Joyful approach badgeHi guys! Today I am so pleased to welcome author Lloyd A. Meeker to Joyfully Jay!  Lloyd is here as part of our Joyful Approach: Countdown to GRL. He is talking to us about his love of fantasy and his new book, Enigma.  Lloyd has also brought a great excerpt and a copy of the book to give away to one lucky winner. So please join me in giving him a big welcome!

I LOVE FANTASY

I love fantasy. I always have. Chalk it up to an imagination that has rarely accepted a bridle, or a child’s belief in the unseen, more passionate than his belief in the seen.

Maybe by now the root cause of my appetite for a good fantasy doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m still learning to brandish my hard-earned gray-haired curmudgeon status to proclaim that I’m not obliged to explain myself the way I once was, even though my excitement and wonder for a well-told fantasy is as fresh and child-like as it was when I was nine.

I love the imagination that it takes to build a believable alternate world. I love entering a cohesive, compelling vision created by someone else. But most of all, I love fantasy for what it shows me about the “real” world I live in every day.

All fiction — by definition — is made-up. Fantasy. The impact of a story relies on the author’s ability to draw a reader or listener into the fictive dream (which is just a fancy way of saying that the reader/listener believes enough of what the storyteller is creating to become emotionally engaged).

What makes us as readers emotionally engaged? That magic occurs when we can relate to the story and its characters. We have to recognize what’s going on, you might even say in spite of the fantastical elements.

So here’s my bit of curmudgeonly wisdom. The key to a great fantasy lies in anchoring the story, no matter how fantastic, to the world the reader already knows.

Setting a story in a different world, with different customs, creatures, challenges and crises demands a bridge over which a visitor can cross. The author has to make both ends of that bridge equally believable.

Traditional hero’s journey tales often begin with the hero (who at this stage probably doesn’t even know he’s a hero) in his familiar reality — his world of the everyday.

At the beginning of book one, Harry Potter doesn’t even know he’s a magician. All he knows is that he lives with unpleasant relatives. He misses his parents, and is certain that if his parents were alive he wouldn’t be living in a cupboard under the stairs. He sees no way out of his predicament. All of those things ground us in the familiar, rather than the fantastic. It isn’t until the owl and his messages summon Harry on his journey to Hogwarts that his life enters the world of fantasy.

By the time he’s on his way to Hogwarts, we’re already engaged. We’re completely prepared to believe in railroad stations that aren’t visible. Why? Because we can relate to Harry’s persecution, his frustration, his loneliness, and all the rest. Each of us has some experience of being the boy who sleeps under the stairs. That’s a familiar world experience.

Luke Skywalker is just a boy on the farm (and no, I’m not going to make a big deal out of the fact that both boys are cast as orphans — but think about the automatic empathy that creates — because that’s a powerful experience in the familiar world). This time the hero is not persecuted. He loves his aunt and uncle. But anyone born and raised on a farm understands the kind of bond that creates. The chores are never really done. The hogs will need feeding again in the morning. Neglecting those obligations is unthinkable. For those who love that life, the bond becomes a form of marriage. For others like me, that bond is a form of prison, as noble as that prison might be.

In a thousand vampire or werewolf stories (I haven’t read a thousand, but I’m willing to bet that the ones I have read are representative of many, many more), it is the familiar emotional problems of love, jealousy, competition and rivalry, power and status, and defense against external or internal threats that carry the familiar elements that allow a reader to relate to the other-worldly setting and its strange imperatives.

When a fantasy makes too much of invention and forgets about its obligation to the familiar, it fails.

What drives me crazy as a reader is an author’s failure to maintain the link between the familiar and the created world. When the rationale for an important goal is betrayed, when the characters act in ways we don’t feel as authentic, when the structure of the created world is fundamentally inconsistent, when something just doesn’t make sense, the fictive dream evaporates, and disillusionment takes its place.

When you’re telling a story around a campfire to your children, you’d better keep all your logical ducks in a row, and make the fantasy — yes, realistic. Otherwise you’ll get the sigh that signals the death of the fictive dream, maybe even an eye-roll and an “Oh, Dad” groan.

The great thing about a child is that they’ll often coach you into addressing the story’s weakness. “Why can’t she remember that she’s got that magic stone in her backpack?” Adult readers aren’t so generous.

Fantasies are great for escape, it’s true, but a temporary escape is not a big motivation for me when I read. When I pick up a fantasy, I want it to transport me to a new world, yes, but once I’m there I want to be shown something important about the world I actually live in.


Excerpt

The little man in the expensive suit sneered as if I should have known what brand he wore and wilted before its awesome power. Armani? Versace? Burberry? I had no idea, and it didn’t matter to me that I wasn’t current on suits likely to cost more than my monthly mortgage.

His sneer had come from a designer collection, too. Men more generous than I am might have imagined that he’d meant his lip movement as a smile that had come out deformed, but every time his lip curled, his aura came up spiky and dark. No, it was a sneer.

He was not happy to be in my office. In fact, he’d walked in carrying some kind of grudge. Since I’d never met him before, I figured his issue wasn’t mine to fix until he shared. I let him stew.

He leaned forward and snapped his business card on the middle of my desk like it was an ace of trump. “My client wants you to find his son’s blackmailer.”

I picked up the business card and studied it, although I already knew what it said. Andrew Kommen, Managing Partner, Stelnach, Kommen and Breyer. On the phone, his assistant had spoken the name with outright reverence, expecting I’d be awed, or at the very least, grateful for  this visitation.

I pulled one of my own cards from the desk drawer. It said Rhys (Russ) Morgan, Investigations and listed my license number, address and phone below my name in a perfectly professional manner. Granted, it wasn’t embossed on the same quality stock as Mr. Kommen’s but I offered it to him anyway, the second half of the business card minuet. When he smiled, thin-lipped, and didn’t take it, I smiled back and placed it gently on the desk in front of him.

He gazed at it for a second, just long enough to let me know touching it was beneath him. I had to hand it to him—his sense of nuance and timing was impeccable. I tried to imagine him doing stand-up comedy. It didn’t work.

According to reputation, Andrew Kommen’s firm had enough money to hire every detective in the city for a whole year and still never think of cutting back on the Jamaican Blue Mountain in the general staff room. But here was the managing partner, sitting opposite me in my modest too-close-to-Colfax-Avenue office, slumming.

“I’m a little surprised you’ve come to me,” I said. “We don’t usually travel in the same circles.”

“Believe me, you were not my first choice.”

He didn’t like me, and I didn’t like him. That made us even. “Who’s your client?”

“Until you sign this nondisclosure agreement, there will be no names.” He lifted an attaché case too sleek to be made anywhere but Italy onto the desk and popped it open. Out came two documents, which he pushed across to me.

I read far enough to learn that they would ruin me if I breathed a word about this case to anyone but an authorized representative of the firm or its client. Recovery of fees, punitive damages, etc., etc. I stopped before getting to the paragraph stipulating grievous bodily harm if I divulged any information, but I’m sure it was in there somewhere.

I looked up. “You guys play hardball.”

“I’m so glad that registered on you. It would be unfortunate for you if that were to slip your mind. Ever.” He smiled again, this time showing teeth. “On the other hand, we will pay you well for your services. Very, very well.”

“There are limits to what I can keep confidential with the police, for example. I won’t violate those.”

“Of course.” Kommen shrugged, a tiny gesture dismissing a tiny concern. “You will receive no harassment from the police in this matter, I can assure you.”

That smelled bad. I shifted my focus to check his aura. Calm and probably quite clear for him. At the very least, he believed what he was saying to be true. I watched him for more clues but didn’t see any.

Could he and his firm work their connections with the police to deliver on that promise? If so, did I really want to do business with a lawyer who could pull strings like that? I wasn’t eager. I gave him another chance to change his mind. “Surely your firm could do better than hiring me for what is obviously a very sensitive case involving very sensitive people.”

“Yes.”

I had rarely heard that word so carefully filled with insult yet so calmly delivered. It was the perfect smackdown. I couldn’t help smiling in admiration. “Nice. But?”

“You’re a known homosexual, with knowledge of homosexual activists.” This time the disapproval was front and center. “We believe vengeful homosexuals are behind this attack on my client and his family. This matter requires extensive knowledge of your…sub-culture.”

Got it. Sub, as in lower than. I struggled not to laugh. “I see.” I imagined several generic scenarios, all involving the gay son of some prominent figure. I already knew whose side I was on. I reached for the nondisclosure agreement.

“Well, I think I’d like to help your client’s son.”

“He’s not the one who’s important,” Kommen snapped. “Your job is to help my client. The rest of the family’s affairs are none of your business.”

I studied the man across from me with a sudden twinge of pity. He looked  even smaller, suddenly—pinched and dried out. Mean and empty.

“I think we both know you may not be able to control the scope of the investigation like that, so please don’t pretend.” I signed both copies, and he signed for his firm and his mysterious client.

Then he pulled out the letter of engagement, check attached. “Your base salary will be $7,000 a week plus expenses for which you will provide receipts. My client wants this matter finished quickly. If you solve the case within four weeks of engagement,  you will receive a $25,000 bonus. Payment in the method of your choice.”

My pride thought he put just a little too much emphasis on the if. “Before I sign anything else, you need to brief me on the nature of the assignment. Otherwise, we’re finished already.”

He stared at me for a minute. I stared back, prepared to wait him out. He was in my office, after all, and he’d already made it clear he didn’t enjoy slumming with known homosexuals who might even know a vengeful activist or two. Me, I was perfectly comfortable. I often dealt with jerks.

Your client will be Stelnach, Kommen and Breyer, Mr. Morgan. Our client,” he said as if giving me far more than I deserved, “is Reverend Howard Richardson. It is likely that you will never meet him or speak with him. All your communication concerning this matter will be directly with me. Under no circumstance are you to initiate contact with Reverend Richardson or any of his family. Is that clear?”

I nodded. I appreciated that Richardson would want to keep as far as possible from an investigation of blackmail against his gay son. At least, I assumed his son was gay. Even before Proposition 2, Richardson had been a powerful figure in every anti-gay political push-back in Colorado as well as nationally.

Oh, the irony. A high profile family values advocate with the very abomination he sought to eradicate lurking in his own household.

“And he wants to keep his family aberration a secret?”

“Oh, no.” Kommen looked way too pleased at my wrong guess, as if it confirmed my inadequacy. “He made no secret of his son’s illness.”

He leaned forward, apparently to drive home the point. “In 1993, when James first admitted to his father that he was afflicted with homosexual desires, the Reverend enrolled James in a therapeutic program. He hid nothing from anyone. Indeed, he called to his congregation to pray for his son’s victory over darkness.”

My stomach lurched. Reparative therapy. The devil’s work if ever there was a devil. I kept my face neutral. “And how old was James then?”

“Seventeen. Committing him to the rescue program was perfectly legal.”

“I have no doubt.” I stuffed my nausea, deciding I wanted more than ever to help James to recover from his father’s abuse, although I didn’t know if I had the skills for that. I could read auras, but I’d never tried to heal them. “So what then?”

“He was transformed. His father declared it a miracle. James joined his father in ministry, although not in a political way. He now supervises a number of successful educational and outreach programs for the church as well as the publishing operation.”

The story was way too tidy. “Let me guess. James married, and they’ve got two children.”

“Three.” Kommen’s smirk made his whole face quiver. “They’re very happy.”

“But it’s not all harmony and light in paradise, is it.” I wasn’t asking a question.

“About two months ago, threatening letters from someone calling himself Enigma began showing up. In very disturbing ways.”

I wanted to make sure I understood. “You’re saying that the way the letters arrived was disturbing, in addition to their threatening content?”

Kommen shook his head. “First, the letter of engagement,” he said, pointing to the paper on my desk. I signed. He signed. He put his copy in his attaché case and snapped the latches.

“The Enigma letters are in our keeping. Come to our offices tomorrow at nine  and you can examine them. You may make copies, but the originals remain in our custody.”

Kommen stood, and I followed suit. I offered my hand, which he shook for less than a second. I retrieved my spurned business card from the desktop and watched him leave. The documents from my new best friend went in the safe, and I stared out the window at Pearl Street a while, taking my time to decide where to have lunch. I like taking my time with important decisions. At fifty, I figure I’ve earned the right.


Blurb

EnigmaGay PI Russ Morgan doesn’t mind being fifty but hates being single. He’s made peace with being a psychic empath, and he’s managed to build a decent life since getting sober. As he uncovers obscene secrets shrouded in seeming righteousness he might have to make peace with a sword of justice that cuts the innocent as deeply as the guilty.


Giveaway

Lloyd is offering up a copy of Enigma to one lucky winner. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter.  The contest closes on Sunday, September 29th at 11:59 pm EST.

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