By Greg Jolley

Two Novellas

With “Cream of the Wheat” being published in 2023, I was inspired to work within a like change of style, voice and format. Below is the opening to “Blue” that I plan to start writing later this year.

Blue

Two Novellas

By Greg Jolley

She stepped out of the tunnel of trees with her eyes to the sky.

Up ahead was a group of teens, gathered on the bridge.

The scenic view behind them included the rock filled gorge below.

Summer had stolen the river and the day smelled like heat and pine.

The five stood in a row, laughing and talking loud.

One of the boy’s had taken a dare and was sitting on the rail.

As she approached, one of them let out a laugh.

She fired her arm fast, hand out flat.

As the boy fell, the air filled with his scream.

Other voices joined him, long after he hit the rocks.

Looking up at the clouds, there were several happy, bounding white dogs across the blue.

Smiling and watching them play, she let out a laugh of delight.

***

She bought just the right car in Kalispell, heavy, low and fast.

Out on the freeway at sunset, she got it up to speed.

Following the clouds, she drove for hours into the night.

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a car showed in the distance.

Edging up the throttle, she eyed the side of the road.

There was no guardrail before the drop into the canyon.

Changing lanes, she aimed for its left fender.

On impact, the other car slurred before leaving the pavement.

Following its headlights, it took flight into the night.

She tried out a new laugh, light and chipper.

Pleased by the sound, she aimed for another pair of taillights up ahead.

***

“City of the Dead” is dedicated to Olivia Mainville / Olivia M Madville, and inspired by one of her late night performances in 2018, when she sang and performed a number of her dark and haunting and beautiful songs.

Having spent months researching the Père-Lachaise Cimetière in Paris, I was gifted with the book’s theme that same night.

Sometime later, I met Jaden Dickinson who worked in a medical examiner’s lab and was kind enough to share many exacting and colorful and gruesome stories about daily work there.

From that point on, I was on my own, excited to include a much different version her in the pages of ingredients I would use to start the novel. That would begin much later on, after a great deal more research and exploring different textures and voices for the story.

Writing “City of the Dead” was done in another six month trance, entered at five in the morning, seven days a week. Once a write has started, there’s no hesitation or pauses. It is often like a road trip with different cast members taking the wheel, driving recklessly and at high speed, sometimes laughing, other times screaming. Riding shotgun with a typewriter in my lap, I rarely know where we’re going, but never close my eyes.

Month: October 2021

Blue

Writing “City of the Dead”

“City of the Dead” is dedicated to Olivia Mainville / Olivia M Madville, and inspired by one of her late night performances in 2018, when she sang and performed a number of her dark and haunting and beautiful songs.

Having spent months researching the Père-Lachaise Cimetière in Paris, I was gifted with the book’s theme that same night.

Sometime later, I met Jaden Dickinson who worked in a medical examiner’s lab and was kind enough to share many exacting and colorful and gruesome stories about daily work there.

From that point on, I was on my own, excited to include a much different version her in the pages of ingredients I would use to start the novel. That would begin much later on, after a great deal more research and exploring different textures and voices for the story.

All the best,

Greg