Meet Agent Ellen Jenkins

 Last Friday’s post introduced you to Emma Thomas, one of the protagonists in my latest novel, “Prior to Now”. Though Emma was born in 1838, the other two main characters in the book get to know her quite well. Today, you get to meet Ellen Jenkins, who was born around 1970. How did she become so close to Emma?

“I don’t believe it.” Michael leaned against the cement wall, arms crossed over his chest.

“I don’t either, but let’s wait for the other two.” Ellen looked towards the east end of the tunnel. They would each come to the meeting place from a different direction. The skills they had learned in training came in handy not only in avoiding detection from the enemy but also from their superiors. They’d been meeting in this abandoned tunnel a few blocks from headquarters for years.  

“So, the Rent-A-Spy-Agency has joined the ranks of fascism,” Sam opened with when he entered the tunnel a few minutes later.

“Apparently.”

“Let’s not start until Kimberly gets here.” Ellen watched the tunnel entrance from the west. The fourth member of their team, Kimberly, was always the last to join them, her route being the most circuitous. If anyone could avoid detection, it was the one on the team who was the most paranoid, the one they worried could crack at any time. But over the years, Kimberly had repeatedly proven that she could grit her teeth and do anything asked of her. Except this, Ellen thought to herself. 

“I don’t think she’s coming. I think this has her so freaked out that she has up and left the agency for good, probably left the country already.”

“Sam, we just left her at the office ten minutes ago.”

“We can’t –” Ellen began, but Michael cut her off.

“Here she comes.”

The shortest member of the team entered the tunnel and marched to where they stood. “Not doin’ it.”

“I think we’ve all agreed on that already.”

(From Chapter 2)

What has their employer asked these four agents to do? What is the real name of the Rent-A-Spy-Agency? Why is Kimberly so troubled? And is Ellen troubled as well? When will she learn about Emma, and what could they possibly have in common?

The e-version of “Prior to Now” is on sale on Amazon.com now. Hopefully, by early next week, the paperback version will be available as well. And by the first of the year, I’ll have copies of it in my hot little hands for you to buy directly from me. I’ll keep you posted.

Have a great weekend. Love, Chris 

I never mention any of the actual locations where this book takes place. But this picture is taken in the city where I imagine the team's headquarters could be. Can you guess where it is? 

Here's the link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/Prior-Now-Chris-Loehmer-Kincaid-ebook/dp/B0BN69YYRB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3V5HAAD439N37&keywords=prior+to+now+by+chris+loehmer+kincaid&qid=1671156867&sprefix=prior+to+now%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1

Chapter 1 from Prior to Now

  "Miss Thomas! Miss Thomas!"

Before even looking out the window, Emma knew it was Will and could picture him running across the schoolyard with his gangly stride, making a path in the snow. He was the only fourth grader in her one-room schoolhouse, but mentally he could barely keep up with the first graders. It wasn't unusual for him to be shouting to her from a distance for no obvious reason.

"Fire! Fire!" his already high-pitched voice reached her.

She spun from the blackboard to the pot-belly wood-burning stove sitting to one side of the room. She'd gotten there an hour earlier to start the fire and warm the building before her students arrived. Nothing looked amiss; the heat from the fire innocently wafted to the front of the room.   

"Fire! Fire, Miss Thomas!" other children's voices pealed through the yard.

She grabbed her wool coat from the back of her chair and hurried from the room.

Five of her nineteen students huddled outside, staring at the school's roof. Flames were licking the cedar shingles and spreading out from the chimney. Emma froze in fright, uncertain what to do, how to stop it. The Johnson brothers lived the closest.

"Fred and Richard, run home and tell your folks." They obediently turned and ran back to their parents' farmhouse a quarter mile away.

"What should we do?" Little Ruthie asked, her cheeks pink in the cold morning air.

"I don't know." Emma had never felt so useless.

Suddenly inspired, she dashed back into the building and grabbed the bell from just inside the door. She rang it as hard as her arm allowed as more children gathered, followed by their parents and neighbors. She rang the bell until the roof began to fall into the building, until the windows burst, spreading glass onto the snow, until nearly all of the area residents had gathered, even the aging former headmaster, Mr. Langton.

When he saw what had happened, he gently took the bell from her hand, shaking his head. Mrs. Brown pulled her into her arms, stroking the young teacher's cocoa-colored hair and whispering, "it will be all right, dear, it will be all right."

So begins my latest novel, “Prior to Now”.

What happens to Emma next? Will the town of Prior Gulch rebuild her one-room schoolhouse? Will we hear any more of the Johnson brothers?

Click on the link to download the e-version. I’m still working on formatting the paperback edition; it is always a long, frustrating process. I’m so thankful for my techy son’s help.

Oh, and in case you didn’t know, the picture above is of my grand-grandmother. She was never a school teacher, but I picture Emma looking somewhat like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Prior-Now-Chris-Loehmer-Kincaid-ebook/dp/B0BN69YYRB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=355F19TY8AH4P&keywords=prior+to+now+by+chris+loehmer+kincaid&qid=1670588849&sprefix=prior+to+now+by+chris+loehmer+kincaid%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-1

announcing . . . .

Do you ever read a novel and wonder where the author got all their ideas from? I know that I do. I want to get right inside that writer’s head. Maybe it’s because, as a writer, I feel that will help me come up with ideas, or maybe I’m just nuts.

For some reason, it reminds me of this quote from my sister Pat: Sometimes I wonder how come I turned out so weird, so different from everyone else. Maybe it’s because I’m left-handed and I think out of the other side of my brain. Or maybe I’m an alien and I think out of someone else’s brain. It’s probably from reading too many sci-fi books and eating ice cream and saltines for supper.

Except that I’m not left-handed. But I do use my computer mouse with my left hand, and I’m always a little – what’s the word – psyched when people ask if I’m left-handed. Coz that has always been one of my secret dreams. But I think out of the other side of the brain, the one that says I am indeed simply right-handed.

So never mind all of that. If you have ever completed and published a piece of work, you possibly realize why I am rambling so. This was supposed to be a big MY NOVEL IS PUBLISHED blog post, and I had lots of things I wanted to share with you. But instead, here I am talking like a sausage, as my mother would say.

Quickly, pictures, because they always help me reel it in. (I wonder on which side of the brain pictures reside.) I snapped all of these one Friday afternoon when I drove myself on a tour of multiple places in southeast Wisconsin which held significance to my book.

The Aztalan one-room schoolhouse just east of Lake Mills, Wisconsin, which graces the cover of my novel, “Prior to Now”.

At nearby Aztalan State Park. Looks like an interesting place. I didn’t have much time when I stopped there in September, because I had an appointment at the next place. 

Milton House Museum. Very fascinating and historic place. So glad I booked the tour that day.

Camp Randall Memorial Arch at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

The Confederate Rest graveyard at Forest Hill Cemetery in Wisconsin. Nearly forty years ago, when I attended the UW-Madison for one semester, I drove by this cemetery every day and never knew that this area was there and surely never thought I’d ever write about it.

So, there you have it. Not so much the stories behind the story, but at least the pictures behind the story. All of which were snapped after I finished writing the book. Because, once again, I think out of the alien’s side of my brain.

To wrap up, click on the link below and pre-order the e-version of “Prior to Now”. It will be available to read by December 5. Hopefully, I’ll have the print version available soon.

Thanks, Chris

https://www.amazon.com/Prior-Now-Chris-Loehmer-Kincaid-ebook/dp/B0BN69YYRB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38Y8NM9GUOARA&keywords=chris+loehmer+kincaid&qid=1669946780&sprefix=chris+loehmer+kincaid%2Caps%2C149&sr=8-1