BOOK SERIES
CURRENTLY SEEKING REPRESENTATION
East was Texas
A four-book series about a small fictional town called Maston, Texas. Two strangers meet and are unknowingly propelled into a tragic crime of their own making. But when a child is accused of the crime, the once complacent, loving town is sent into a divisive battle between progress and nostalgia. The events that follow threaten to unravel the town, it's people, and the ties that had previously bound them in love--despite their differences. This four-book series crosses generations, borders, political lines and moral divides, exploring themes that get at the crux of human relationships in a divisive world.
Book One
Anna, a struggling photographer gets stranded in a small town where she finds a home with Raquel and her two children, lands a job at Earl’s Restaurant, and finds a confidant in Bennett a musician and local mystery. But when she unknowingly reignites a decades-old hate crime, she awakens in the hospital to discover she’s been hurt in a mass shooting that Raquel’s 14-year-old son, Carlos, is accused of perpetrating. When Bennett builds Anna a darkroom to ease her pain, she discovers her photos just might hold the truth behind the murders. Will Anna find the strength to face her past and develop her photos so she can ultimately save the place that’s saved her? Exploring the healing power of art and community, as well as themes of diaspora and racism, this book is perfect for fans of the TV-show NOMADLAND for its searching, cinematic feel, and Barbara Kingsolver’s THE BEAN TREES for its vivid community and oddly likable characters.
IF ANNA WERE A SONG
BOOK CLUB FICTION, 84,00 words)
BOOK CLUB FICTION, 74,00 words)
In the second book in a longer series about the fictionalized town of Maston, TX. Bennett McCarthy is finally in Austin pursuing his songwriting dreams, when Earl calls him back to Maston. With the promise of free meals and plenty of stage time, Earl convinces Bennett to help Raquel crack the case of her son Carlos’s suspected murder. But when Bennett returns to Maston, he falls prey to old habits which threaten to destroy everything—all over again. Desperate to save Bennett, Earl involves Anna. At first, the relationship proves to be everything Bennett needs. But the night before the pretrial research is to begin, Bennett discovers his family secrets (and Earl’s desire to help Raquel) are entangled in Maston’s contentious development debates. Will Bennett escape back to Austin or find the strength to face the truth of his past and still pursue the truth in his heart? Touching on themes of art, love, alcoholism, and faith, IF TODAY WERE A PHOTOGRAPH will resonate with fans of Larry McMurtry.
Book Two
IF TODAY WERE A PHOTOGRAPH
BOOK CLUB FICTION, 84,000 WORDS
Book Three
The third book in a series of novels about the fictionalized town of Maston, TX, IF LOVE WERE SOMETHING YOU COULD SEE is an epistolary novel tracing Raquel’s past through letters to her late son, Carlos. Maston is nothing like the town it was when Raquel came from Mexico 30 years ago—too young to know if she was legal, or if the bag she swallowed was a tracker or drugs, or from the good guys or the bad guys. But now she’s clear: She is good, and she has been destroyed repeatedly by bad, and even in this seemingly concrete world of discoverable fact, Raquel will never win. This is how Raquel sees things when she’s convinced by her small town to re-open her son Carlos’s murder case and circumstantially forced to revoke her own promise to forgive—at all costs. An epistolary novel about the stories we tell ourselves, IF LOVE WERE SOMETHING YOU COULD SEE touches on themes of AI, immigration, racial representation, personhood, and diaspora.
IF LOVE WERE SOMETHING YOU COULD SEE
EPISTOLARY 79,000 WORDS
Book Four
The last book in the series about the fictionalized town of Maston tells the story of Marci. Now a struggling teenager, Marci knows her late brother Carlos only from fragmented memories and whatever heart-breaking news stories she’s managed to get her hands on. But when her high school research project sends her head-first into territory her mother Raquel wouldn’t let her near, Marci is forced to choose between her mother’s happiness and a connection to her late brother she simply cannot resist. But when Raquel discovers Marci’s project involves her son’s killer—and Marci claims the research has given her a peace she never thought possible—it just might be their undoing. Told in alternating perspectives that eventually overlap, this story casts Marci’s youthful innocence and bold inquiry, against a murderous evil in a terrifying whiplash that ultimately shows, if nothing else, both sister and killer are human. IF EVIL WERE SOMETHING YOU COULD SEE touches on themes of growing up, mental health, parenting, and criminal justice.