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Dust by Cole Parker


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A friend of mine just emailed me about Cole's story. He liked it a great deal but wondered if the plot could have come around to the conclusion a whole lot faster. My response was that he has obviously not read a lot of Cole's work. Never hurry the master.

The point of a good story is not how fast it concludes but how many moments it takes to have the characters come to the right conclusions. To give his characters depth, Cole allowed us to see them in different lights and in various moods. Yes, it began as a snappy detective who-done-it complete with car chases and gunshots, but then Wisdom prevailed. (sorry, I couldn't resist that)

Abused children find it difficult to trust an adult, any adult, even if they show kindness the question of why always begs an answer. Briar Wisdom, gotta love that name, is wise enough to allow Dust the time it takes to come to the right conclusions. Not every adult is manipulative and mean, there are genuinely loving men out there who deserve to father a child.

Through dozens of scenes, Cole has given his characters the motivation to love one another, and that sets the reader's heart aglow. Love did not come easy to these characters and there were definitely intense moments of concern that any of this would succeed. But the bad guys were banished, the good guys win. And isn't that how we would all like the loving moments of our lives to evolve.

Well done, Cole. And please, Sir, can we have some more?

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Thanks so much to everyone who wrote supportive messages about this story, and even about me! I never quite know how to respond to such flattery. It takes me by surprise, and makes me feel awkward. But don't for a minute think I don't appreciate it. I do, and am humbled, and very appreciative.

I know I'm working on a winner when the story and characters take hold and guide me. This one very much did that. I've never yet written a sequel and have no plans to, but somehow I ended up with one here that would be easy to stretch into a series of tales. These characters resonate with me. And from your kind words, I can see they do with others as well.

It's so rewarding, posting at this site, and being among such a talented group of wise people. Thanks for all the blessing, guys.

C

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As always, I wrestled with the almost insurmountable urge to read this tale chapter by chapter as they were posted or to be patient and then like a labrador retriever loose in a dog treat factory, gobble everything down whole, at once, and as fast as possible. The retriever won. I blame Cole's sigpic.

Of course, he is also to blame for me losing hours and hours of writing time in trying to complete my Halloween story. So if it doesn't come to fruition, now you all know who to blame, so allow me to carry on with my thoughts.

Wow.

What a story.

Opening chapter I immediately felt like a kid again reading one of my Dad's old pulp novels. I was drawn in, and desperately trying to figure out how and where the theme I was expecting could be woven into this story. Silly me. Of course, it was done masterfully and fit perfectly.

The POV change was handled with skill and without the often jarring effect this can produce. The character development was all Cole Parker, and that is the highest compliment I can think of to explain this. The plot ufolded in a wonderful and skillful blend of an old detective pulp and a coming-of-age tale. Thanks for writing this, Cole. It was thoughtful, provocative, elicited memory and emotion both past and present, and had me cheering and rooting for our characters. I was even grinning madly when the middle aged heterosexual man proposed to his female heterosexual girlfriend and she said yes. How about that?

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