by Cory Hiles
“So, where do we go from here?” Elle asked, breaking me out of my rumination.
“I’m not really sure, Elle.” I replied, “I suppose I’ll have to get that window repaired, and get June’s funeral arranged, but after that I was thinking about maybe heading to Pennsylvania.”
“What on earth do you want to see in Pennsylvania?”
“Gettysburg,” I replied casually. “I hear there are a lot of ghosts there and I think it’s time to take this gift of mine and put it to good use. You want to come with me, Elle?”
“I would follow you into the very depths of Hell, Johnny.”
I laughed out loud at her comment. I wondered if she would be so willing if she knew what evils truly lay in wait in the depths of Hell, but I was reassured by her declaration of love for me.
The sun sank quietly behind the distant Cascade Mountain range and I sat beneath the great willow, holding hands with my true love looking towards my future on a day that had proven to be a day of revelation for me, and the day my life started over.
###
Thank you for taking the time to read The Lovely Shadow.
Please feel free to connect with me online:
On Facebook: http://facebook.com/TheLovelyShadow
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Corkster32
On my Website: http://www.coryhiles.com/
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
If you are reading this note then there is a fairly respectable chance that you are holding in your hand either a printed book, a smart-phone, a tablet, an e-reader (such as a kindle), or a computer mouse.
Also, since I intend to place this note at the end of the story, there is a reasonable chance that you have just finished reading The Lovely Shadow.
I sincerely hope you have just finished reading it, and I also sincerely hope that you have enjoyed reading it.
The Lovely Shadow is the first novel I have ever written. I have written short stories, poetry, children’s books, songs, and essays in the past—all for pleasure—but have never taken on a project of this magnitude before, and hadn’t written anything for pleasure for about ten years prior to this.
I wrote this book mainly because the only item I have ever had on my bucket list was to write a novel. “Well,” I decided, “I’m not really getting any younger and if I am going to get this thing done, then I’d better get cracking on it.”
I truly enjoyed the writing of this story and was very surprised at the way it turned out. I didn’t bother with storyboards or character development sheets or any of that. I simply had an idea that went something like this: “Gee, I’d like to write a story about a guy who falls in love with a ghost.” Everything else in the book came about as I wrote it—forming the story in order to lead up to that one plot line.
It has been a great adventure, and I honestly thank you for taking this trip with me.
Sincerely,
Cory Hiles
March 18, 2012
