Something Old, Something New

Read to the end for a cover reveal for 'The Others'

An unexpected gift arrived on my doorstep just before Thanksgiving. My cousins had found and sent to me the pocket dictionary of my mother’s childhood. The book had been “floating around” for years, my cousin Denise said, and they decided it should come to rest with the writer in the family. What a fabulous treasure to receive just days before what would’ve been my mother’s 93rd birthday. 

Inside the cover was mom’s impeccable cursive in pencil: Marlene Ayers, 202 North Squirrel Road, Auburn Hieghts (sic). Then, on the first page, Marlene Ayers, Grade 8, Mrs Wilson, Home Room Teacher. That was my mother. Organized. She wrote everything down. 

Despite iPhones, she insisted on using a paper address book stuffed with updates and lines crossed out as people moved from one place to another. She kept a paper calendar, too. Before the pandemic, I used to give her a yearly planner on her birthday. She didn't need them much after the arrival of Covid. But she continued to write everything on paper—even if her handwriting became difficult to read. When she saw that she could no longer write legibly enough to sign checks, she charged my sister Robin with paying her bills. She continued to send holiday cards and brief notes, reminding all of us how much she loved us. 

I never needed to decipher Mom’s writing to know what she meant. That is the beauty of knowing someone loves you. The words are a means to an end. It’s the gesture that matters, and my mother, much like the precise handwriting of her youth, was determined to be a part of our lives until she died unexpectedly on Christmas Day last year. Her birthday is tomorrow, November 29. I will light a yahrzeit candle in her memory. And her little dictionary, which needs some minor repairs, now sits on my desk. 

New Life for an Old Book

The dictionary isn’t the only old book to appear on my desk. My second novel, “Woman King," is here, too. Self-published in 2012, my urban fantasy saga is getting a new life with Spark Press. It will undergo a fabulous transformation under a new title, “The Others,” and is expected to be released in September 2024. What was once the “Dark Horse” three-part series is being rebranded as “The Council” trilogy. For you, dear readers, I’m sharing for the first time a sneak preview of the new cover, which is mostly done. I think it’s quite beautiful. I hope you like it, too. 

Diving back into the book with a new editor is a little like receiving my mother’s dictionary. The manuscript is dated in places and needs to be updated. I’ve written three more novels since this one, and my writing is tighter now. A decade might not seem like much time, but in the world we live in, things have changed quite a bit.  Countless little details of the circa-2012 narrative may not be as effective today. Characters are no longer consumed with reading newspapers, watching commercial TV, or listening to content on iPods. 

We’re in the cloud, streaming, scrolling and posting. To make our heroine, Olivia, seem more authentic to today’s readers, she is going to get her headlines from Apple News or even TikTok. 

Perhaps more importantly, the original book fretted about a seemingly improbable scenario: What would happen if extremists took over the U.S. government? Today, wondering about that would come across as naive or ignorant in a world marked by election deniers and their insurrection at the Capitol.  

I suppose I should be grateful to have depicted the need for a secret organization of supernatural beings to help maintain the fragile order of society. But back then, I always believed the lunatic fringe would stay on the sidelines. On some days, it's difficult to discern where the lines are. All the more reason for Olivia and her colleagues to be introduced to a new (and hopefully larger) audience. I like making something old feel new, much the way my mother’s dictionary is getting a second life after being tucked away for such a long time. I’m excited for “The Others” to reach a much broader audience and be sold into bookstores by Simon & Schuster. It’s a promising new beginning for an old book, and that’s something to be grateful for.