The Other Side of Life

About the Book

The Other Side of Life is a fantasy about what can happen when the forces of nature intersect our lives. People caught up in storms, earthquakes, floods, and the like have a story to tell, none so mystical as what it might be like to travel through space and especially through time. William (Bill) and Henry (Hank) are two high school students who have that experience: first, when they meet Winston, a visitor from the nineteenth century, and later when all of them are transported from their twenty-first century lives to the nineteenth century, a land caught up fighting in the Civil War. Are they forever trapped in nineteenth-century America? What effect will the customs of the nineteenth century have on them if they are ever fortunate enough to be transported back to the twenty-first century? This story helps determine the direction of our lives.

About the Author

My DNA is in a sense a predictor of my interest in writing and telling stories. My mother loved to read and my father, while not a fictional reader followed the news and business and political writings, We were poor and did not have story books as I remember. My strongest memory is of making up stories for my brothers and I when I was about kindergarten age. I remember them asking me to repeat stories which I was unable to do because they had been the products of my imagination. An avid reader, I was one of the public library’s most faithful customers. In college I discovered my skills at combining my interest in music with my interest in reading. I was one of the prime authors of some of the skits and musical parodies we used for campus entertainment. In my work with physically handicapped children these same skills helped me to make endless exercise programs more interesting. Once I retired, I fulfilled a promise to myself and purchased a computer with some of my retirement funds. I took advantage of my retirement to increase the time available to develop my story telling skills. A well known author friend, Mrs. Sharon Draper who has received many awards once said to me, “Writing is like an itch you have to scratch.” I am a spiritual person and I thank God for the gifts He has given me: A curious mind and an active imagination.