You have betrayed him. Accept his hate.

I knew it the very next morning, and I still know it now: My brother hates me. He has removed me from his mind, stricken away any thought, any memory about me. I am dead to him. The scary part is, that being dead will not stand in the way of him killing me, if ever he lays eyes on me again.

It is an odd feeling. Have you ever faced it? Being dead to someone you envy, someone you miss, too. Someone who knows you intimately and, even worse, has the chutzpa to occupy your thoughts day in, day out. It grinds down on your nerves, doesn’t it? 

Trust me, being dead to your brother is not all that it is cracked up to be, but it does set you free—oh, don’t act so surprised! It frees you from any lingering sense of obligation. Brother, you say to yourself. What does it mean, Brother? Nothing more than a pang, a dull pang in your heart. 

You have betrayed him. Accept his hate.

You need not talk to him ever again. For the rest of your life, you are free! A stranger—that is what you are. A stranger, visited from time to time by dreams: Dreams about the mother you will never see again, and the father you left behind, on his deathbed. Dreams of waiting, waiting so eagerly for the next day, to meet your brother at the end of an endless exile. Dreams of grappling with him all night long, until the crack of dawn. Until your ankles give way. Until you lose your footing on the ground. 

Then, rising up to take you is the darkness of the earth, which is where you wake up at sunrise to find yourself alone.

A Favorite Son

Paperback ★ Hardcover

Audiobook

In this plot of mistaken identity, Becky instructs her son to cheat his elderly father Isaac, who is lying on his deathbed. Will Jacob pretend to be that which he is not? Is he ready for the last moment he is going to have with his father?

This is a modern twist on a very old story of greed, love, and regrets. It is so much more than a morality tale. Do you find sibling rivalry in adults intriguing? Are you troubled by the notion that the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children? If so, you will find this story utterly captivating

★★★★★ "A lively psychological study of family and of greed and longing for paternal love and more. It works spectacularly well."

I was a nobody, and she—a star. Unreachable. Glamorous.

 The only way I could block away the noise was by listening to my favorite radio program, The Chesterfield Hour, which was sponsored by the Chesterfield tobacco company. For the most part, it featured big bands. But that afternoon, the announcer opened with, “Today, for a change, we have something quite unusual: a classical piece, one that has the reputation of being one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in the classical repertoire: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.”

At the sound of his words I leapt off my bed and turned the volume up, which made the cook grumble, “Turn the damn thing off, right now!” 

He followed that with a few choice words, which had little effect on me. Outside the kitchen, outside his domain, I didn’t care to play the slave, so I pretended not to hear a word of what he had to say. 

Ever since that night when the redhead kid had entered my life—I mean, ever since she had decided, on a whim, to replace what she had intended to play with something else, something more suitable for GIs here, at Cape Upton—I had been growing curious to hear what I—what all of us—had missed.

 The announcer went on to say, “Many experienced pianists dare not play this concerto. Some of them lament that they didn’t learn it in their younger days, when they were still too fresh to know fear. Well, fear will not stop this performer.” 

By instinct I uttered her name even before he did. “Natasha Horowitz.” 

For many days I had been agonizing over the memory of how I met her, what a lousy impression I must have left in her mind by leaping off the stage. I kept asking myself, “How did you dare do it, what devil made you think you can share the spotlight with this girl, even for a single minute? Oh what a spectacle, what a sorry spectacle you made of yourself! What came over you?”

If, by some lucky, unforeseen twist of events, I were to find myself in her presence ever again, which I doubted, I would probably freeze, not knowing what to say. I was a nobody, and she—a star. Unreachable. Glamorous. There could be no connection between us, except through her music. It would illuminate my life and at the same time, deepen its shadows, giving full meaning to what I felt, in joy and in pain. Such is the power of a muse.

The Music of Us

Paperback ★ Hardcover

Audiobook

My animation: Eyes Fallen Shut

 

My new animation: Eyes Fallen Shut

Based on my paper art and poem

Narrated by the incredible voice artist Paul J. McSorley

Join Us in this Mother's Day event, for a chance to win audiobooks

Love Mom  

Please invite everyone you know to our fabulous event, it's going to be a blast! You're going to meet the authors, read excerpts from their work, hear voice clips, and at the end--our Grand Finale with a lot of audiobook prizes. You can be a winner!

*•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *• 

 

Mother's Day audiobook party: Love Mom

A select group of authors has joined forces with me

To bring you amazing stories, beautifully narrated.

Looking for your new favorite story? 

Join us as a GOING guest 

In this Mother’s Day celebration

For a chance to win our audiobooks:

Love Mom

Uvi Poznansky	My Own Voice	Overkill
	Apart from War	The Favorite Son
Aaron Paul Lazar	The Seadog: A Love Story
A.L. Butcher	The Kitchen Imps and Other Dark Tales	Echoes of a Song
Addison Michael	Dawn that Breaks	Dawn that Brings Death
	What Comes before Dawn	Truth that Dawns
Casi McLean	Beneath the Lake	Beyond the Mist
	Timeless Treasures: Summer	Timeless Mysteries
Kathleen Harryman	When Darkness Falls	The Promise
Kerry Schafer	Dead before Dying
Linnea Tanner	Apollo’s  Raven	Dagger’s Destiny
	Amulet’s Rapture	Skull’s Vengeance
Peter C. Bradbury	The Innocent Children	Prospects
Sharon Buchbinder	Bonded for Life	The Vampire Billionaire’s Secret Baby
Susan Keene	The Wedding Cake Murder

Snippet for Eyes Fallen Shut

 A snippet designed for my upcoming animation, Eyes Fallen Shut