Standing The Gap
Several years ago, I took the NaNoWriMo challenge. November is National Novel Writing Month. Thirty days-fifty Thousand words. Long story short, I accomplished the task only because of writing what I knew. What did I know?
I’ve been surrounded by blue uniforms, okay, sometimes black, for forty years. Some with stripes, some without. Some have helmets, and some don’t. But all have one thing in common. They willingly give of themselves twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year. Leave the family gatherings on holidays. Snow, ice, temperatures either too hot or too cold. They protect, rescue, and often pick up the pieces of someone’s life.
Early in the 1980s, I began my First Responder life as a professional and volunteer Emergency Medical Technician. One of my strongest memories is responding to a call in my coverage area. My partner and I were the only all-female crew at the time. The tones went off, and so did we. A short while later, a simple unconscious male became a potentially violent situation. The man woke, and people from all the housing around us came out and egged him on to strike out at us. My partner got rolled by him, but I was able to radio for help. Let me tell you, I was never so happy to see red lights and blue uniforms.
First Responders, from EMTs to Firefighters and Law Enforcement, have a special bond. When things go south as they often do, we count on each other to protect, minister, and save each other from tricky situations.
One of my long-term positions was as an EMT in an NJ State Prison. In 1994 I married a Correction Officer and volunteer Firefighter. Now we’re both retired.
My first book Rock House Grill was the fifty-thousand-word novel I alluded to above. It’s considered romantic suspense and has, you guessed it, EMTs, paramedics, and police. The second book now under contract is titled Jazz House. Police Officer Michael Machau is the main character.
Michael is a composite of so many officers in my life. He’s honorable, compassionate, and kind. He loves friends and family. He goes above and beyond to help his community. In today’s climate, so many believe the opposite. One evening, in a chat with other authors, another writer stated she was researching in a county jail. She said she was more afraid of the cops than the inmates. I called her out on it because if we don’t as a society hold people accountable for their reckless vernacular, they can influence others.
You know, not every cop is great. Neither is any EMT, Firefighter, or citizen. The fraction of a percent who are, unfortunately, are the ones we hear about. That’s what makes the news, news. Because the other ninety-nine percent are a Michael Machau. Honorable, compassionate, and kind.
Shh, I’m going to tell a secret. I know you. Most of you anyway. You love, care, and run to danger every day despite the world’s ugliness. You make a difference even when others don’t or refuse to see it. Through my writing, sorry but I’m going to out you, tell the world you all are big teddy bears. Many are grizzlies on the outside, but inside, where it counts? Koala bears.
Though I no longer respond to calls (I gave it up quite a few years ago), the blue uniform continues to be a constant in my life. My son is now a correction officer as well. Many of our friends still suit up every day. Hubby is a Life Member of the fire department and, until last year, still taught fire prevention in the local schools. Me? I tell stories about superheroes. Ones who don’t wear capes but uniforms. Who don’t leap tall buildings but rush into those buildings. Who when others are running from danger, run to it.
Thank you to all those who stand the gap. Protecting, serving, consoling, and keeping the rest of us from harm.
Blurb
Jordan Vasilakis is on the run, living under an assumed name. After a disastrous marriage to a notorious Greek business tycoon, she flees to the States and starts rebuilding her life. But her ruthless husband is determined to destroy her…once he finds her.
Michael Machau is drawn to the new singer at Jazz House restaurant, but the guarded woman is harboring dangerous secrets. The dedicated police officer may have to risk more than just his heart to forge a connection with the woman he knows as Madeline Cielo, especially when he discovers she’s living a lie.
Worlds collide. Lies entangle. Survival, much less love, is in question. They must quickly distinguish friends from enemies or risk losing everything—including a future together.
Short Excerpt
Jordan scrambled to the other side of the limo.
“You sing good tonight.” He scrolled through his phone.
“Yes, Kyrios.”
Outside the window, massive cruise ships docked in the port. Happy older people made their way up the gangplanks toting bags filled with souvenirs, while the younger ones debarked dressed for the nightlife. Sparkly sequins flashed like diamonds as one young woman twirled on the pier.
God, how had she come to this life? She willed her hovering tears not to fall. Kyrios wouldn’t approve.
When she was offered a place in the touring group ten years ago, she thought it was the beginning of great things. Standing in the cabaret with the lights shining down was her dream come true. When she was the woman in the sparkly dress.
Until he showed up.
Each night, Kyrios Vasilakis, Greek business tycoon, sat at the front table watching her. Yes, he was older but so very handsome. Dark hair with silver at the temples, he cut a dashing figure in his black suits.
Jordan began to sing to him. It was the beginning of the end. After a whirlwind romance, she found herself a prisoner in marriage to a brute.
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-House-Impact-Book-2-ebook/dp/B0B1Z2KKN8
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jazz-house-d-v-stone/1141502643
https://books.apple.com/us/book/jazz-house/id6442847677
Universal Link
https://books2read.com/u/mZQq0e
Author Bio
D. V. Stone is an award-winning, multi-genre, traditionally and independently published author. She writes books people want to read. Whether romance or fantasy, her stories are about the importance of friends and family. About overcoming obstacles while doing it with humor.
Around the Fire is a popular weekly blog where she introduces both established and new authors giving an insider’s look into their lives and books as well as tidbits about her own life.
After retiring, she is now a full-time author and incorporates her life experiences into her books.
A former Emergency Medical Technician, she volunteered in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At the same time, she worked as a professional EMT in a women’s state prison. She was the proprietor of a coffee shop, and a small restaurant/ice cream stand in the years that followed. The years following were as a manager in an animal emergency hospital, while her last position was in a human medical office.
When not behind the wheel of 2Hoots—a 41 foot long 13.2 feet high 5th Wheel camper, she rambles around town in Northern New Jersey in a white Camaro. She also loves travel and history.
D.V. is wife to an amazing husband, mother to one son, and not your average grandma to three beautiful grands. A woman of faith, she believes and trusts in God.
“My greatest pleasures are spending time outside with friends and family, cooking over the open fire, sipping a glass of wine, and reading.”
Hali, her rescue dog, always reminds her to let readers know, “Woof, woof.” Which is loosely translated as support your local animal rescue.
You can find out more about D. V. by following her on Social Media.
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