The Indie Showcase presents – Janice Spina

A very warm welcome to my guest this week, please tell us your story, Janice.

Thank you, Richard, for this opportunity to be featured on your blog.

Let me tell your readers a little about myself. I have been writing since I was nine years old and dreamed of one day being an author. Well, it took me a long time to realize this dream. I became an author after I retired from employment as an administrative secretary in a school system.

Since that time I have published 22 books and counting ranging from young children’s books to 18+. My goal is to encourage children of all ages to read by creating entertaining and fun books for them to enjoy. My motto is Reading Gives You Wings to Fly! Soar with Jemsbooks.com! My Logo is Jemsbooks for all ages! 

My inspiration has been my five grandchildren. I have written a detectives series for MG/PT/YA boys, Davey & Derek Junior Detectives Series Books 1-5 which was based somewhat on my two middle grandsons who love to read. This series has earned seven book awards. My books have received a total of 13 awards and have been finalists in two other contests. 

I have written three novels for 18+ and a short story collection. Here is a sample of one of the short stories from An Angel Among Us which is an eclectic collection of 15 short stories in multi-genres. This book was dedicated to a high school friend who lost her life in 2017 from breast cancer. I wrote one story, An Angel Among us, for her and dedicated the book and title to her.

HAROLD’S PLAN

“It just had to work! If it doesn’t what am I going to do? I don’t want to live a life without love.” Harold couldn’t take it anymore. No one looked at him and no one seemed to care. He had been in love with this girl, Francesca, since high school. She was always friendly to him but never showed him any interest as a boyfriend.

Harold had been at the top of his class in both high school and college and finished his doctorate a few years early. He knew everything there was to know about computers. He had designed his own and started a business to design his own line of computers and programs. He had been busy putting together the newest line of computer games and came across an unusual sequence. This sequence would put the player inside the game. They must not let go of the red button while the game was running or they would be stuck inside the game forever.

He wanted to impress Francesca with this new game. He called her and asked, “Hi Francesca. How are you? Do you want to come over to my office and see my newest computer game? We could split a pizza and have some colas.” Harold waited for any response from Francesca.

“Oh, I don’t know if I can right now, Harold. My car is at the mechanics. That’s good that you have a new game. You are really good at this stuff. I don’t use the computer very often unless I have a paper due. Maybe we can do it another time.”

Francesca was about to hang up when Harold responded sadly, “Okay, but I can come over to your house instead if that makes it easier for you. I’ll bring a pizza and colas over in a jiffy.” A dial tone was heard and Francesca put down the phone and shook her head. I should have told him ‘no’ more firmly. He is such a nice young man but I am not interested in him that way.

Harold ran out the door grabbing the game pack with the special button attached. He went to his favorite pizza place and ordered a pepperoni pizza and a liter of diet cola. He knew that was what Francesca drank. Harold was shaking with excitement and drove a little too fast to get to her house. He had a couple near misses as he screeched around the corners.

Francesca was waiting at the front door as Harold came out of his car with the pizza, cola and game pack. He smiled up at her and his heart skipped a beat or two as he entered her house. Francesca smiled but not with her eyes. She was just going through the motions. She knew she had to tell Harold today before he tried to ask her the question again.

“Hi Harold. Nice to see you. So what do you have to show me? I think you are on your way to being famous. Maybe even more famous than other programmers.”

“Well, I don’t know about that but I do know that I have something that no one else has right now. I wanted to share it with you first before I show the world.” Harold beamed at her and reached out to touch her hand.

Francesca reacted by moving away to put the pizza on the table with plates, forks and glasses. Harold noticed the slight but didn’t show his emotions. He sat at the table and they ate in silence for a few moments until he began to explain, “Francesca, I am excited to show you this program. It is incredible. It can do amazing things. In fact, I can’t just talk about it. I want you to try it. I have been the only one to try it out and I need your opinion of it. It will blow your mind! But first let’s finish our pizza and colas. I got your favorite pizza and diet cola. Did you notice?” Harold sat back and smiled at her.

“Umm, yes, I see you did. You are very thoughtful and kind Harold. Thank you. I…need to talk to you about…”

Harold pushed away from the table, pulled the game pack out of his jacket and went over to Francesca’s computer. He set up the game for Francesca to try it out. He pushed away from the desk and put out his hand in invitation to her.

Francesca took a quick swallow of her cola and walked over to join Harold at her computer. He quickly gave her the instructions on how to proceed with the game and repeated how important it was that she hold onto the red button and not let go during the game.

Francesca frowned and agreed to do exactly as Harold had instructed her. The game was going well and Francesca seemed to be enjoying herself as she traveled through several layers of the world with Harold’s help she managed to make it to the end where she was at a castle covered in gold. Her eyes opened wider as she entered the castle and saw everything she had always wanted – jewels, clothes and her favorite foods. She turned to look at Harold and noticed that he was no longer by her side at the computer but inside the computer. She was so flustered that she took her hand off the red button and the next moment she appeared next to Harold in the castle.

“What just happened Francesca screamed!”

“Nothing, my dear, but you did take your finger off the button. Now we can be together for all eternity!”

All that could be heard was a buzzing as the computer game ended.

The End

Here are all the links you need

Blog: http://Jemsbooks.blog

Website: http://Jemsbooks.com

JANICE’S PURCHASE LINKS:

Amazon.com – US: https://www.amazon.com/Janice-Spina/e/B00HNET4HG

Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Janice+Spina

BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Janice+Spina?_requestid=354791

BOOK TRAILERS:

HOW FAR IS HEAVEN:  https://youtu.be/pLCjyc9Q9tQ

HUNTING MARIAH:https://youtu.be/JZTu5R-kXhM

MARIAH’S REVENGE: https://youtu.be/2DlawyOX9aw

Social Links:

FaceBook  http://Facebook.com/Janice.spina.9 http://Facebook.com/janicespina7 http://Facebook.com/jespina77

Goodreads:  http://goodreads.com/user/show/17094469-Janice-spina

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/janice-spina-a0132159

Pinterest:  http://Pinterest.com/janicespina

Twitter: http://twitter.com/janice_spina

Instagram: http://instagram/Janice Spina

My thanks to this weeks guest for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.

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If you want to be featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever (within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below and I’ll get back to you.

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Don’t miss the Saturday Rewind, next Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.

Have a good week,

Richard.