About the author of CHALK WHITE FEAR

I was born in Tucson, Arizona and moved to East Texas with my parents at the age of three.  After attending high school and having my family, I attended a community college in Dallas County, Texas.  I raised my family east of Dallas County and moved to Central Texas in 2002.

I gave birth to four wonderful children.  I am the proud grandparent of nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Through my children, I learned to be a parent. I learned to accept love.  Through my youngest child, I learned patience and love without conditions.  Through life experiences, I found a faith uniquely mine.  My life is not loaded with initials, labels and accomplishments. For me, each day is new, unique, and stands on its own.  

Writing has been a lifetime hobby.  I have written many poems and short stories.  I finally decided to put my dream of writing a book into action, and CHALK WHITE FEAR came naturally into being.

Description of CHALK WHITE FEAR

A helpless and frightened little girl faces many threatening events.  She is sharing her bedroom with snakes every night with her only escape route being a room occupied by something worse, her abuser.  Outside her window offers the terrifying tree that she watches each night as the dead bodies swing, and she cannot close her ears to the screams of their unforgotten terrors.  Even if she could make it past the tree, she would have to deal with the strangely dressed men and women who wander through the woods and occasionally into her line of vision. Sally’s two greatest fears are of the tree outside her window and her abuser.

A point in time comes and she breaks.  She cannot endure her situation any longer.  Trapped, she cannot leave.  The happenings of Sally’s childhood ultimately cause her personality to split in order to survive.  As a split personality, Sally is stronger, yet horrifying events follow horrifying events.  The only source of kindness for Sally is her father, who finally succumbs and joins the taunting cruelties of her abuser.

Sally grows into a smart and strong teenager who eventually escapes her tormentors. She begins walking and walks until she collapses on the side of the road. An older couple picks her up and takes her straight to the hospital. When she wakes she does not know who or where she is.  Her new life begins as Saullie, and she lives normally for a few years.  Then by chance, she finds herself drawn back into the horrors of her youth. 

Saullie (Sally) barely survives again.  There is second breakdown for Saullie and then a time of peace.  Parts of her past come back.  Events pass and then it looks like it may be the end for Saullie and her family. 

 

About the author & comments

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Author Linda Bryant Richardson opens her writing career with Chalk White Fear, a suspenseful drama in which a young girl, Sally, is kidnapped by a serial killer. Sally was a happy, chubby toddler before her loving grandmother was murdered and she was stolen away to be a companion to the killer's daughter. Raised by such a spiteful and erratic woman who would fly into a rage for no reason and treated as a pet by her pseudo-sister who took pleasure in seeing her punished, the young girl struggled to merely survive her childhood. She feared mornings. Inevitably her 'mother' would find some fault to hurt her throughout the day. She feared the nights. Living in a cruel world, each mystery in the darkness was another terror. Her only safe haven was escape, from the house, from the world, from herself.

A smooth read, Chalk White Fear captures the audiences' focus and keeps each person captivated until the end.  "The book is clean, no bad words or sex, but keep(s) you on the edge of your chair, wondering what (is) going to happen next. I could hardly lay it down," Virginia Belk said on Facebook after reading Richardson's novel. "What I liked most about the book (is that it) was so easy to read."  Richardson began this story ten years ago with one paragraph on a floppy disk. She is finally achieving her dream of publishing Chalk White Fear through self-publishing with Xlibris. A signed copy of Chalk White Fear can be ordered directly from the author:       lindabryantrichardson@yahoo.com

Chalk White Fear is also available through   http://bookstore.xlibris.com   

                  

I dreamed of writing a book.

                                                                                                                                                                  I dreamed of writing a book.  One day, I sat down at the computer and began to write.  It seemed as if the words and characters were waiting, knowing that someday I would put them on paper.  I have finished the book.  You see, I dreamed of writing a book, and did not put any thought as to what should happen next.  Friends and family have encouraged me have Chalk White Fear published. 

CHALK WHITE FEAR is approximately 70,895 words and 215 pages. It is a fictional suspense novel set in an area similar to Southern United States.

The key character of CHALK WHITE FEAR is a little girl called Sally.  The story opens with Sally trying to decide how to escape.  Should she flee her room where the snakes crawl all over the floor and walls, chancing the wrath of her abuser?  Should she crawl out her window and run past the dark, mysterious tree where she watches the bodies swing every night? 

Sally is a smart child who does not know or remember how she came to be in the old house with two front rooms.  She is terrified and level headed at the same time.  Sally has to face so many horrors that thinking fast has become second nature.  When thinking fast does not seem to be working anymore, Sally finds an incredible way to deal with the three powers that are trying to consume her.                                                                                         

I've always dreamed of writing this book.  The characters have been with me so long that it has been hard to write in past tense.  Many times, it has been as if I am sitting in the room with my characters and writing first hand. 

           

Sincerely,

Linda Richardson