Snapshots

Investing in a new author isn’t easy, especially given the surly nature of the economy and other demands of life. Even when a book or e-book is reasonably priced, we all want to be sure we’re getting something we’ll enjoy. Enter: The Kind Author. If you know any authors or aspiring authors, they’re likely to confess to writing every day, regardless of it being a part of their next big novel. Sometimes, I’ll write a short story when I’m not fleshing out a scene or researching a future plot. Very little ever becomes of these stories, mind you, until now. This is purely an experimental idea, but, I thought I’d share these shorts – snapshots of stories – from time to time. Free.

“OPERATOR”
Snapshot #1

KELLY OLMSTEAD HAD NEVER BEEN accustomed to wealth or the privileges it afforded. Growing up in a barely-blue collar home, she often went days without seeing her father, who worked two jobs to keep food on the table. Her mother always hoped her daughter would do well, but neither of them could have imagined a night or a life like this.

Wearing a gown which cost more than her first car, Kelly stood surrounded by some of New York’s most elite movers and shakers. She felt a cool droplet of sweat race down the small of her back and she frowned as she worried that it might seep through the fabric. For one night, these powerful people seemed to hang on her every word.

An auburn haired beauty with long, slender facial features, she hid a slight overbite behind curled fingers as the soft glow of light sparkled in almost transparent blue eyes. Her smile, despite her own reservations, was one of her best features and one that made people warm up to her. Eyeing the smiling faces encircling her, she responded to the question on all of their minds.

To continue reading Operator click here. (This will launch a PDF file of the complete snapshot.)

“MONSTER”
Snapshot #2

ANDREW WORRELL, 38, HAD WORKED FOR THE Sheriff’s Department of Sumner County, Tennessee, for three years before he broke protocol to qualm a nagging hunch. His gut feeling led to the arrest of the Blue Springs Strangler, landing him both commendations and the attention of Doctor Kurt Presley. Presley, a professor of criminal psychology at Quantico, had been brought in to catch the serial rapist and asphyxia fetishist, a man named Harold David Harlan. Four months later, Worrell left Tennessee for Virginia and the Sheriff’s Department for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Cutting his teeth under Presley in the Violent Crimes Unit, it was a short leap to the Bureau’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Washington, D.C., where Worrell took work as a profiler. At the height of his career, the special agent received an offer from the doctor to join a special test-unit he had been authorized to oversee. Based upon Presley’s own theories, the unit sounded fringe to Worrell, but he was unsettled by the idea of an outsider discrediting and disrespecting his mentor.

To continue reading Monster click here. (This will launch a PDF file of the complete snapshot.)