The Horizon Seekers

The Horizon Seekers by Mary Clark

In my new book, The Horizon Seekers, time travel and romance play like light in the story, or so I hope. 🙂

Leila Payson moves from the present to the future and tries to make her visions real. She teaches high school, but she is more than her job and her role as dutiful daughter, she is a kind of pioneer. She hopes that when her students fly, they’ll see beyond the horizon to where imagination and courage can take them.

Meanwhile, mystery follows Leila. She is haunted by early trauma, but is it memory or a dream? She confides only to her funky, no-nonsense best friend, Caroline.

One of Leila’s students learns he is losing his hearing. She rethinks her life and occupation, remodels it, bringing in her past experiences, her future realizations, and her friends. Those friends veer from fun-loving to serious as they move through the seams of the modern world, seeking new arrangements. Baruti, the therapist who works with people with disabilities, whom Leila met in South Africa years before, is a constant presence. And an attractive man with a book keeps appearing at her favorite places. The journey begins, and the horizon always beckons.

Racing The Sun: Goodreads Giveaway – Update!

From October 8 to October 22, 2017, you can enter a Goodreads Giveaway to win one of five print copies of Racing The Sun.

The giveaway has ended and I’m thrilled to find the winners live in very different parts of the country, from Florida to Michigan to Utah. I thank my fellow peeps who reblogged or tweeted about this giveaway. Stay tuned for a Christmas sale!

Vintage cars, wheelchair races, love tours. Secret lives, sisters, and suspense. Family disruption and a friend’s unexplained absence. Big tent meetings, bringing together people of varying dis/abilties. Romance gay and straight. A trip to Africa, and a quest for flamingos. Leila and her friends are back with more adventures in Racing The Sun.

Book Cover by Chris Graham.

Racing The Sun, A Novel

Leila and her friends are back with more adventures in Racing The Sun, a sequel to The Horizon Seekers. Leila must decide whether to continue as a high school teacher, or quit her job to run a new group that brings together people of varying abilities. She meets Doug, a paraplegic and former student, who wants to design and build better wheelchairs. Her relationship with Mark, the attractive “man with a book” is challenged by another love, and she discovers her mother and father both have secret lives. Leila goes head-to-head with Mrs. Grisjun, the combative guidance counselor, who thrives in a post-truth world. And what do those mysterious stones in the local park mean? 

Dov, the gay event planner from South Beach, and Maria, the female Don Quixote, are back, along with Raoul, Leila’s former hearing-impaired student. There’s lunch with Caroline, her oldest friend, who always speaks her mind. Cran Birdsall, father of Leila’s friend Charles, and husband of the erstwhile Berry, loves his vintage racing cars. But after an accident, his life takes a different course.

All the while, Leila knows she must slow down to admire the flamingos. But life now has a fast pace. Will she be able to take the wheel to control the speed and direction of her work, love, and life?

Racing The Sun is available on Amazon and Smashwords

Racing The Sun on Amazon                                   Racing The Sun on Smashwords

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Pre-Order Racing The Sun

The Kindle and Smashwords editions of Racing The Sun are now available for pre-order! This short novel is the sequel to Miami Morning, and continues the story of many of the series’ characters. It’s a book that’s both light and serious, trying to make sense, and have some fun while doing it, of contemporary life.

The ebook is $2.99 and the paperback (available on Amazon soon) will be $12.95. 

The print and ebook editions were beautifully formatted by Jo Robinson and the covers equally well done by Chris Graham of The Story Reading Ape. Thank you both!

OccupyAbility

I’m working on a sequel to Miami Morning, and this is the name of Leila Payson’s new group. She’s excited about the future, with her new love, Mark, and the start-up of this group. OccupyAbility is designed to bring people of varying disabilities and abilities together, for the benefit of all participants. Because who among us doesn’t have a disability? Who among us doesn’t have a talent or strength that shines when it’s shared?

Here’s a little preview of what’s to come, I hope, by this summer.

Leila meets Doug, a paraplegic, who wants to design and build better wheelchairs. Her relationship with Mark evolves, and she discovers both her father and mother have secret lives. Her friends are back, diverse and adventurous, along with her former student, Raoul. And so is Mrs. Grisjun, the combative guidance counselor, who thrives in a post-truth world. As her oldest friend, fellow teacher Caroline says,  life is so complicated now. 

And a little hint. Besides Leila, two others will tell their stories: her friend Dov, the gay Swedish-Jewish event planner, and Cran Birdsall, father of her friend Charles and husband of the erstwhile Berry. 

 Photo: Condor Marathon’s racing wheelchair, design by Juan Gill, via Behance

Review of Miami Morning by Steve Lindahl

Miami Morning by Mary Clark is the story of an ordinary person, a teacher, Leila Payson, who finds a purpose that defines her life. The novel is exceptional in a number of areas, one of which is the beautiful way Clark describes Miami from the context of the issues on the narrator’s mind. Here’s an excerpt that is a good example of what I mean:

She trotted beside lacy borders of waves washing ashore, intoxicated by the sharp scent of iodine and mineral aroma of fresh-churned sand. The rolling waves made her think of the invisible waves that traveled between human beings and while the ocean waves were strong and substantial, and still carried an insistent power as they neared the shore, they were nothing compared to the magnificent intricacies and complexity of human interaction and communication. And we are only just beginning to learn how that works, Leila reminded herself.

When Leila started her career, she had her struggles. But she took advice that she needed and she grew from experience. By the time the story starts, she is considered one of the best teachers in her school by the critics who matter most, her students.

Read more on Steve Lindahl’s blog

The Importance of Online Writing Groups – Guest Post…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

The inspiration for my novel, Miami Morning, came from a source made possible only by modern communications technology. Through the internet, it’s possible to network with people who are quite different from us, who live in other countries, engage in other occupations, and come from a variety of cultural settings. Several years ago, this opportunity brought me into a relationship with new people, and their experiences, and our shared experience, fueled my imagination.

I was invited to join an online discussion group by someone I met on LinkedIn. But it wasn’t through a literary forum. Instead, it was one of the philosophy groups. David Turnbull and I had been responding to each other’s comments on posts. This was followed by corresponding via personal email. He read some of my writing, which led to a passionate, and sometimes heated, discussion of ideas and beliefs. He then invited me to join…

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