Heather is Taking Off

I have a wonderful and talented sister-in-law. Her name is Heather, and she is a writer.

Heather (left) with Sue

I have lost track of all of the short story contests that she has won,

Last year, her first [to be published] novel, Clay Girl, was accepted for publication.

It will hit the stands sometime this coming fall. Be prepared because I will likely shill for her then.

Meanwhile, as a bit of a teaser, here is a snippet from one of her stories, followed by  a link to the whole thing. As is often the case with Heather, a real-life situation serves as the impetus for the story.

Warning, university education may cause premature graying- recent study finds 

At Christmas, Charlie came home from university a vegetarian. Being a mother, I took it personally. He reassured, “Strictly ethical reasons, Mom. Nothing to do with your cooking.” 

I wasn’t convinced. On more than one occasion I’d been accused of criminal assault on a rump roast. Now, looking at the condition of the Christmas turkey, I knew he was right. Ultimately this creature had not been treated well. It was missing a head, one wing and was indeed, dead. “You look thin, have you lost weight?” 

“Yeah, 8 pounds.” 

“Damn ethics,” I muttered. “You need protein. And what kind of a university course talks about meat, anyway?” 

His father glanced up from his paper. “I believe they call them bird courses, dear.” 

On Reading week, Charlie came home from university with 12 loads of laundry, said he was becoming a Buddhist and mentioned that he’d applied to do tsunami relief in Sri Lanka. 

“First of all,” I asked, “what have you been doing for clean underwear? Secondly, do you have to shave your head and wear orange? Because I really don’t think you could pull that look off. And thirdly, you simply cannot go to there.” 

“Why?”

“Well—because you’re grounded, that’s why.” 

He patted the top of my head in that way six-foot-two children do. “Oh, Mom, you’re so funny.”

Sensing my angst, his father paused from his reading. “Don’t worry, dear. They’re only taking donations, not volunteers.” 

Here's a link to the whole story: http://www.heathertucker.ca/warning-university-education-may-cause-premature-graying-recent-study-finds/

And here's a link to Heather on Facebook. She is just getting started on social media, so you can get in on the ground floor: https://www.facebook.com/heathertuckerauthor/timeline

Finally, she has just begun to blog, and I am pretty sure it will be good: http://www.heathertucker.ca

Heather and Sue