Orlando Cries: One Local's Perspective

Have you ever had a large tragedy strike your front door?

I woke Sunday morning to a text from a family member asking if we were alright. We regularly get texts like that after a hurricane or tropical storm, but there was no storm that night. Facebook revealed a different story:

20 dead, as many as 50 headed to the hospital in a nightclub shootout.

We watched the police report and absorbed the tragedy, truly saddened. As the day progressed, the report updated. 49 dead, 53 injured. ISIS claimed the attack. The nightclub was a gay nightclub. The gunman was an actual Muslim terrorist. It was a hate crime and an act of terrorism. By a registered security guard. Who was also on a "watch" list for terrorism.

There was a call for local blood donations. Oh, you should have seen the lines. They ended up having to turn people away because there was such a huge response. Prayers and donations and a general sense of sadness have perpetuated our entire area.

And now there's the political debate:

Gun laws? Um, no. The guy was a SECURITY GUARD. He had a licence to legally handle a gun, and no tightening of gun laws is going to change that. Heck, if someone else in the nightclub had a weapon, they may have taken the jerk down rather than being mowed down. Stronger gun laws will not stop terrorists. It will just make their job easier. Maybe we shouldn't make it illegal to carry guns, but illegal to kill people, eh? If it wasn't a gun, it would have been a bomb, or a fire, or something else.

Hate crimes? Why can't everyone just love everyone! Why is everyone so bigoted? Um, no. This was a Muslim terrorist, and frankly, they would kill anyone who isn't one of them. Just for being different. To these extremists, if you're not Muslim, you're an infidel. Gays just rank at the top of their "hate" list. That doesn't mean the rest of the world feels that way, so please people, stop with the ranting.

On the Terrorist Watch List? This is the one that gets me. Why in the world would they approve someone on the watch list to become a SECURITY GUARD? What? Did someone's palms get greased? Is the government that inefficient? (Yes, the answer is yes.)

Regardless of the reasons, motivations, or  political spewing motivated by this event, the reality is this:

People were killed. Senselessly. Because a group of fanatics (who must have the most messed up childhoods in the world) believe it's okay to senselessly massacre others.

There is no correction, no policing, no words that can make it better. I take solace in the fact that in the next life these violent men will one day stand face to face with those they slaughtered, and what will they have to say? In the meantime, there is an outpouring of love toward the victims and the suffering. To all my Orlando brothers and sisters, the world mourns with us.

If you would like to help the victims of this senseless crime, you can donate to a GoFundMe campaign HERE.

This month I'm highlighting fellow authors from:

BUY NOW 

(Unless you already have, in which case, you rock!)

Two weeks ago I shared THE THING THAT TURNED ME, an anthology of close to 30 authors (including me!) about turning points. Everyone who mentioned "cheese" in a comment was entered to win an eBook of the anthology (after its release on the 28th).

And the winner is:

...DRUM ROLL...

Beverly Stowe McClure!

Congrats, Beverly!

And now meet a story from the author of SCRYING THE PLANE in the Parallels anthology: 

Four tales I present to tingle your spine
Four seasons of suspense to let you unwind.
Lives at a crossroad, a breakdown of order
Between life and death, it’s a tenuous border.

(Did I just use poetry to promote a book? Yes, I did.)

Heart Stopper: The disappearance of random household items baffles Dallas Radner and his eleven-year-old daughter Tessa. Ten plastic bags, nine ballpoint pens, and so on as the countdown begins. On the Day of the Dead, Tessa’s birthday, one thing will vanish forever. Will it be her?

Detour: Fed up with her abusive beau, coed Chloe Langley ditches class for a trip home. She’ll never make it.

One Step Away: Darryl James’s acrophobia ruined his marriage and stole his son. On the cusp of completing desensitization therapy, a relapse occurs with shocking consequences. 

Monitor:  Perched on a mountain with a view to die for, Laura and Paul Alderson have it all: new home, new baby, and new challenges. Yet urgent whispers from the baby monitor threaten to turn their American dream into a nightmare.

Get your copy HERE.

Ready to meet the author?

From doling out popcorn to moviegoers to flinging smelt to penguins, Tamara Narayan's taken the “road less traveled”. Her career path veered off into a land of integrals and other strange things while she taught college level math, but these days she’s cruising the fiction highway.

You might stumble across Tamara eating cheddar cheese fondu at The Melting Pot.

Visit her at www.tamaranarayan.com.

Tamara gave me two truths and one lie to test your "lie detector" skills. Those who figure out the lie will go into my magic hat for the chance to win HEART STOPPER in eBook.

You have until Tuesday, June 21 at 2 p.m. EDT to guess. Be sure to come back for the answers on June 22, 8 a.m. EDT.

TRUTH OR LIE

1. When I was a penguin keeper at the Riverbanks Zoo in SC, a local news crew came by to shoot a few clips of our Black-foot penguins. This was in 1992 and Batman Returns was big at the box office. This sequel featured Danny Devito as the villain The Penguin along with several real Black-foot penguins as his minions. I wasn’t in any of the shots, but one penguin did poop on the reporter’s foot. I don’t think that made the cut either.

2. On July 1, 2000 I walked in a protest march in Columbia, SC against putting the Confederate Flag on the SC State House grounds next to the Confederate Monument. The flag was being moved there from the dome of the Statehouse where it had flown since 1962 as a protest against desegregation. (The Confederate Flag was finally removed from the State House grounds on July 10, 2015, less than a month after the murder of nine people in a Charleston, SC church, including state senator Clementa C. Pinckney.)

3. I was in my garden weeding the other day. My cat, Mr. Mistoffelees, came by for snuggles and ended up sitting in my lap. Then two fellows came jogging by, one of which I recognized as Jason McElwain, better known as J-Mac, winner of the 2006 ESPY Award for Best Moment in Sports. J-Mac, a high-functioning autistic, scored 20 points in a high school basketball game in four minutes, nineteen seconds.

So sleuths, which is the lie? Have you met Tamara? What are your feelings about the attack in my back yard? Do you like short stories or prefer longer ones?