Aretha, the Queen of Soul

Aretha Franklin, regarded by many as the Queen of Soul, passed away on August 16th at the age of 76. (Strangely enough, she died on the same day as the King of Rock Elvis Presley passed 41 years ago.)

Honey’s Kitten

I rode into the driveway on my bike one sunny day and saw her playing with it under the sassafras tree in our backyard. It was a tiny black thing with white paws and its face was half white. There was a pink collar around its neck, so according to Honey that means she is a girl and her name is Mimi.

“It sounds like Mommy,” she said as I crouched down next to her. The cat purred at Honey’s touch, turning in slow circles. My nose itched. “Honey, it—she—” I sneezed, “belongs to someone. That’s what the collar means.” But as the summer went on and grew hot the darn thing kept coming back. Honey begged Dad to buy some cat food for it, and one day he caved in and came home with a yellow bag of kitten chow. Honey took it and stumbled outside to the sassafras where Mimi was rolling around. She set the bag down next to the cat and then ran back inside to get a bowl and milk, her short legs pumping.

Boxes

A twenty year old log cabin sits atop a hill in the countryside. A field of cornflower is nestled across the street from the house. In the twilight breeze, the flowers waver and whisper good-nights to the occasional eagle or bat that soar above it. A bat twirls and flits into a tree that stands tall in the front lawn of the cabin. The ground is snowy with dandelions.

The front door is occupied with boxes. Empty boxes. So is the living room, the kitchen, and the bedroom. The only area not overpopulated is the dining room where a single box, the only full one, of old china sits, waiting to be secured in the glass cabinet beside it.

How A.J Finn’s novel became a success

The fiction thriller The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (pseudonym for Daniel Mallory) has already become popular in its short time on the shelves. It’s mysterious black and blue striped cover already populates book lovers’ Instagram and Twitter feeds. According to Lynn Neary, a writer for the National Public Radio, in her article “The Woman in the Window”, “hits number one on the New York Times bestseller list in its first week on the market” (NPR). Everyone is enjoying this exciting new read.

Author Daniel Mallory a.k.a AJ Finn.

So what are the reasons that this novel, and its author, have already become so famous?