Author: Jo-Anne Teal

I'm a writer who is particularly interested in telling stories of the hidden, the hurt, the silent, the unheard.

The Endgame: release date and pre-order links

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 1 Comment

I have enjoyed Chris James’s writing for many years. The Repulse series has been his BEST yet!! Can’t wait for the next installment – The Endgame. I’ve pre-purchased my copy already!!

Chris James's blog

The completion of a new novel leads to a lot of what I call “book admin”. The first and most important issue is the cover. The cover for The Endgame didn’t take long because I had it visualised in my head for some time while writing it, so I only had to play around for a few hours to create it. But in addition to that, all other aspects of my online presence need work. So, I have to update my biography for my website and Amazon, add the new cover to my header images and replace them on all social media platforms, and then let all of you know that the next book is on the way.

The Repulse Chronicles, Book Four: The Endgame will be published on Amazon’s Kindle on 30 May. The paperback will likely be available a few days before then. As regular readers will know…

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There was a day

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 5 Comments

There was a day when I was twelve.

I sat upon a purple blanket, on the green field beside the park’s baseball diamond.

The sun blazed hot.

My bare toes searched through cool blades of June grass.

I had no cares except everything.

Happiness.

***

44 word quadrille for this week’s d’Verse prompt: happiness

Amber

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 10 Comments

His arm outstretched on the bar top so long

Defining wood grain has marked his skin with deep welts, lines,

Semi-permanent tattoos, depicting the aching magnetism

Of old fashioned, warm amber, honeyed,

Pain relief. Waiting.

Just beyond his fingertips, though never beyond his grasp.

d’Verse quadrille (44 word poem) prompt: magnetic (in any form)

Brambles

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 38 Comments

Before our worlds unraveled, then knotted,

Before life pulled our friendship apart,

Untethered our hearts, then shattered,

Do you remember,

Our laughter and blue stained fingers,

Our common goal, our only enemy,

The laden branches and brambles,

At the edge of your grandma’s garden?

44 words for this week’s Quadrille on d’Verse Poet’s Pub. The prompt: brambles.

Decrescendo

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 12 Comments

Our voices smash against barren bedroom walls.

Questions, pleas, crash down upon the hallway floor

As we pass each other wordlessly.

The possible in life seems unlikely to us now.  

We hear only the faintest, constant, drum beat,

And it metes out our days.

44 words for d’Verse quadrille.

Get back up

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 10 Comments

Slid-sideways on marble, fell-tumbled at market

Sucking lemons is better than swallowing bitter pills.

No sleeve’s wide enough to wear that bloody heart.

Pouring sorrows over arching muddles

Like rain flooding gigantic puddles.

Silly isn’t it to waste a day being

bucolic,

melancholic,

alcoholic.

Descending up

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 5 Comments

Disappointments descend, flutter, circle down, surrounding me

Like autumnal crimson leaves fall to rest at the base of a maple tree

Like layers of discarded, crumbling leaves, covering me up

Like last night’s blankets and denied possibilities

Like last night’s dreams

Disappear      

Like me.

44 words for this week’s d’Verse quadrille prompt: up