Piss on It ~ Shadow of the Storm’s Genesis

    Optimism defined Robert Edward Graham. He’d greet the day with the conviction that, no matter what it threw at him, it would place him closer to goals he was determined to reach. I don’t know if he’d always been such a man, but it was certainly the man who’d overcome alcohol addiction and homelessness, who’d found his strength in a soul-moving sunrise to rebuild his life.

    Born in 1945 in Corsicana, Texas, Rob became an all-state tackle in high school during his team’s 1963 winning season and post-season state football championship victory. While many of his classmates entered college after graduation, Rob took off in an artistic direction with an eye on the big time. As he did with every endeavor, he prepared relentlessly until he felt he was ready. Then he went for the primary goal, not a hundred smaller goals that might or might not lead to the big one.

    He ventured first into music as a founding member of the Penthouse 5, a rock garage band that became a regional sensation in the mid-1960s. Rob served as primary songwriter and vocalist. Penthouse 5 quickly became known for blending vocal harmonies with increasingly heavier music to create something new and exciting. The band cut several singles for regional labels, one reaching number one in the Dallas market, bringing the group to the cusp of national success. (The band’s album, The WordD is Love, is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehElqibg0TE&list=RDehElqibg0TE&start_radio=1.) But rifts developed between several of the members, and the group split in 1967. Due to copyright ownership shenanigans by one of the members, Rob never received any royalties for the songs he wrote.

    “Piss on it.”

    That phrase became his trademark. Whenever life didn’t go quite the way he wanted or landed wide of his target, he’d shrug it off with a hearty “piss on it.” He’d laugh and move on—sometimes to better things, sometimes to worse.

    After Penthouse 5 split, Rob pursued acting, appearing in commercials and regional stage productions. To supplement his income and further expose himself to potential acting opportunities, he relied on his rugged good looks to become a popular male model, remaining in high demand for several years. Such demand provided ample opportunities to indulge in various vices, and Rob chose alcohol. At first, he limited consumption to social engagements, but then he began to drink heavily and regularly in private as well, developing a strong alcohol dependency that destroyed several close relationships. Job offers dried up. His wife left him. Eventually, he wound up on the street, surviving on what he could scrounge from restaurant garbage bins.

  “Then one morning,” he confided, “I woke beside a dumpster with my face in a puddle of vomit. The sky was on fire with the rising sun. At that moment, I had an epiphany. I had two choices—die or get sober. Piss on it.” 

    He checked himself into a detox center and spent the next desperate months getting straight. He’d been clean for a couple of years when he enrolled in Writer’s Digest School’s short fiction course, and the school assigned him to me. For whatever reason, he found it easy to work with and confide in me, and we developed a deep friendship that led to the creation of James Pleasant Wolfshadow, Sarah Little Bird Boone, and the odyssey that culminates this October with Foolscap & Quill’s publication of Shadow of the Storm. 

    Upcoming posts will explore the development of the novel’s plot and characters, Rob’s final tragedy, and the eventual realization of his dream to become a published author. You can receive posts automatically by visiting https://windpoemcreative.blogspot.com to subscribe via the RSS feed. In the meantime, please stop by Foolscap at https://www.foolscap-quill.com/ for an array of exceptional novels in various genres. For more information about my work, especially the latest novel, The Crosses ~ A Baker Street Irregulars Mystery, written with my late spouse, Bonnie Del Aguila, please visit https://csfuqua.com.

 

The Crosses: From Notes to Novel

As mentioned in earlier posts, Bonnie proposed in the late-2000s that we write a Holmes-universe-based novel. As her retirement from federal service approached, she diligently documented various possibilities, characters, historical events, and more, meticulously organizing them in a compact blue notebook. Following her retirement, she continued compiling notes even as she dealt with recurring cancer that ultimately claimed her life in 2022.

In previous posts, I have alluded to certain aspects of characters and plot based on her notes. Today, I’m including images of actual samples from her notebook. Upon reading the novel, you will likely realize connections between the notes and how they shaped the plot and character development.

Weeks after her passing, I began reading the notes, and I could hear her voice distinctly, brimming with excitement and anticipation. It was time to begin. I felt a profound sense of connection to her by engaging in the very endeavor we had envisioned—writing that book together. In April of this year, a little more than three years after her passing, The Crosses ~ A Baker Street Irregulars Mystery was a reality, and I began the submission process. I anticipated the customary fluctuations in consideration and rejection that can persist for months and even years. However, consideration of The Crosses proved exceptional—the swiftest book acceptance in my career and by the most suitable publisher, MX Publishing, the global leader in Sherlock Holmes-related literature.

Set in 1925 Las Cruces, New Mexico, The Crosses delves into the investigation of the murders of three tribal councilors, which has stalled due to accusations of racial bias. When newspaper publisher Bessie de la Paz seeks guidance to revive the investigation, former Baker Street Irregular Ben Irwin arrives to assist her and the investigating deputy sheriff in tracking down the perpetrator. The investigation culminates in a fourth death that leads to the killer but erodes Bessie’s trust in those once closest to her as she increasingly relies on Ben for more than she anticipated.

The Crosses is a fitting memorial to Bonnie, a novel she coauthored in honor of one of her literary heroes and the genre she cherished most. I am grateful to MX Publishing for bringing her vision to a worldwide audience. Additionally, I extend deep gratitude to you and every reader for your interest. The Crosses is available in hardcover, paperback, and digital formats from MX Publishing, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other book retailers.

            

The Seed for Shadow of the Storm

Posts leading up to Foolscap & Quill’s mid-October publication of Shadow of the Storm will explore the novel’s genesis and introduce co-writer Rob Graham, whose idea became an extraordinary tale of greed, hate, cruelty, compassion, and selflessness. A big thank you to Foolscap & Quill for enabling Rob’s dream finally to be realized. I’m certain he’s grinning with delight and satisfaction as he strolls his idea of heaven, the Elysian Fields.

The Seed for Shadow of the Storm

During the mid-1990s, I was an instructor for Writer’s Digest School’s short-fiction writing course. The mail order course comprised several lessons that covered idea generation, plot development, setting, and character creation and development. The majority of students were hobbyists while the more serious were beginning their writing journey. One of the students in the latter group was Robert Edward Graham.

Through our correspondence, Rob and I gradually developed a friendship. When he requested a phone call, that he had a proposal to make, I explained we’d have to wait until after he’d completed the course due to school regulations regarding student-teacher contact. When we connected after the course, I discovered him to be an intriguing, optimistic, compassionate, and deeply introspective individual with a wickedly funny sense of humor. We solidified the friendship swiftly and became entangled in each other’s lives as friends do.

He shared with me his experiences growing up in Texas, playing high school football for the state championship team, foregoing college to form a regionally popular band, pursue acting and modeling careers, marry the woman he’d love his entire life, and become immersed in the destructive glamor of his life — until he lost everything to alcoholism, resulting in divorce and eventual homelessness. These experiences will be detailed in a later post. 

After a sunrise epiphany as he awoke in a gutter and vomit, he entered rehabilitation, got himself clean, secured a job as a restaurant server, and began rebuilding his life. Now he wanted to explore his potential as a writer, demonstrating a talent uncommon among most students who enrolled in the course. I urged him to
revise some of the stories he’d written for the course and submit them to magazines to learn the industry and establish himself. 

“I don’t have the time for that,” he scoffed with a laugh. Neither of us realized the gravity of those words. “I have an idea for a novel. But I need some help, someone who knows the ins-and-outs, someone I can trust as a co-writer. You’re that person. Together, I think we can write a winner.”

Thus commenced our collaboration, the creation of James Pleasant Wolfshadow and the odyssey that culminates this October with the the publication of Shadow of the Storm from Foolscap & Quill. What an extraordinary journey it has been, a journey subsequent posts will explore. In the meantime, please stop by Foolscap at https://www.foolscap-quill.com/ for an array of excellent fiction in various genres. For more information about my work, especially the latest novel The Crosses ~ A Baker Street Irregulars Mystery, written with my late spouse, Bonnie, please visit https://csfuqua.com.

The Crosses’ Easter Eggs

 

If you haven’t followed the Kickstarter, please consider doing so at the link below. It will end in five days, so take advantage now to get the signed edition and other rewards that include:

• Paperback, PDF, and Hardcover Editions
• Signed paperbacks and hardcovers for USA fans
• BSI Bundle that pairs The Crosses with Kim Krisco’s novel, Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars.

The Crosses’ Easter Eggs

Authors often insert subtle references known as literary Easter eggs into their stories for a number of reasons — to enrich the tale with hidden references or symbols; to add depth by alluding to works of literature, music, culture, or personal experience; to connect to broader themes; and, sometimes, to engage in a game between author and reader. We intentionally included several Easter eggs in The Crosses.

One reference involves the Baker Street Irregular. Bonnie decided his initials should be the same as his former gang’s acronym, BSI. Researching popular names of the time, we decided on Benjamin Scott Irwin, choosing “Benjamin" also to honor Bonnie’s father, Edward Benjamin Del Aguila, a former Navy pilot, who died in 1972 when wind shear slammed his jet into the tarmac during an Air National Guard training flight.

Bessie de la Paz, the novel’s heroine, is the object of several references. Bess’s mother is of European descent, while her father is indigenous Mexican, that background mirroring Bonnie’s own genealogical history. Bonnie’s maternal line is European. Her paternal line includes the indigenous Mexican Zecatecas people. And, yes, Bessie resembles Bonnie physically — small in stature but formidable. Similarities don’t end there. Bess’s determination, honesty, dedication, optimism, humor — all inspired by Bonnie. Bess and Bonnie are linked loosely by careers as well. Bess is a former agent for Pinkerton. Bonnie spent nearly three decades as a federal special agent. Both are experts in law-and-order and are guided by high ethical and moral standards. Further, they have the same initials, BLD — Bessie Laine de la Paz, Bonnie Lynne Del Aguila.

Bonnie’s love of mysteries — especially her devotion to Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple — is legend among those who know her. The book pays tribute to that love of mystery when Bess remarks to Ben that Holmes’s methods are similar to Hercule Poirot’s. Ben quips, “Yes, but Poirot is fiction. Mr. Holmes is real,” a remark that would generate a roll of the eyes from both Bess and Bonnie. Other Easter eggs link Bess and Bon as well, but I’ll leave those for you to find.

One reference involves the secondary character, Teri Johns. Teri’s family claims her death is suicide, but circumstantial evidence suggests otherwise. Her death and circumstances were inspired by the purported suicide of one of Bonnie’s colleagues. Though suspicious — from the method, to the person’s excited anticipation of specific future events, to the known animosity between her and her immediate relatives, especially her mother — Bonnie’s friend’s death was never investigated beyond the assumption of suicide.

We titled the book The Crosses for several reasons. Las Cruces, the novel’s setting, translates from the Spanish as “The Crosses,” the name based on a legend that’s recounted in the book. The cover itself is based on a photo that Bess shoots to illustrate an article on the murders. A tribal cemetery is maintained beside the dilapidated tribal council hall. Crosses have been erected over the murdered councillors’ graves. The framed shot features the crosses and council building in silhouette against a sky illuminated by the setting sun, a symbol for the approaching end of life. 

Before the publisher completed the book’s cover design, I posted a photo of a desert cardinal in connection with the story. Birds are referenced several times in the book, each symbolic. The first reference comes in the prologue when the young girl who discovers the bodies arrives at the tribal council hall. A burrowing owl is perched on the roof above the door. Burrowing owls in some Southwestern native cultures are often associated with wisdom and protection but are considered a bad omen if witnessed during daylight hours. The girl spots it at dusk, a time when its mystical meaning is murky at best. 

A desert cardinal appears twice in the novel, at the beginning with the owl and near the end, described at one point as having blue and orange plumage, although most have blue and red plumage. The colors are so rich and vibrant, that the red sometimes appears orange. Their plumage symbolizes life, energy, and a connection to the spiritual realm. The photo I posted with earlier announcements is one I shot of the only desert cardinal I’ve seen in the twelve years I’ve lived in southern New Mexico. On Bonnie’s birthday following her passing, I hiked a canyon that she and I had planned to hike together. As I started out, I heard a beautiful birdsong and spotted the cardinal in a small, spare tree about thirty yards away. I was afraid that readying my camera would scare it away, but it simply looked at me and kept singing.

I later learned that the desert cardinal has significant spiritual meaning within many indigenous cultures. I had never seen one before that day. I haven’t seen one since. Near the end of the novel, in a letter to John Watson, Ben writes, “A bird on the windowsill across the room is singing the most beautiful song. I have learned that it is a desert cardinal. Native people believe these birds embody deceased loved ones who return briefly to reassure those left behind that all is well. It’s a comforting myth, one I wish I could accept. Alas, a bird is a bird.”

These are a few of the primary Easter eggs scattered throughout the novel. There are more, but I’ll leave them for you to find.

Now that you know some of the background on writing The Crosses, we hope you enjoy the story. Thank you much for coming along with us. The Crosses will soon be available through Amazon, B&N, other booksellers, and directly from the publisher, MX Publishing.

Plotting According to History

This is the fifth post on The Crosses. The sixth will be posted in a couple of days, detailing many of the literary easter eggs that appear throughout the novel, including an explanation of the desert cardinal photo I’ve posted previously in connection with the novel. Receive posts automatically by visiting https://windpoemcreative.blogspot.com to subscribe to the RSS feed.

If you haven’t followed the Kickstarter, please consider doing so at the link below. It ends this week, so take advantage now to get the signed edition and other rewards that include:

• Paperback, PDF, and Hardcover Editions
• Signed paperbacks and hardcovers for USA fans
• BSI Bundle that pairs The Crosses with Kim Krisco’s novel, Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars.

Plotting According to History

The Crosses is an historical mystery, requiring attention to the smallest of historical details, including use of electricity, proliferation of automobiles, changing methods of communication, state of medicine, social evolution, forensic methodology, language use, and idiomatic expressions no longer in use, to name only a few. The novel opens with the discovery of three local tribal councilors, shot to death, no one around except the young girl who finds them. The tribal council building is remotely located near the Rio Grande, southeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico. After the initial investigation by the county’s deputy, Orren Stokes, the inquiry stagnates due to the lack of witnesses and physical clues.

The technological aspects of the period heavily influenced the plot, but the most influential factors were racial and cultural. Bessie de la Paz, newspaper publisher and former Pinkerton agent, has been assisting Stokes in the investigation as best she can. Although her father had been a tribal member, her mother’s white. The tribe scorns her because she is mixed-race, which makes her investigative attempts even more challenging. Frustrated, she writes in request of advice to the former Baker Street Irregular, Ben Irwin, who has become a renowned detective, following in the footsteps of his mentor, Sherlock Holmes.

Dr. John Watson notifies her that he has forwarded her letter to Irwin, already in the U.S. on another matter involving a former BSI leader now engaged in international crime. With plans to travel to the Southwest regarding the former BSI leader, Irwin arrives in Las Cruces to offer whatever assistance he can. Amid accusations of racial prejudice in the murders and the failure to solve them, the investigating trio uncovers new clues while Ben and Bess grow emotionally close as Bess confronts the biggest challenge of her life.

Although the story’s native tribe is fictional, elements are based on area tribal life in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Racism of the time affected every aspect of life, especially when events crossed cultural lines. The potential for racial conflict escalates when tribal councillors, who’ve been at odds with the area’s white farmers, are murdered. While the investigation must deal with racial prejudice against indigenous and black Americans, the investigators nevertheless focus on solving the crime, no matter where it leads.

Bonnie and I intended The Crosses to honor the Holmes tradition, but we wanted to take it beyond Holmes and the typical British setting by featuring a character directly influenced by the celebrated detective, a character who brings Holmes’s methods to America. Above all, we wanted to write an entertaining story of intrigue and humanity, one that readers will enjoy.

The final post will explore the literary easter eggs scattered through novel. Blog entries appear on https://windpoemcreative.blogspot.com, https://csfuqua.com/blog, Goodreads, and Facebook. Thank you much for reading. The Crosses is available from Amazon, B&N, other booksellers, and directly from the publisher, MX Publishing.

Fleshing Out Primary Characters in The Crosses

 

This is the fourth background post on The Crosses. If you’d like to receive posts automatically, please visit https://windpoemcreative.blogspot.com to subscribe to the RSS feed.

If you haven’t followed the Kickstarter, please follow at the link below. It ends soon, so take advantage to get not only the signed edition of the novel, but also other rewards.

https://tinyurl.com/3xed6txk

Fleshing Out Primary Characters in The Crosses

Writers often refer to their characters as real — because they are, at least in our minds. Characters embody traits of acquaintances, friends, relatives, and even ourselves that make them far more than a collection of words on a page. 

An earlier post provided basic information about The Crosses’ main characters, including the deputy sheriff, Orren Stokes, son of a former slave, proficient in several indigenous languages, a former Pinkerton agent. From those background bullet points, a reader can surmise that Orren’s determined and dedicated, a man with the grit and will to accomplish what others would find impossible. 

Orren’s a big man, but calm, patient, and occasionally looks at life’s situations with the knowing humor of one who’s lived through much worse. While he’ll make minor compromises to further his goals, he refuses to be abused by those who possess “entitled” power. He examines a situation and the facts thoroughly before taking action. He’s soft-spoken and always has in mind the best interests of all involved. He’s deductive, patient, and, most of all, loyal to those he calls friend. Although his basic persona’s inspired by real-life lawman, Bass Reeves, the qualities that make Orren human, that make him real are based on a dear friend, truly a brother to Bonnie and me, someone we’ve known, trusted, and loved since Bonnie and I met at age 15. But I won’t embarrass him by naming him here.

An important secondary character, Teri Johns, is loosely based on one of Bonnie’s former colleagues. Teri shuns many social norms of the past in favor of progress. She’s emotionally stronger than her brothers, publicly affable, extremely dependable, trustworthy, and determined, but occasionally timid. And like Bonnie’s colleague, Teri’s life proves tragic. 

Our Baker Street Irregular (BSI), Ben Irwin, isn’t based on anyone in particular. Instead, he’s a combination of men and women Bon and I have known, with a smidgen of ourselves thrown in. He’s small but indomitable, certainly able to defend himself against physical threats as he readily demonstrates with one of the novel’s bullies. His personality, however — lurking cynicism, an undercurrent of suspicion and judgement, an observational alertness that is both subtle and laser-focused — is a blend of people we’ve known over the years as well as fictional characters we’ve admired, including his mentor Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. 

Ben became the youngest BSI member in the 1890s gang, taken in after his abusive, drunken father kicked him out at age five. Developing an uncanny ability to pick locks to survive, he proved an invaluable asset to the BSIs. He ultimately leaves the gang when he loses the closest person he’s ever known due to the BSI leader’s greed and incompetence. Even so, Ben has developed a great capacity for compassion and devotion, increasingly evident as he’s drawn to Bess and Orren as both friend and protector, possessing a compassion that would prove devastating to those with less personal strength developed through a life of adversity.

And then there’s Bessie de la Paz, the story’s heroine. When Ben arrives in Las Cruces, Bess is intrigued by his sense of humor, courtesy, and acceptance of people different from him. They strike an immediate friendship that strengthens quickly, in part due to critical challenges Bess must face, not only in solving the murders, but also in her personal life. Although of mixed race, she’s able to pass as white and has used it to her advantage, attending teacher training in El Paso, but ultimately taking an undercover job with Pinkerton to monitor various El Paso businesses for shoplifters and other criminals. As an only child, she harbors a strong sense of devotion to her parents, reflecting the love and support they’ve given her. When her father dies, she returns to Las Cruces to oversee the family farm until her mother succumbs to cancer a few years later.

Developing a primary character poses certain challenges, but Bess came naturally. She’s a “half-breed” in a white society, a strong woman in a man’s world. She’s deductive, clever, moral, and determined, compassionate and optimistic, yet realistic and pragmatic. She focuses on, and refuses to stray from, her goals, whether the goal is to become a Pinkerton agent or an investigative reporter or be a good daughter. Although Bess is definitely her own person, she reflects the best qualities of her primary model, Bonnie, who addressed life’s challenges with humor and optimistic pragmatism, excelling both personally and professionally with certain grace, strength, and empathy.

Each character embodies qualities of people Bonnie and I have known, but the characters are definitely not those people. The borrowed qualities are only the seeds from which we grew the characters into their own being, developing, changing, evolving into someone real and unique in their own right. They became our friends and enemies, each loved or loathed as any flesh-and-bone person.

Upcoming posts will explore more about the crime that has brought the characters together and the literary easter eggs throughout the novel. Blog entries appear on https://windpoemcreative.blogspot.com, https://csfuqua.com/blog, Goodreads, and Facebook. Thank you much for reading. The Crosses will be available from Amazon, B&N, other booksellers, and directly from the publisher, MX Publishing.

Character Diversity in The Crosses

If you haven’t followed the Kickstarter, please consider doing so at the link below. It will end later this month, so take advantage now to get the signed edition and more!

https://tinyurl.com/3xed6txk

Character Diversity in The Crosses

Prior to 1960, American media, including textbooks, portrayed historical development primarily as white and male, a practice of lies that’s experiencing a politically-backed resurgence today. But history is the product of a human rainbow — good, bad, smart, stupid, female, male, black, white, red, yellow, gay, straight, bi, trans, and everything in between. The world was and is a complex place in which every category of person contributes, right and wrong, good and bad.

Few pre-1960 general audience movies featured an African-American protagonist in a position of power or a Native American depicted as civilized and smart. The 1958 release, The Defiant Ones, is an important exception. The Lone Ranger’s “Tonto” may also come to mind, but the word Tonto is a Spanish term meaning “stupid” or “crazy." The term “Kemosabe,” Tonto’s name for the Lone Ranger, is derived from the Ojibwe and Potawatomi word gimoozaabi, translated as “trusty scout” or “faithful friend.” Despite popular whitewashing of history, Native Americans, African-Americans, and all immigrant groups have been involved in and contributed to every aspect of American society and development. 

Bonnie and I were determined The Crosses would reflect the reality of 1925 life, including language, racial diversity, and political climate. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle doesn’t mention in the original Holmes stories the race of any Baker Street Irregular (BSI) or whether membership includes females. We suspect the gang mirrored the greater society with both male and female members — whites, West Africans, East Indians, and Chinese. After all, homelessness and criminality don’t discriminate based on cultural or genetic definitions.

The U.S. Southwest’s racial and social diversity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries comprised a mix of Native Americans, indigenous and European Mexicans, African Americans, Chinese immigrants, and white Europeans. The female protagonist, newspaper publisher and former Pinkerton agent, Bessie de la Paz, embodies the area’s two primary racial groups with a caucasian mother and indigenous Mexican father, both shunned by whites and tribal members alike for choosing to marry. Rather than allow social reaction to beat them down, her parents are resilient and determined, qualities they instill in Bessie who uses her diversity to excel in every challenge she faces, breaking glass ceilings to establish foundations on which others will build a better future.

We based the novel’s deputy, Orren Stokes, in part on the real-life lawman, Bass Reeves. Reeves was one of the first African-Americans to serve as a U.S. Marshall and had a long and storied career. Orren is the son of a former slave who flees the South after Orren’s mother and newborn die in childbirth. Orren and his father settle in the Las Cruces area, working on tribal farms eventually to earn enough money to buy their own place. Like Reeves, Orren becomes fluent in several indigenous languages, building trust among various tribes, leading to his desirability to Pinkerton where he and Bessie meet. 

In early notes, Bonnie wrote, “Need to give the BSI & young woman a history. What kind of education, experiences, upbringing would be usual for the time and country of origin? I think the BSI would be 8-10 years old at the time of first appearance in Sherlock Holmes stories. Would it be better to have the relationship between BSI & young woman romantic or familial? I’m leaning toward familial. Perhaps BSI is orphaned and this young woman and her family become the family he never had. The BSI could take on the role of defending Holmes & Watson. This could provide comic relief and also serve as an illustration of the handing over the reins of world power from U.K. to U.S.…”

Bonnie initially envisioned Ben as a journalist, arriving in San Francisco to work with a female American journalist on a number of cases that would be gathered into a collection of short stories, but we decided to concentrate on a novel-length tale instead. That’s when the characters experienced various transformations and the setting shifted to Las Cruces. Instead of a journalist, Ben became a renowned detective carrying on the Holmes tradition. Bessie became a former Pinkerton agent who’s now the publisher of the local newspaper. The two strike an immediate friendship that strengthens quickly, due in part to the case, in part to the personal challenges Bess faces.

Upcoming posts will explore more about the characters, the crime that has brought them together, and the literary easter eggs throughout the novel. Blog entries appear on https://windpoemcreative.blogspot.com, https://csfuqua.com/blog, Goodreads, and Facebook. The Crosses will be available from Amazon, B&N, other booksellers, and directly from the publisher, MX Publishing.