Stella Maris is the sequel to my recently published novel What the Hell Ever Happened to Yuri Rozhenko?, available now on Amazon.com.

Stella Maris is slated to be released this summer. This is the very first scene, the opening of the book.

    She could see his faint outline in the shadows, as the beast crouched down. She could only see him because she already knew he was going to be there, waiting for her.
    His eyes were a dead giveaway. The faint glint in his narrowing eyes that almost anyone else would have missed betrayed him.
    He crouched further as she approached, tensing his limbs as she got closer.
    Suddenly another leaped out from its own shadow, bounding towards her.
    “Mrowr-owr!”
    Poking his nose into the air, he swiveled his head around and waited for Skye’s hand. Her neighbor’s calico cat was almost always there to greet her when she came home.
    “What’s up Iggy,” said Skye as he scratched his cheek.
    As Iggy purred, she looked at large and wide orange tabby who was still sitting near his owner’s apartment, having placed himself in his traditional spot, in between two large potted plants. She assumed he was getting used to her, because he normally would have run off by now. Instead, he was holding his ground as he watched her with flattened ears.
    “Whattaya say Ig? Think Tigger will let me pet him someday?”
    “Come on Tigger! Say hi to Skye.”
    Jolene had come out of her apartment. She was waving at the large orange cat, trying to get him out of his crouch.
    “I still can’t figure him out,” said Jolene as she stood up with her hands on her hips. “He likes some people but not others.”
    “At least he’s not snowy. Hang on a sec.”
    Skye went into her apartment to put down her backpack. Iggy followed her inside her place, walking circles around her living room and meowing at her for attention.
    Skye came back out onto the landing, followed by Iggy.
    “Tigger, come out and say hello to Skye,” said Jolene as she leaned down to talk to the still scrunched up orange tabby.
    “He’s not going to come out,” said Skye as the small white and gray cat Danny Boy came running out of Jolene’s apartment and up to Skye.
    Jolene knelt on the landing and scratched Tigger on the top of his head while Tigger continued to glare at Skye. “He’s just being stubborn. Someday he’ll warm up to you. Someday he’ll walk up to you and meow.”
    Skye shook her head. “Ain’t gonna happen Jolene. I’m more likely to make friends with Snowy.”
    Skye was always amused at the contrast between herself and Jolene. Jolene was always a splash of color while Skye was perpetually dressed in all-black clothes. Jolene always wore one of her colorful rainbow knit caps, all of her caps patterns of various bright colors. Today she was wearing a forest green shirt made of rough cloth with an orange vest stitched with intricate patterns. Her long skirt was made of patchwork red and pink pieces of various kinds of cloth, all haphazardly stitched together. Skye assumed that Jolene made her own clothes.
    “I’m going up to the Holy Ferret Ranch this weekend for a few days, up by the Russian River,” said Jolene.
    “Gotcha. I can watch the cats.”
    “Can you come by around dinner time in an hour and I can show you everything?”
    “No prob.”
    Skye went back into her place, followed by Iggy who made himself at home, as usual.
    Skye already knew the routine for feeding and caring for Jolene’s cats, but Jolene always insisted on reminding Skye of everything, every time she asked her to watch her five cats.

    Jolene was her only neighbor. Skye and Jolene lived in similar one bedroom apartments above a set of stores, one antique store and another store that sold artistic trinkets and high-end clothing.
    The shops and their apartments were on the always busy main street of San Pablo in North Berkeley, but Skye felt quite safe and cozy in her place. In order to get to her apartment she had to go into the parking lot by the side of the stores, go through one gate that led to a thin alleyway in the back of the stores, and then open a second gate to get to the stairwell that led up to the two decently sized apartments. The properties were so well walled off that Jolene felt safe enough to let her cats wander around on the landing.
    Skye could not believe her luck when her coworker Chelsea clued her in on the place several years ago. The building’s owner had not bothered to raise the rent for years, possibly even more than a decade. Her rent was so low she was embarrassed to tell anyone how much she paid.
    Skye put down her backpack as she saw Iggy’s raised tail moving around her kitchen. She sat down in at her computer desk and took out her cell phone to check for texts and messages. Skye flinched when Rosie, Jolene’s the small gray cat, jumped in her lap.
    She had not seen Rosie come into her apartment.