Amazon Category:  Relationships Publisher: iUniverse ISBN-10:  0595125840 Type: Fiction Pages: 228 Copyright: Oct 9 2000 Recent widower falls in love with professional black woman leading to tragic consequences. : After She's Gone is a contemporary view of the difficulties associated with losing a spouse. The story follows the central character's slow and clumsy approach to re-entering the social scene. Bill, a blue-collar Philadelphian in his mid forties, clings to the memories of his deceased wife, until Lannie, a professional black woman helps to turn his life around. As Bill slowly lets go of the past, Lannie begins to break through the brick wall that surrounds him. His personal checklist of acceptable parameters for love to develop proves to be a tragedy waiting to happen. Excerpt I took it easy that evening, hanging out watching the tube. It was just about nine o'clock, and I remembered that Lannie had asked me to call her after ten. She seemed so hurt that I hadn't called her since Saturday. I was thinking about how she looked when she asked why I never called. It bothered me, and I felt like I let her down. Even though she made me somewhat nervous, I liked being around her. I did want to talk to her, and let her know how the meeting went, but I didn't want to call her. I felt funny about that. It seemed to me that I would be pursuing her like "the chase was on." I didn't want to come across that way to her. At the same time, it was my gut feeling that Lannie wanted me to do that. In my opinion, I would lose whether I called her or not. My heart said to call her, but my head said I better not. Ten o'clock came and went, and I glanced at the phone a few times. I wondered if she was sitting there waiting for me to call. If she was waiting and I didn't, she would be very disappointed again. I didn't want to do that to her, but I guess the final conclusion is that I am gutless. Maybe I was making more of this than what really existed. Yeah, maybe that was it, but I have always followed my heart, and it was telling me different. I couldn't stand thinking about it any longer, so I shut everything off, and went to bed. By doing that, all I did was change rooms. I couldn't get to sleep! I tossed and I turned, and every now and then I stared at the phone. A few times, I found myself actually talking out loud. I was asking Hilda what she thought I should do. She never provided an answer, but my heart did! It was saying once again, that Bill was playing the fool. "Its unbelievable," I thought, "Now how do you like that?" Here I am torn between two women for the first time in my life. One being my deceased wife that I'm still clinging to with the claws of the living, and the other is a very much alive, beautiful woman who is begging for the attention to be held." These thoughts spun around my head like a whirlwind, driving me into a state of confusion that I didn't know how to handle. After about two hours of this self-inflicted torture, I finally fell off to sleep.

Phil Isard, Editor - HJ4F Press/Psychic Assembly Books
You laugh, you cry, experiences become part of your life. Reading is a top-rated experience. AFTER SHE'S GONE is one read that inundates you with experiences you've known but may not have fully appreciated. It will
allow you to cry, to relive similar experiences, only now you will learn why they were so precious, so moving and so painful. And, of course, you will laugh. For in the pages of AFTER SHE'S GONE, are the mystic healing arts, entwined within the delicate art of a true writer. When you identify with the characters, root for them and pray for them, you will find yourself laughing along with them, and laughter is the best medicine; especially for vacuous [so there!] reading fare. Great fiction! Great emotions! Great Story!


Elizabeth vonRentzell, Editor - iUniverse Publishing
A touching contemporary fiction dealing with strong topics. Very relatable and realistic for the reading audience.

Josh Michaels, Producer - WGAL-FM (Lancaster)
Your emotions will effervesce as the passions that thrill love lift you high, let you fall, and arise anew.