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.