The Left Palm
It’s always been a fascination, maybe a preoccupation, the strange supernatural energy that precedes and occupies the Halloween season. Maybe it’s just the kid part of me that never grew up or maybe the magic of Halloween is the bridge that led me to a serious consideration of the supernatural. In any event event I’ve tried to imbue the stories of The Left Palm and Other Supernatural Tales with something more than just the spookiness of a good Halloween yarn but with a bit of an esoteric edge — hopefully a metaphysical nugget at the core just to make you think, just to make you mull the possibilities over a bit. So I’d like to walk you through a bit of the genesis of this collection of stories.
Wolves
“To think of shadows is a serious thing” - Victor Hugo
“Wolves” is an intriguing piece that I wrote during a rather chaotic time of my own life. The very title itself is meant to be be layered and complicated. The story was not ever about one wolf, the werewolf Christian Amont, but rather about more than one. I wanted to consider the idea of what becomes of someone who considers their quest righteous but then allows their methods to become corrupt. As the old saying goes “the path to hell is paved by good intentions.” The hope is that this story is as much about the shadows in people, all people as about the light.
Emma Fallon
“The final mystery is oneself” - Oscar Wilde
I was walking, actually taking pictures one day in the Lafayette Cemetery when I did truly stumble across a grave with the name Emma Fallon on it. If you remember this cemetery, it is the one Anne Rice made famous in her vampire Lestat books. But the name was there and it intrigued and sort of beckoned me so that I began to write the story of Emma Fallon. I see her clearly as a woman lost in an emotional and psychological sense feeling truly as though she doesn’t quite fit into her life. Then of course in a most dramatic way she finds she is quite right. I think the subliminal message of this story is not to neglect your instincts, your feelings, the subtle voices that pull us through life. The ones that ultimately may lead us to discover who we truly are.
The Soul Shredder
“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible” - Jonathan Swift
“The Soul Shredder” is one of the darker pieces in this collection and yet I think in many ways the most relevant. I don’t think there is a person who has not questioned the fairness of things in the world. And yet there are many cultures comfortable with acknowledging the unseen and the karmic balance of the universe. “The Soul Shredder” is not really a story about retribution. It’s a story about cause and effect. It would indeed be an interesting world if we all embraced this concept as a truth.
Wildflowers
“Death is not extinguishing the light, it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come” - Rabindranath Tagore
What would a book of Halloween stories be without a ghost? But then the question is always whether or not Joseph truly is a ghost or something else entirely. When I was a child I heard my sick grandmother talking to people while she was half asleep. Some days later she passed on. Of course on explanation would be that she was caught up in some kind of delirium. Another would be that she was already seeing those who would take her over to the other side. I suppose it’s a question that could be debated but in my mind the answer is clear.
The Left Palm
“I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.”- Albert Einstein
I have a soft spot for fortune tellers. I know a few and I dabble in it myself. I remember thinking as a child how cool it would be to tell someone’s fortune. But as I got older and have done it a bit myself I’ve come to realize that it’s not at all like you think it will be. Not to say it’s not a fascinating thing to do, but it’s like many facets of life. usually not at all as you would envision it. “The Left Palm” boils down to one question. What price would you pay to live a truly good life? Something to consider for all of us perhaps.
Good spending time with you. And don’t forget to have a lovely Halloween.
Evelyn Klebert
The Left Palm
Esoteric Fiction/Paranormal 6×9 Softcover
Retail Price: $14.95
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