The GateKeeper

SYNOPSISAnyone can have a “Trollop,” a “Chatterbox,” a “Mushy,” and even a “Perfectionist” in themselves. We all have aspects of ourselves that we may want to keep buried, or that we like to project to the world. But what if these aspects were actually alive – living, loving, hating – and all in your head? And what if you didn’t even know that you were NEVER really in control of your own mind?”Our main character and narrator in The Gatekeeper, a Novel by C. Alease, contends that some of her best friends live inside her head. “So it appears that I am fragmented, though not completely split.” In reality, this woman is a human jigsaw puzzle not yet assembled, cracked mirror pieces in a worn, weather beaten frame, ready to fall apart.Something inside her believes that her desire to find a therapist is actually for her eighteen year old son, to manage his anger issues. A close friend recommends one, and after a few visits with her son, the therapist becomes much more interested in her. And so begins an unintended journey through her fractured, but not broken, dissociated mind, to places she did not know existed, chose to forget, and was not prepared to revisit. This odyssey takes the reader and our main character through an obstacle course of events, a journey of self-actualization and recollection, trauma and confusion as she learns the agonizing extent to which she has been guided by, interacting with and struggling to find a precarious peace amid these fractured pieces of herself, all living inside her head, and all of whom were created for their own specific purpose.Our main character’s exquisite narration enables readers to identify clearly with each of the characters as the situations unfold. Readers will find that the story of The Gatekeeper is dark and foreboding, yet amusing and playful, providing a proverbial rollercoaster of emotions that will touch the reader’s soul, as these multifarious personalities emerge alive, completely different, yet being, loving, and living, much like the best friends that our narrator believes they are.

Call her Queen Hatshepsut

Chess is a competitive game between two players. Each piece has its own style of moving. But what happens when a deranged woman tricks two lovers into playing the game of their lives? Hatshepsut is a confused woman. She treats people the way she wants to be treated using an eight-by-eight grid of hope and empathy. The only things missing from her life is love and the sixteen pieces it's comprised of. It's missing because she was born a man.
Avarice James, Hatshepsut's mother, is an embattled plastic surgeon content on getting what she wants. Deeply rooted by the 64 squares of wickedness, two people she loved the most has castled her before she moved a pawn...the king, Kayak Burke, her son's father and her biggest rival, the rook, Rosa James, her identical twin sister. Rosa has always turned Avarice's existence into a horrid checkmate. She dressed like her, spoke her dialogue, and tarnished Avarice's reputation to achieve the unconscionable. Desperate, Rosa moves a pawn, trapping Kayak in a lustful game of sex that leads her and Avarice into unwanted pregnancies.
When Avarice diagonally moves the queen across white squares, taking a bishop and Rosa castles across black squares, taking a knight, Avarice does something so explosive that it inevitably turns Rosa, Kayak, and the death of his son into the pawns they truly are. Avarice masters the game with skill and patience...She brainwashes her son, disguises him as a girl and names him Hatshepsut. Any memory of Rosa and Kayak has been eradicated...until the time is right! This account extends all racial barriers. If you have ever loved, been betrayed and lost a child this harrowing story will open your heart and cause you to search your soul and question your faith. Call her Queen Hatshepsut:

Luck of the Draw By Anna Black

Friends come and go, but the good ones are hard to let go. Kennedy and her best friend Cherae were like "two peas in a pod," Kennedy's daddy would say because they were tighter than a large man in a medium suit jacket. Although they were totally different in size, personality and back ground, they had been friends and loved each other since the second grade. Tables turned for their friendship when that evil word 'jealously' came between them over a sexy club owner named Julian Roberson. One night led this duo down an ugly road that Kennedy never wanted to travel on and a road Cherae never imagined she'd lose on. Cherae opened up a can of pain on Kennedy and after over twenty-five years of friendship, one man caused it to fall apart. Not knowing what to do or who to trust, Kennedy sought support from her true friend Teresa, who had tried to warn her about her life long pal Cherae many times before. When the smoke clears and the truth finally comes to light, they learn a lesson in friendship, love and loyalty