The Homewrecker Series ™

Brenda Chiatovich:
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I created the concept of The Homewrecker series. A girl who has lived such a privileged life she does not even realize she is privileged. Now she must adjust to a world she does not understand and she has to face herself in the process.

Tiffany Chiatovich Melendez:
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Hello. I am Brenda’s daughter. When my grand pop and my mom were deciding on a name for LC’s arch nemesis they chose one of my nicknames, Peaches.
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In the second novel I appear again, this time as Sara, another of my nicknames.
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Sara is a fun character based loosely on my personality. Please, it is NOT biographical in any way. This is, after all, a work of fiction.

Michael Berryman:
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I am The Old Guy in the family. Brenda’s dad, Tiffany’s grand pop.
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We all play our parts in this project.

Hello, Michael here. 

We have reached the end of the first novel. You may wonder, and we have debated, what happens now?

Up until recently I have been a proponent of the traditional form of publishing. 
This is where you submit your manuscript directly to a publisher of hardback, paperback, or to an agent who submits it for you. 

The only alternative was to pay to have your books published through what is known as a vanity publisher. They charged you to print copies of your book.  Then they charged shipping to send them to you. Which meant you were left with a basement full of books you had to figure out how to get rid of. 

I have always been of the opinion that money flows to the author. Never from the author. When it flows from the author you are trapped in a scam.

I am still of that opinion. 

Times change. Technology changes. 

One of the drawbacks to traditional publishing was that some of the best books in the world never found a publisher and were left unrecognized until long after the author’s death — If even then.

Now days there are places on the net where you can publish your book. Where it can be enjoyed by one person or thousands. The best part? You are guaranteed publication and it does not cost you a dime. Not only that the money flows to the author when people buy your book. The cyber publisher collects their commission at the same time. All you have to do is to follow the guidelines and upload to the publisher you choose.

Which brings us to choice. 

I have chosen to publish Brenda’s series, and any other projects I am involved with, through Smashwords – Ebooks from independent authors and publishers 

There are many reasons why I made this choice. I will only discuss the one I know many writers might tend to disagree with. 

Mark Coker the founder of Smashwords decided not to concern himself with copy protection to keep people from stealing your book and reading it for free. And I agree with him. Here is why: Had I not been able, as a child, to have had access to books that were free, or nearly free, I would not have had anything to read. We were poor. Books were only a tenth what they cost now and we still could not have afforded them.

I know that today there are many dedicated fans of Steven King who cannot afford his books off the shelves. They have waited patiently and bought them at yard-sales where they have never paid over a dollar for them. A dollar of which Steven King never saw a penny. 

Yet Steven King is not starving because of it.

Why? 

Because the people who CAN afford to buy his books are doing so. 

I know there is some other kid out there. Just like me. Wants to read a book and doesn’t have a dime. And I don’t want to slow that kid down. 

Copyright 2016, All Rights Reserved.

Brenda Chiatovich:
Now you know one reason my daughter’s picture is here. But wait, there is more.

Tiffany Chiatovich Melendez:
So, did you guess? My Mom and my Grand Pop wanted the perfect name for the bad girl in this story. So they picked one of my nick-names, Peaches.
Oh, yes. I have other nick-names, but one will do for now.

LC woke up, rested. She felt the whole world was ahead of her. She could go back to her normal life. Put all of this behind her. It would just be a memory. A tale to awe her grandchildren with some time in the future. It was the first relaxed minute she had since being arrested at the airport for the murder of a man she didn’t know and only met once.

There were no police in the room. For being in a hospital it was a quiet, normal day.

She asked for a newspaper and it was quickly delivered.

Smiling, she opened it. She expected to find a story on the front page declaring her innocent of all charges. She expected to see Peaches Pardot’s name in big black letters as hers had once been when she was a suspect.

What she saw was the headline:

HOME WRECKER NO LONGER A SUSPECT

The story followed.

Lindsey Carol Davenport, the home wrecker who allegedly was having affairs with several men including William Pardot and Peter Johnson, his best friend, who was recently murdered, was declared no longer a person of interest in the case, police announced this morning.

There was no mention of Peaches Pardot. No mention of any other, or new, suspects. No mention of why she was no longer a suspect.

LC gazed at the paper.

Peter Johnson was a professional blackmailer. William Pardot was a full-time adulterer who had been “engaged” to a string of women, including her. On the side he was an industrial spy. His wife was an embezzler and his daughter was a murderer. But the newspaper passed over all of that as though it were nothing. It concentrated on LC and her reputation.

“And I’m… I’m a home wrecker.”

LC looked at herself in the mirror. “What kind of a future is that?”

This concludes the first novel in The Homewrecker Series.

(C) 2016 All Rights Reserved