Disclaimers: See Chapter 1. Any other comments can be sent to me at bironel@gmail.com
Synopsis: A novella about the an insanely wealthy white woman's search for her soul mate and the debt ridden black woman writer, with a vivid imagination, who tries to keep out of her way.
Wraith Painted Red
A White Haired Witch's Burden
Nailah was working double shifts filling in at the restaurant to pay for her motorcycle lessons. George was still hanging around but their temporary voyage to romance derailed after Nailah was treated for whiplash at the emergency room. Her days were filled with work and her evenings with learning all she could about motorcycles and chatting with George on the phone.
As the weekend came around once again, exhausted Nailah fell into bed, fully clothed and into a deep sleep to be visited by an old acquaintance.
At first she was traveling through various rooms without touching the ground, in mid air. She sped up until she stopped short in front of a brick wall. The floor disappear beneath her dangling bare feet. Like a cartoon character she frozen in mid air for a beat before she began to plummet into darkness.
She landed in a body of water. Fully submerged and disoriented, she fought to the surface for air. A hand clasped hers and pulled her out of the water.
Witch: You haven't kept your bargain with me child.
Nailah sat up and realized she was on the ground in a misty japanese garden at night. She looked and saw someone moving slowly towards her through the mist.
Nailah: Excuse me?
Witch: Our arrangement was I return your face and you get me the Malleus Maleficarum. Did you think I would not find you anywhere you ran?
Nailah: I wasn't running away from you.
Witch: Get me the Malleus, Type Artist or your loss of face will be the least of your worries!
Nailah: Give me a clue so I can find it. What is the subject of this book? Who was the author? When was it written?
Witch: Don't ask questions you all ready know the answers to. You're running out of time with me Type Artist. You're running out of time.
Nailah woke up disoriented in the darken room. She got up, looked at her LCD alarm clock and realized that she slept for five hours, in the early dark hours of a Saturday morning. She went into her bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.
She left the bathroom and walked to the kitchen to get a drink of apple juice. She noticed her laptop on the kitchen table. She finished her juice, washed out the glass, then she sat down in front of the laptop, turned it on and was fully awaken by the glow of the laptop screen.
She typed the words Malleus Maleficarum and googled it online. She discovered it was a real book written to justify the persecution of suspected witches, which were commonly more than not, women. She wondered why the witch in her dreams wanted her to get a book commonly found in any English speaking library.
Then she got an idea about how the worst misogynists were often other women. She quickly typed a profile of a central villainous character loosely based on Amanda De Klerk-Zwart and her persecution of a group of young women heroines. Once she crafted the characters and the main plot of the story, Nailah decided to title the book The Witch's Hammer.
Nailah wrote the first draft of The Witch's Hammer in six months non stop. Six long months of avoiding George advances and putting her motorcycle aspirations on hold. Six months of tea and almond butter sandwiches. Six month of biking back and forth to work even on the rainy days, which seemed to outnumber the sunny days.
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One Saturday, Nailah reconnected with the literary agency she originally contacted to review her first novel and waited two months for a reply before she decided to moved on to find another agent. While she was e-mailing query letters to various small presses and literary agents, she got a call that changed her life.
Nailah: Hello?
Agent: Nailah Brown?
Nailah: Yes this is she.
Agent: This is Carol from The Rivalsa Agency. We've finished reviewing The Witch's Hammer . It's not the genre that our agency commonly handles.
Nailah: No worries. I'll find someone else who is interested. Thanks for taking the time to read my work and calling me. I appreciate the courtesy.
Agent: My agency won't take you on but I want you to know that I enjoyed reading your novel. Was this your first novel?
Nailah: I worked on another one before but I can't shop that one.
Agent: Can I inquire why not?
Nailah: I wrote that one under conditions where the final work was no longer my own.
Agent: That's a diplomatic way of saying it was stolen. Happens to the best of us. Anyway I was wondering if you were working on anything else?
Nailah: Funny you should ask. I'm working on a gothic horror right now. That second novel opened the flood gate creatively.
Agent: That's good to hear. Listen I would very much like to be your agent outside the agency. I have contacts not as extensive as Rivalsa but I can provide you with a personal touch.
Nailah: How many writers do you represent?
Agent: You'd be my second one. I rep'd Steven Haven until he got snapped up by a bigger group.
Nailah: Haven the horror writer? He's famous!
Agent: I didn't name drop Haven to score points. But I have an eye for talent. You'd be my only client right now but if you work hard enough I believe you can be successful as a writer and would like the honor to rep you.
Nailah: Deal.
Agent: What???
Nailah: You're my agent. You had me when you said you enjoyed reading my novel. So when you want to meet to iron out our arrangement?
Agent: How is Monday at 10 AM?
Nailah: Cool and I have the perfect place for us to meet. Quick question. Are you allergic to seafood?