Author: debrazauthor

New Covers, Audio Books and Old Age

by debrazauthor

I hate that head line but it’s true. I’ve gotten new, beautiful, covers for the books in the Darkness and Light series. My first, and unless I become a John Grisham, my only audio book will be released soon. When I first published Dark Night Of The Soul, the first book in the series, I was too concerned with the cost of publishing, than what the cover should look like. Titles are what draw me to books, but that isn’t true for most of us. Though I don’t regret making my own covers for the Sister World Series, BookFest loved them almost as much as I do, I do regret not following my instincts. Once Dark Night became the first in the Darkness and Light series, I knew the other covers should have Marcus on each of them. I just didn’t know how to do it. I created covers showing what he went through, not uniting them by who he was and what he became..

Although I can’t think of a time in my life when I didn’t love books and hoped to one day be more than just someone who read them, I was swimming in a pool without a life jacket. You would have laughed to see my 14 year old self taking beginner swimming lessons with the little kids (6-10 years old). I was more self-conscious than I am today, but I wanted to swim, so I put my head down and swam across the pool. I hope you see how I, once again, put my head down and swam across the pool, only this time it was pen, ink and a keyboard filling the pool. It really wasn’t that different than what I’d done before, Though the water is still over my head, today is different. Today I have a husband who, though he may not understand my desire, wants me to follow my dream, I have time to sit at this computer and however frustrating it is, I can try to figure out what I have to do,. I have friends and colleagues who help and support me. I don’t know you and you don’t know me, which means I really cannot offer you advice, What I can say is you should seek out those who support you, move forward even when your tired and force yourself to learn, even when you’re told the technology involved has left you behind. I’m frustrated, but I’m alive. Tomorrow may not come, but I have today. Yesterday is a fading memory that can and always does bring back memories showing a life well lived, but today is all we have. Live it well.

Releases

by debrazauthor

The audio book for Dark Night Of The Soul is still in process but the covers and their back descriptions are complete. The artist who created those covers has my highest regards and respect. Not only was he reasonable, he was reliable and easy to work with. I’m very happy with my Sister World covers and that they also received 2nd place from BookFest for a JPEG designed cover, makes me proud. I did them, (I’m bragging now) but if I ever needed another cover I would not hesitate to go to him. Remember
info@rockingbookcovers.com if you need a cover.

Now to a more personal note. Dark Night was a labor of love. I wrote it a long time ago and I rewrote it twice as many years have passed since its inception. Always, its many versions stayed true to the message of hope, love and the importance of seeing beyond appearances that brought the story to life . Receiving notice of it’s being a finalist by the American Legacy Awards helped me to feel like the time, which I cannot get back and the cost, which I can never replace, was more than worth it. I know I drove my husband crazy. I’m pretty sure the man who formats the books has also suffered with my lack of knowledge and neediest, but for me this will be a legacy second only to my son. The woman who told me to continue Marcus’ story, is very dear to me. Claire Mary, wherever you are, I hope you know this. She was right, not because she said series are popular, but because Marcus had, I had, so much more to tell. In Vampires(spoiler alert) Marcus finds himself living as so many of us have, only as to be expected, in extraordinary ways. Rising above a monster, of the problems that beset us all, is what makes his journey worth the effort. Now for the big, you must read the book moment. I ask you when is it too late to find redemption. Is it ever too late. We make many decisions every day, some without thought_Possibly my next book-so think about those little decisions. They may end up being not so little.

Book Descriptions

by debrazauthor

It’s funny, but for me it was easier to write books than to tell my readers what they’re about and don’t even ask me to talk about myself. I’ve done pretty good here but I actually hate doing it. It seems to me that when you talk about your life it can seem like you’re being overly dramatic. Most lives are lived, as is often said, in the quiet spaces between adventure and boredom. I was mostly on the side of being boring but then I learned that even a life lived quietly can have moments of deep anguish or joy, sometimes both. I knew I’d marry the man I’m still married to when I was seventeen. If you want to hear the fairy tale version, you’ll have to read fiction. It hasn’t been a fairy tale. What it has been is love, its triumphs and pain. He hurt me as no other could and I’m sure I returned the favor. No matter. He loved me and I know I returned that favor. He still makes me laugh. I do most of the laughing, he does most of the protecting. A fair exchange of abilities. It is in this relationship that I created the ones lived out by my characters. We aren’t easy. Complex and quite often perplexing, we struggle to find our place. I think this is true, though I won’t say this is something I know. The place we make for ourselves is not our destiny. I’s a complex cohesion of what we want, what we need, what we accept and what we’re forced to accept. To those who rise, you have my support and admiration, to those who accept the imperfections of those we love and those who find a way to move forward, I will forever be in your dept. I’ve heard that love is enough, but it must always start with loving who we are and who we need to be.

DARKNESS AND LIGHT

by debrazauthor

Soon, very soon, all the covers in the Darkness and Light series will be updated. With new covers and new descriptions on the back cover, I’m hoping to give new life to the series. The audio book has been recorded. I’m waiting to hear from Amazon. I’m excited to say Richard Johnson did an extraordinary job of bringing my characters to life. The covers, art work by RockingBookCovers.com, are exceptional and though the story remains the same it’s had some minor improvements. Having the vocal artist reading, the studio engineer/artist as well as the author hearing the book, any mistakes missed by the editor were corrected. I’m very excited about the forthcoming book release. As I said before, if you like what you read about the new books, the changes are truly minor and you can get a copy of the original book at a discount. I’ve waited thirty three years to get these books published as they are, I’m hoping to never read them again, as there will always be changes I’d like to make, but I am proud of what I’ve written. Whatever the future holds, I know I’ve told the story in my heart and did everything I could to make books I’m proud of.

Thoughts

by debrazauthor

The covers are almost done.
info@rockingbookcovers.com did an amazing job. I finished the audio book taping yesterday. Richard Johnson did an amazing Job, even better than what I expected and I had high expectations. Dark Night Of The Soul, the book dearest to my heart is now a finalist in horror for 2025 by the American Legacy Awards. Picture a little girl. She wasn’t popular, having used clothes and two very hard working parents. Without a large number of friends, she spent many hours making up stories, and writing poems. The one she penned in the seventh grade is now published. She worked her way through college, marrying the man -a 17 year old boy friend-4 and 1/2 years after meeting him, though she knew she would from their very first meeting. She can provide proof of this as she told her best friend and sister the day after they met. She worked from the age of 15 in various jobs finally getting a job she was proud to have when she was 23. Eleven years later she had a child. Still she worked, her husband sharing their child rearing and everything else they faced. At 39 she found out she had a mass behind her right eye. It was the reason for her headaches. A bottle of 200 aspirins lasted 2 weeks and there were times she couldn’t drive because she couldn’t see well. Surgery brought about tremendous changes. Recovery meant not being able to take care of the house(Not bad), her child (awful) and not being able to drive (Metz-a-metz). She sat down and wrote her first book long hand at the kitchen table. She didn’t have a computer. For all the fear, the worry, and the pain, the tumor that could have taken her life gave her a better one. Below is the poem she (I) wrote when I lay on the gurney in the recovery room. For awhile, I wasn’t ready to open my eyes. I found myself in those few minutes.
Waking
They were calling me
I ignored the voices, listening to my heart.
I wasn’t ready
There was no reason to wake
For moments that seemed like years
I thought of the child
The child I once was
The child I’d brought into the world
I knew the person who opened her eyes
Would never again be the one
who had closed them
The journey wasn’t over
It had just begun.
1996

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

by debrazauthor

I have always been particularly proud of this, my first book. Today, I get to be even prouder. I’ve just been notified that Dark Night of the Soul has been selected as a finalist by the American Legacy Awards. It’s quite an honor. Writing Dark Night was a labor of more than love. It was the fulfillment of a life long passion and a way to express my feelings as I recovered from brain surgery. Though I intended to write only one book, it soon became a series. Marcus had more to tell. An unexpected life, a man who faced difficulties far beyond any nightmare he dreamt of, couldn’t be told in one book.

Now, years later, I’ve decided to revamp(sorry if that seems like a pun) the covers of all five books. I’m also having Dark Night made into an audio book. The release date is not yet known, but I will let you know when it’s available.

I hope you enjoy the book and want to know more about the man I created. There are many lives he saved, but the one that means the most to me, is mine.

Audio Book

by debrazauthor

I’m going to make Dark Night of the Soul, book one of the Darkness and Light series into an audio book. Recording begins this Friday. I’m going to the best recording engineer, George Dussault of Galilee Productions in Rhode Island. I have a man with a voice I could listen to for hours no matter what he’s saying. Richard Johnson, a child of Rhode Island, is an actor, a singer and a friend. I’m lucky he’s available. Though I’m more than happy with the choices I’ve made, this is still far out of my comfort zone. As usual I’ll plod along, fearful but determined to do anything I can, to get my book out there. I’ve created a character I’m proud of, giving him the strength I hope I’d have if I were to walk in his place. His message of doing right even when it’s hard, or in his case there’s hell to pay, is important in any age. Of course I wish he were real though I don’t think he’d be very happy with me, not after all I’ve put him through.

With new book covers and an audio book, I hope to rejuvenate book’s sales. If you haven’t read or bought the books now may be the best time. There’s a discount if you buy the books with the old cover. If you don’t have time to sit with a book, I’ll let you know when you can listen to it.
Whether the day is sunny, cloud covered, raining or snowing, remember they are the days you have. Make the best of them.

NO GREEN EYED MONSTER

by debrazauthor

The Wickford Art Association launched their 2025 Reading Circle Program yesterday. I was honored to read my short story published in the ARIA Anthology Green. I was very proud to stand beside such talented authors and also happy to say I didn’t cry.

No Green Eyed Monster is a very personal tale. Some memories are painful even as they help us become who we are today. I’ve carried some of those feelings into my books. Marcus, from the Darkness and Light series, has childhood memories that are in many ways my own.

I hope you have a chance to pick up a copy of Green, or any of the ARIA Anthologies, and enjoy the stories within.

Being Me

by debrazauthor

I imagine everyone has a time in their life when they wonder what happened to the person they thought they would be. We lose some of ourselves, between trying to meld our life to another’s and changing to meet the demands of the reality we face when we’re no longer wide eyed, ready to take on the world children. We discover ourselves as we grow but mostly we discover ourselves when we’re grown. I didn’t become the famous singer I had hoped to. Neither did I become a successful author, though I’m still trying. Publishing the first book took many years but brought me more joy than a single post can express. In that first book, I stripped Marcus of all his hopes and expectations. In their place I gave him a fierce strength to become, as much as he could, the man he had once hoped to be. I think this is something many of us do. There are some successes and of course, failures. A failure doesn’t mean you should give up, it means you need to find another way forward, if only one small step at a time. The Long Road Back to me is the short story I wrote and am proud to say was published in the ARIA anthology Rhode Trip. Though it’s fiction, I think everyone can identify with the feelings contained in the story. I’m including an excerpt, hoping you’ll enjoy it, but also hoping you’ll check out the anthology. I’m only one of many authors and all are deserving of the time it will take you to read their stories.

The Long Walk Back to Me

by Debra Zannelli

It’s the smallest state, only forty eight miles across, only forty three for me, still I think the crossing will take me years. I wonder if two days will be long enough when I have a lifetime of things to think about, things I should have thought about a long time ago. I’m leaving for good though it’s hard to believe. I’m walking because everything I have is his and though I could take some things with me, I don’t want any of it. I hocked the diamond on my way to work. The manager of the store across the street from the bank where I worked, took it without asking any questions. My boss had lots of questions. I told her I wasn’t staying, and wouldn’t be coming back. I’m not burning bridges, I’m destroying them. Before I left, I closed out my checking and savings accounts and emptied our vacation account. The money won’t buy me a new life but it’s a down payment.