March Suggested Reading

THE ASSISTANT by Bernard Malamud

Excerpt from HONOR REDEEMS book two of The Singing Fountain

The Palace gardens were silent and dark, with only an occasional flash of headlights through the trees from the street several meters away. Honor led Jan along the elegant arcade of Ionic columns that encompassed the Palace, past the Singing Fountain in the center of the wintry, courtyard garden. They cautiously made their way down a trail that wound through a grove of old trees until Honor stopped behind the Royal Hall. It was a magnificent Renaissance building with a series of arched windows, its facade artfully decorated in white sgraffiti depicting the four elements. She tugged on an inconspicuous wooden door at the building's foundation and it reluctantly opened. "You'll have to duck down low to get in. Watch your head," she whispered.

Excerpt from book one of my Singing Fountain Trilogy

The kitchen door exited onto a small courtyard enclosed on either side by ivy covered, stone walls. Two long, wooden benches and a table stood in the center and a bronze boar's head was embedded in the tower wall. From the courtyard, Diane strolled a gravel pathway around the tower by the oak grove, inhaling the earth brown scent of decaying leaves and wild mushrooms after a light rain. She heard faint, foreign voices, the distant whistle of the ferryboat on the river and was filled with a sense of belonging.

Excerpt from my novel, Love's Lost & Found

Not since his first kiss as a teenager had he felt such a current flow through him. It wasn't passion or lust. It was the first breath of love that rocks you to your core, the kiss you remember all your life. When they drew apart, the sight of her was seared into his brain; her exotic grey eyes, the glint of diamonds, her faint smile and the wisp of dark hair that had fallen on her cheek. He knew that he would carry that image in his mind and recall it in quiet moments as the years bent and finally bowed him.

It Really Matters

America, please be informed as you enter the polling booth this year. Which ever side of the aisle your allegiance, don't just make your decision based on political spots on television. Do some reading, watch news programs other than Fox or MSNBC. Use your brain and don't be lead around by the nose by super pacs. You may feel your vote doesn't matter but remember there are people in countries around the world who don't even have a vote or whose vote is cheated by corrupt officials. Your vote matters right down to local school superintendent. Wake up, America.

PAINTINGS BY CHERYL ERNST WELLS

Color studies in acrylics.

NEW SUGGESTED READING LIST

February and March: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
925 pages of alternative reality Murakami style.
Best hard cover jacket design ever.