In the photograph depicted: Steven Albright (Madeleine's father) presents his hand-crafted Christmas gift - the 'illumination pillar' - to his wife, Caroline. The pillar is fabricated in mosaic tiles and panes of art glass. Inside, which is tiled in mosaics as well, seven angels represent the seven chakras that animate the human mind and spirit.
In Book Two of the Christmasville Trilogy - "Finding Christmasville" - the tale continues with the gifted Madeleine, the mystical Esmeralda and the precocious Mary Jane Higgins. Throughout the narrative the reader discovers the plight of Mary Jane and Otis Wright after navigating the "Cloud Racer" to a most idyllic locale, the meaning of the blue lightning, the origin of Christmasville and the dual purposes of the colossal clockworks at the House at the End of the World.
What began as Songs of the Angelic Gaze in the summer of 2006 continued the following year as The Bridge of Silver Wings, and developed even further two years after that into The Bridge of Silver Wings 2009. Whether readers describe it as a conversa
A short story of mine was included in an anthology of short fiction by fourteen of Port Town Publishing Company's authors. It is out of print and no longer available except as a download. Contact me at charlenetess@yahoo.com if you want it.