I love the voice in the book, and what a perfect title!

Oh Good Now This by Susan Merson released February 1 in the Women’s fiction genre.

Starting over is hard enough but when ghosts decide to hitch a ride into the future—things can get complicated. Widowed Vivi leaves California for a new start back east landing in a college town near her old friend Vikram, now the local ‘spiritual’ leader and disappointing lover. But the two have old business which leads them to uncovering the ghosts they conjured long before and the ones that are haunting them now.  Vivi reclaims her life, — with the help of a couple different dimensions– saying hi to the ghosts who choose to hang around, and growing a new garden and a new life.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/…/oh-good-now…/1138532579

https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1546617489

They climb into Vikram’s old Saab. The dope has worn off but the sugar high has not. Vikram reaches into his pocket. He brings out a little statue of an Indian god and goddess. He hands it to Vivi.

“A wedding present.”

“Gosh, this guy has four arms.”

“Yes,” Vikram says. “Doesn’t she look happy?”

Vivi blushes. “Never mind,” she says.

Vikram slides his arm along the top of the seat and pulls her close. Vivi isn’t sure.

“Don’t worry. It’s freezing.  We can keep each other warm.”

Viv slides closer and feels the warmth of his body. She snuggles in. He is so tall and it feels good to be smaller than, to be surrounded by.

“Jake is shorter than you,” she says. “I’m not used to being surrounded.”

“The more to keep you safer, my dear.” Vikram says with a soft smile.

“So, tell me about this. Who are these guys?” She is referring to the small statue.

 “It’s the perfect wedding gift. Vishnu and Lakshmi are devoted to each other. She is the goddess of prosperity, purity and generosity. The embodiment of beauty, grace and feminine charm.”

“Just like me,” says Vivi.

“Just like you,” he echoes.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Susan Merson began her career as an actress on and off Broadway, in television and film. Co-founding the LA Writers Bloc in 1985 with award winning writer Jane Anderson, she has mentored writers through the Bloc and through her private and university classes in Playwriting, Life Stories, Writing as a Spiritual Practice, Tarot for Writers and the popular VOICING Series. Her short fiction has been featured in The Jew in America, Nice Jewish Girls (Penguin), The Worcester Review, the Chicken Soup series and several other online platforms.  As a playwright, her award-winning plays have been performed internationally, including her 8 solo plays featured and used as example in YOUT NAME HERE: An Actor Writers Guide to Solo Performance. (Amazon). Long form fiction available on Amazon is her award-winning blog, WHEN THEY GO AND YOU DO NOT and her first novel DREAMING IN DAYLIGHT.  OH GOOD NOW THIS, her newest novel launches 12/1/21. She is a tarot reader and counselor, a maker of quilts, clothing and whimsy.  Susan is a humble mother and a proud resident of New York City. http://www.susanmerson.com

DISAPPOINTING LOVERS DON’T ALWAYS GET TO WIN

by Susan Merson

Ah! Disappointing lovers abound, yes? I mean, if we’ve been around awhile, we all figure out that no matter what misty fantasies we may swaddle even our best pals and most passionate lovers within… they are all just people in the end. A disappointment along the road to personhood.

If I’m feeling terribly mature and in my own power, I forgive most everyone – even those lovers who I believed in and who turned out to run away at the time they were most needed.

In my book, OH GOOD NOW THIS, Vivi moves back East after her husband dies, to see if she can find some balance and a deep connection with her old best friend, her old lover. She thought Vikram might have something more to offer her than her husband, Jake. She and Jake had lost touch with each other, and with their own dreams. In Vikram, she thought she had a friend, a lover, who would be willing to stay the course. Someone she could count on. Alas, he turns tail and runs.

To give him his due, he does what he can to bless their many pasts together but in the end, Vivi is on her own. As we all are, of course. And so, this disappointment is yet another opportunity for her to take hold of herself and live her life as her own.

What Vivi discovers though, as I believe we all do, is that those that we have loved and lost, have wounded or lifted us up, stay with us along the journey. They are there in our dreams, in the dropped reference to sacred secrets by complete strangers, they are with us as the sculptors of our fate. We have to come to terms with them. Ghosts don’t always haunt us. Sometimes they are our witnesses and best teachers. They keep showing up.

One of the most comforting things I have come to in the last few years is that I don’t have to relinquish the love I have felt for those in my life who I desperately wanted, but were not mine to have. I decided that the feeling of love and joy and completion that I felt with those people is still mine even if there is no one to receive it. Love is love. It feeds me in the giving of it and changes me in the holding of it. I still get to hold and live in the grace of having felt love within me and had a chance to share. Even if I can’t share it now. It’s still mine. I get to feel all the goodness of that love and the fact that it is not returned does not leave me totally bereft. It leaves me privately wise and full and changed. That’s where I count my blessings.

SUSAN MERSON AUTHOR:  https://www.facebook.com/susanmersonauthor

WEBSITE: http://www.susanmerson.com

The author has also done a series of five videos regarding the use of Tarot for writers (for more information, visit her website):

1: Author/ teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/ Amazon) explores Tarot to jump start your writing. TAROT FOR WRITERS #1:  INTRODUCTION

An introduction to using your own intuitive powers to tap into the resonance of Tarot images, packed with archetypes and symbols, to jumpstart inspiration for your artistic projects.

**CORRECTION: The Raziel Tarot Deck is designed by artist Robert Place with commentary by Rachel Pollack. https://youtu.be/LGONsfOayJg

2: Author/teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/Amazon), explores TAROT cards to jumpstart your writing, TAROT FOR WRITERS #2: LANDSCAPE

 Explore the landscape of story. Entering the world of the card offers visceral clues to the landscape of your writing. https://youtu.be/Mwq9x-I9oQE

3: Author/ teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/ Amazon) explores  TAROT cards to jump start your writing. TAROT FOR WRITERS #3: CHARACTER.

A brief exploration of character and how to find their first basic journey. Look deeply at the character clues in the cards and throw three cards to begin their adventure. https://youtu.be/CuovTNQ5ztk

4: Author/teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/AMAZON) explores TAROT cards to jump start your writing. TAROT FOR WRITERS #4:  WHAT STORY SHOULD I WRITE TODAY

On pulling cards to intuitively discover the story, the genre, the themes and the major turning points of a new story. https://youtu.be/eHm0mVSNaPo

5: Author/teacher Susan Merson (OH GOOD NOW THIS/AMAZON) explores TAROT to jumpstart your writing. TAROT FOR WRITERS/ #5 TIMELINES AND DEEPER DIVE INTO RELATIONSHIPS

 Timelines and going deeper into relationships with pro and antagonists. The more cards you draw the more information you can gather. https://youtu.be/EClPq0e-H70

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This post is part of a Tour. The tour dates can be found here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2021/01/name-before-masses-oh-good-now-this-by.html 

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

• $25 Amazon/BN GC

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3647

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http://www.goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com