I asked fellow Midnight Garden anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.
Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Garden (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).
And now, Denise Aparo’s Jack Moon and the Vanishing Book:
Jack Moon’s bookshop quivered as the chugging train keened whooee-uueet down the New England railway. Grinding gears screeched as the black wheels clattered against the iron tracks. The speeding train took a fast turn, losing a large piece of metal debris that flew onto Jack’s fragile roof and made a hole as it continued down the shop ceiling. For the train to travel this often was unusual, but now, with the recent destruction, Jack was fuming. It was the third time this week that Amtrak had traveled through Bristol on its North East Regional route, shaking everything in its wake. What had once been the local General Store by the tracks was now the damaged Blue Moon Book Shoppe. Moon’s bookshop quivered as the chugging train keened whooee-uueet down the New England railway. Grinding gears screeched as the black wheels clattered against the iron tracks. The speeding train took a fast turn, losing a large piece of metal debris that flew onto Jack’s fragile roof and made a hole as it continued down the shop ceiling. For the train to travel this often was unusual, but now, with the recent destruction, Jack was fuming. It was the third time this week that Amtrak had traveled through Bristol on its North East Regional route, shaking everything in its wake. What had once been the local General Store by the tracks was now the damaged Blue Moon Book Shoppe.
How the story came about:
The inspiration for my short story, “Jack Moon and the Vanishing Book,” comes from visiting old New England bookshops. I love collecting old books and memorabilia when visiting these quaint bookshops. The primary focus of my historic genre and time travel. I love to incorporate the paranormal into everything I write!
The concepts of time travel and mysterious old books intrigue me the most. The actual stories of mysterious books, like the legendary Anthropologia, also known as Ashmole 782, alleged to have been donated to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University in 1858, definitely spiked my interest for a mysterious book story. In addition, The Voynich Manuscript, Codex Gigas, The Book of Kells, The Gutenberg Bible, and The Ripley Scrolls are also intriguing books that have spiked my interest for writing a paranormal story.
My story begins with an unusual book hunter with a tragic past who finds a mysterious book that vanishes. Strangest things begin to happen once he discovers this ancient book.
About Denise Aparo:
Denise Aparo is a New England native, born and raised in the clockmaking city of Bristol, Connecticut. She lives with her husband, Joe, and they have five grandchildren. She is also a freelance writer who spends her time working on her novel and writing short stories. She also spends her time gardening, crafting, and crocheting.
Denise likes to write Paranormal Fiction, genre of Historical Fantasy. She recently completed her first novel, Crossbows. She has a Masters of Arts in English and a Fine Arts/Creative Writing with concentration in Fiction from Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and a member of Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society, and The National Society of Leadership and Success, Sigma Alpha Pi, with SNHU.
She is a member of the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association (CAPA) and the author of a new WordPress writing blog, The Write Voice, The Write Voice | The write voice at the write time., a blog that boasts, “Like multiple genres, there are many cultures – each with an individual voice.
You can find and follow Denise on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
See all Midnight Garden stories here.
And for our finale, a Hallowe’en-themed teaser to the anthology: