where it is time for their parents Elwin and Mira to intensify their training.

Oh, I should back up here to say like most jinn, the family had a master, in this case, a power-hungry man. Elwin and Mira found a way to escape, but he is desperate to get the family back. (My theory for this series is that every powerful and/or rich person has a jinni making that possible.)

I pictured Jute and Fina as kind beings. Being twin siblings, they are also competitive, especially when they play games like Finder. That’s when one invisible jinni tries to find another. (Wouldn’t that be fun?) The twins are curious, especially about the human world, and mischievous. Typically, Fina is the instigator like casting a spell on a mean boy, so he is stuck to the seat and floor in their classroom. They are supposed to keep their powers hidden. Tell that to the kids.

I loved the Jinn family so much that I wanted to plunk them into different situations.

In the first, The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries, the family hides in a traveling carnival’s show, where they put their magical powers to good use for an act.

In the second, The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, the family lives in a small town where Jute and Fina attend school. They create a machine that turns metal into gold for their science fair project. That book has a Feb. 26 release on Amazon.

In the third, The Twin Jinn in the Land of Enchantment, the family moves to a ranch in the Southwest. I hope to release that one perhaps this summer.

(For those wondering, yes I tried to entice publishers to take on the series. I even had an agent pitching it at one time. But like Fina, I became impatient to take that route anymore.)

And I am fortunate to have the artistic talents of my son Ezra Livingston, who created the illustrations for the books. They capture the books’ magic.

Again, here is the link for The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine. Thank you if you come along for the next adventure.

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