SPECIAL ADDITION
FROM THE DESK OF
DONA PENZA TATTLE, ESQ.
AND
ASSOCIATE WRYE
BALDERDASH
Greetings,
We are going
to step out of our Tattle and Wrye personas to pay tribute to one of Champagne
Books Group’s fallen heroes, Michael W.
Davis. This dear, kind and generous
soul, exemplified what it meant to an honorable man above men. His remarkable writing talent with its clean,
concise and engaging prose attracted many fans, including us. We knew if we sat down to read a Michael W. Davis book, we’d be there
for the duration.
It isn’t often
you come across someone who is so consistent in his devotion to his fellow
authors or his home publisher. CBG is like a home, and everyone a family,
looking out for each other. Mike,
affectionately known as Big Mike, was our big brother, even if we were older
than him. He would shepherd almost every
newbie in the family, and he was never too busy to offer advice, help with
publicity, contribute a blog or article, review a book, or be the Papa Bear on
all literary statistics.
Whenever we
needed help, he was our go-to person.
January 9, 2016, we lost Mike to that Big Literary Publisher in Heaven,
and mourn that loss deeply. We offer our
condolences to his family, friends, and all the lives he had touched with his
contagious joy, quiet humor, unconditional help, and consistent care.
To quote Mitch
Cuento, “Sometimes to someone you love you want to say goodbye, but you can't
get the words out. Because in your heart saying goodbye would just be a
lie.” We never got that chance to say
goodbye, and are glad for that would indeed be a falsehood. Mike resides in every word he had ever
written, and we will get to see him again and again when we re-read his blogs,
articles and stories. For you, BM, there
will never be goodbye, but one day, we hope to laugh and write with you again,
in that other place where people never have to be apart. In the meantime, we will miss you.
The following
are taken from previous Tattle and Wrye columns highlighting Michael W. Davis’
books.
FORGOTTEN
CHILDREN
“Nooo!” Tattle screams as horrific images
enfold her, empathy pulling concern.
Without thought to peril, he grabs her,
yanking her free of her predicament.
She prissily pats her brow with a monogrammed
handkerchief that Wrye had provided. “Jump calculations were off. Gracious.”
Tattle places a hand to her throat. “Poor Sara... I have just glimpsed a
traumatic nightmare that she has consistently.”
“Sara?” He takes back the linen hanky,
notices the eye make-up and glares.
“Mark’s wife, his life, his heart. They are
the protagonists of the award winning FORGOTTEN
CHILDREN by Michael W. Davis, Champagne’s Author of the Year.”
Wrye re-slips the linen to Tattle, looks
about the rural seemingly serene town of Lawton, Virginia. “How could such a
tranquil environment induce chronic nightmares?”
"A maze of intrigue." Tattle links
her arm in the crook of his as they walk along, captivated by the vista.
“Lethal danger. A series of deaths. One a former professor.”
"Death?" They pause as Wrye views
the street with suspicion. “Ah, isn’t this also the place where all too many
children are being born with a rare genetic disease?”
“Why Wrye, you have been reading ahead?”
Scolding with a swat of the hanky.
His chin bobbed a notch. “Of course, my
snoopy-snoop comrade in prattle.”
They offer a moment of respectful silence to
the tragedy solidly buried within the gripping, suspenseful mystery, and then
Penza Tattle whispers, “Here's the boggle. All this is happening while Mark and
Sara are trying to conceive. Don't you say it.”
“No!” He understood, she understood, he was
about not to abstinent the ribald.
“Yes,” Tattle’s head bobs empathically. “And
unbeknownst to all, Sara holds the skeleton key to the truth of political and
corporate transgressions, shame-shame, which at tome's end has the randy couple
battling for their lives and sheet-time.”
Wrye scampers ahead, trying to hurdle clauses
through to the last few pages.
Grasping his suspenders, “Oh no, you don’t,”
Penza says, “You have to read it a page at a time like the rest of us.” She
releases the braces and he stumbles.
"But I have to know if Mark's a
papa." As a graduated Evelyn Wood's speed reader he starts eating pages.
"Ok, naughty rascal, you just want to
read about the horizontal tango."
"Of course, Michael is the Author of the
Year."
"So you think you can dance? We've much
to do. Let's Rumba out of here."
SHADOW
OF GUILT
“I like the rain,” Tattle says, and swipes
the wetness from her eyes much like Megan, a character who appears in the
contemporary novel SHADOW OF GUILT by
Michael Davis.
“I like umbrellas,” returns Wrye and opens a
striped green and white golf umbrella to cover them both. “I also like weaving
our way through Davis’ story. There’s Sean Paterson,” Wyre points out the hero
as the duo suddenly find themselves in a café, “a man harboring hate, a need
for vengeance, and across from him is Detective Christine Sheppy who’s coping
with guilt, a guilt born from the simple need to survive.”
Tattle seeps further into the story. “Their
lonely conscious ridden lives become entwined as they try to help an estranged
teen and her child, who are lost and targeted.”
Wrye becomes lost in prose, his green
carnation wilts as if agreeing with the sadness in Wrye’s tone. “The ache for
something strong and loving between them becomes fragile and strained as the
haunts of their past refuse to let go. Christine trusted with her heart once
and ended up hurt. Dare she trust again? He believed in the magic of forever.
Will he find his way back to that belief again?”
Sorrow furrows Tattle’s brow. “Sean knows he
wants that sweetness of being with someone for a lifetime, but his hate, his
need for vengeance and past shadows make him rash, ready to destroy
possibilities.”
“Can either of them escape the endless grief?
Can they win out over the depraved acts of malevolent men who prey on the
helpless? Will their emerging love be enough to conquer all?”
“Read and find out!”
The duet du
gossip appears in the small town of Tanglewood Falls with its magnificent view.
“Mystery, suspense, romance, it must be BLIND CONSENT BY MICHAEL W. DAVIS, CHAMPAGNE BOOKS AUTHOR OF
THE YEAR,” offers Wrye. "But where there's heavenly beauty, one might
discover 'ell. Doc Tat, grow us our next plot tree."
“Sapling planted. After the loss of his wife, Ryan returns to search for truth in this poor, forgotten community where trust and blind consent had been unwittingly exploited. Fertilizer applied.”
“I deduce…” Wrye pauses and admits, “from reading it that Ryan has been haunted by dreams and puzzling images for twenty years. Enter ghostly sounds stage left. Exit reality stage right. He is desperately trying to untangle the reality of what happened to him and to his town. Weed Whacker Alert!”
“All true… everything is hidden… so many secrets… even the folklore of the simple people, who believe their Annie is blessed.” She re-laces her high top high heel and checks wobble.
“Annie… the woman he meets during his quest is a lovely lass with her own secrets, her own passion for Ryan and the belief that he is her destiny.” Spinning his double-billed cap, now appearing much like a hang glider on his head, he says, "Remember the adventure of The Red-headed League? Like that, this is providing much boggle for the man. But... it's all 'ell men tree, m'Dear Tattleson, love... love... love!"
"In this outwardly beautiful, peaceful town, where sinister forces anchor its foundation, Ryan and Annie become lost to each other, lost to the mystery, and maybe lost to love. He needs to find himself, but in the end…”
“Shhh,” he says, "Give away no more. Off to 221B Baker Street.”
“Are the real Sherlock and Watson expecting us?”
“Sorry, got caught up in the fiction.”
“Sapling planted. After the loss of his wife, Ryan returns to search for truth in this poor, forgotten community where trust and blind consent had been unwittingly exploited. Fertilizer applied.”
“I deduce…” Wrye pauses and admits, “from reading it that Ryan has been haunted by dreams and puzzling images for twenty years. Enter ghostly sounds stage left. Exit reality stage right. He is desperately trying to untangle the reality of what happened to him and to his town. Weed Whacker Alert!”
“All true… everything is hidden… so many secrets… even the folklore of the simple people, who believe their Annie is blessed.” She re-laces her high top high heel and checks wobble.
“Annie… the woman he meets during his quest is a lovely lass with her own secrets, her own passion for Ryan and the belief that he is her destiny.” Spinning his double-billed cap, now appearing much like a hang glider on his head, he says, "Remember the adventure of The Red-headed League? Like that, this is providing much boggle for the man. But... it's all 'ell men tree, m'Dear Tattleson, love... love... love!"
"In this outwardly beautiful, peaceful town, where sinister forces anchor its foundation, Ryan and Annie become lost to each other, lost to the mystery, and maybe lost to love. He needs to find himself, but in the end…”
“Shhh,” he says, "Give away no more. Off to 221B Baker Street.”
“Are the real Sherlock and Watson expecting us?”
“Sorry, got caught up in the fiction.”
Read these and his other books so you can
always stay connected to a great man and very talented author.
Dona
Penza Rutabaga Tattle, Esq. and Associate Wrye Balderdash
of
Blather City, Wannachat
Created and written by: Angelica Hart and Zi
Books by:
Angelica Hart and Zi
KILLER
DOLLS ~ SNAKE DANCE ~
CHASING
YESTERDAY ~ CHRISTMAS EVE...VIL
Books by:
Vixen Bright and Zachary Zane
STEEL
EMBRACE
BOOK
NOOKIE-A LIBRARIAN'S BUIDE TO THE DO-ME DECIMAL SYSTEM
angelicahartandzi.com
BM was the best. He was always willing to share info, esp about stats that are so helpful but difficult for most of us to collect and analyze. He was the heart and soul of The Writers Vineyard, our authors group. He will be missed.
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