Marcia stopped at the autographed books bin in the used book store. There was a book the manager had featured, Pseudo-names, by Stephen Andrews. There were actual true accounts of stolen properties, and inside, an inscription by the author: “This is not a joke. I have been kidnapped.”
At first, Marcia chuckled because of its audacity. She checked to see when it was published, 2021. Well, she thought, that fella’s fate had probably been decided five years ago, or maybe it had been a hoax, which seemed more likely. However, it was his only published work. Hmmm.
Strange situations interested her. Curious, she sat down in a chair in the store, looked through the book and made some inquiries on her cell phone: Were there repercussions after he was published? Was there another book in the works? There are lots of sites with author info. Maybe the kidnapping claim had been a “hook” to entice the reader.
Suddenly she went back over to the “S”es. She had seen a book by an Andrew Stephens titled, First Come, First Published, published 2020. She looked through it, then approached the young manager and held up the two books, handing him the one by Stephen Andrews, and said, “Are you, by any chance, Stephen Andrews?”
He smiled. “Yes, and thanks for noticing!” He pointed to the second book, “And he was a college friend. Used a pen name. Stole my stories.”
“Well, write some more,” Marcia said, smiling. “Steal his thunder! And hang tough!”