| As noted here, I’m commenting daily on the WMG Holiday Spectacular—which is a great project that releases a story every day. These might be reviews. Or not. They might be interesting. Or … um … not. They will be fun, though. For me, at least. Here’s the next story. |
“A Pinewood Valley Homecoming”
Kelly Washington
Here’s something you can take to the bank: when you see “Kelly Washington” on a story byline, you know it’s going to be good. Or interesting. Or breathtaking. Or any one of a hundred other intriguing descriptors you can think of. She’s kind of a Swiss Army knife when it comes to fiction—remarkably capable of doing just about anything. She wrote a twisty SF piece in “Dissonance” some time back, a piece that I commented on in this blog. She also wrote “WWMVD,” which is a bit of a surreal send-up of things as we know them today. I read Pale Waters some time back—a dark fantasy that I can also recommend (be careful, though, Pale Waters is the first in a series of four novellas, you might find yourself getting them all).
You can get all of these for free right here.
“A Pinewood Valley Homecoming” is another genre, a straight-forward contemporary military romance in which Kelsey, after 25 years of service, is getting out and moving on. As the title suggests, she’s coming home. In this case, “home” is Pinewood Valley. As the first few lines will tell you “home” is also a sister and her family, and a past situation that drives the core of the story.
I think it would be hard not to like Kelsey in about anything—and to be honest, after reading the story (which is quite good on its own—especially if you’re a fan of the genre, but will keep you reading even if you’re not) I found myself wanting to know more about her past. There’s a hint about what the future might hold for her (or maybe more than a hint, of course), but I left also wondering about what she’d done. She worked in Military Intelligence for all those years, after all. There’s got to be a thriller or three in there somewhere. And then there’s that future in politics, all while keeping the family ties together.
Yes, indeed, Kelsey is a well-drawn character. Dan, too, for that matter. I could read more about them. That’s a problem with reading Kelly Washington’s stories. They are all good, and they all end with you wanting more.
And, yes, Kelly, if you’re listening, I still want to see EchoDarling running wild!