A Discussion of Yearnings with Michael Davis

Yearnings
Michael Davis
Davisstories.com
Author of the Year, 2008

Sometimes, the story behind how a novel came about can be interesting as well. Here's an explanation of how my new release BLIND CONSENT grew from a simple experience on a spring day and its connection with my personal life.

It all started with a whisper I ignored for years, until it became overpowering and I had to heed the call. I think many of us experience such a yearning; but we just refuse to recognize the source. What do I mean? Well, have you ever had a voice in the distance regions of you mind call out, beckon to be heard, demand you take some course, but the sounds are confusing, unclear. You can make out a few words, but the pending intent is obscured so you ignore it. For years, I felt that yearning, heard indecipherable echoes, until about five years before I retired, I realized what it was trying to tell me.

It was the roots of my youth calling me back, summoning me to the environment I enjoyed as a small boy. You see, when I was but a lad, my dad ripped me out of the countryside and plopped us down in a major metropolitan area. Whenever I wasn’t working on Saturday, I would hike the park reserves, the state forests, or the wooded areas around the watershed where I lived. In some strange way, it gave me peace, purged the frustrations with modern life in the fast lane. Finally, it hit me, what I really wanted, to return to my past. To quench this thirst for a simpler existence, we moved to SW Virginia, rediscovered the wonder of country life, and I have loved every minute since my return.

That yearning to resolve the distant call from a time gone by was the initial seed for my upcoming release, BLIND CONSENT. I based many of the scenes on my recollection of the wonderful people of a lost era in the improvised south were I was raised. I even flavored the story with memories of my childhood sweethearts, but with an intriguing twist for the fictional characters.

Ryan Mitchell is visited by confusing dreams, visions he doesn’t comprehend of a boy and a young girl with an intertwined past that reaches into his present life. Problem is, when Ryan returns to his birthplace, things are not what they seem. The town of Tanglewood Falls offers breath-taking views, yet the serendipity is misleading. The wonderful people of this forgotten community in the center of the Horseshoe Mountains have been unwittingly exploited. Their act of trust and blind consent altered their existence and the secret has remained buried, until Ryan returns to explore his heritage. His search for the truth, an explanation to his dreams and the hidden guilt they provoke; everything collides with the folklore of the simple people and the belief that their beautiful Annie is blessed. Together, Ryan and Annie unravel the mystery, but at a price. They become targets of those responsible for what happened to the town. As the truth is exposed, Ryan must grapple with his own reality; the fact that his past, his nightmares, and Annie’s secret, everything is entangled in the desperate act of one lonely man.

The romantic suspense BLIND CONSENT will be release in April/09. For a preview, check out the excerpts provided at Davisstories.com, and remember: the answers you seek are buried in the secrets of the past.