People of the World: Spotlight Interview 

What is your name? 

Jennifer Caress 

Where are you from? 

I’m from Colorado 

What is your profession and educational background? 

I am a horror writer, with an associate’s degree in business, currently working on my bachelors.  

What is your mission? 

It is my mission to seek out new life, to explore new worlds, and to boldly go where no one has gone before.  

What are your long range and short range goals and objectives? 

My long range and short range goals are very similar: write great books and have people read them. I’d also like to form my own country where I could be the dictator. Don’t worry, I’d be a very nice dictator; warm and caring, concerned with all of my people’s well-beings, etc.  

How do you plan to accomplish your goals? 

Mind control, mostly. I’ve also built a robot that will bully people until I get my way. I hate to brag, but it’s a pretty solid plan.  

What do you see yourself doing five years from now? Ten years from now? 

Five years from now I see myself on the New York Times best seller list for the third or fourth time and the leader of an established cult. Ten years from now I will be crying into a news camera claiming that I was brain washed and would never knowingly join a cult, even though it’s only name was “The Cult”, and still on the New York Times best seller list.  

How do you determine or evaluate success? 

Success is measured by happiness and by achieving goals….and by the authorities not having enough evidence to press charges. I think that one needs to be determined but realistic. Maybe you didn’t sell a lot of books but you were able to meet a lot of great contacts. That is success. 

Maybe I still have to beg people to pay attention to my work, but I laugh at least once a day, so I can’t complain. 

If I move forward more than I move back, then I consider that a success.  

What inspires you? 

Silence inspires me. Darkness inspires me. Turn off all the lights and shut off anything that makes noise. There are so many things lurking in the dark that are just waiting for an audience. Some of them are internal and some are external, all of them are inspirational.  

What is your opinion of the world today? 

The world is now what it always has been: a fluctuating mass of good, bad, and indifferent. The entire world and all of her inhabitants are constantly in motion because we have to be, we have no choice. Of course I wish things were better, safer, and less smelly. But I don’t possess the power to control anything more than myself, so I do the best I can. 

What is your contribution to society? 

I contribute manners. That probably sounds small until you go shopping and are surrounded by people who feel they are too entitled to use manners, and then a polite person becomes a beckon in the chaos.  

What is your idea of happiness? 

Kraft macaroni and cheese.  

Are you doing what you really want to do in life? 

Sometimes, but not always. I want to be a writer so I write, but I want readers and that is where I don’t always get what I want. That is also the part where actual work comes in. I don’t mind…well, not always.  

What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses? 

I’m fairly good at problem solving, philosophy, and communicating. I’m weakest when it comes to even the slightest bit of emotional stability or sanity.  

How would a good friend describe you? 

“Jennifer? Jennifer who?” 

What makes you laugh? 

I like dark humor, sarcasm: Monty Python, Venture Bros., Mystery Science Theater 3000; those types of shows never fail to make me laugh. 

Are religious or spiritual beliefs a vital part of your life? 

Oh sure. I walked away from mainstream religion a long time ago and found the path that was exactly right for me. I take great pleasure in walking that path. 

Are you excited about the Presidential race this year? 

I am both excited and relieved that Bush’s reign of terror is finally coming to an end. He did his very best to destroy this country and he did it all in the name of money. The next president will have a lot of healing work to do, and I have a feeling it will take many, many years before we recover from these past 8 years. Is there anything else that you would like readers to know about you? 
I’m an Aries who loves puppies and kittens and long walks, and most importantly I am willing to be best friends with anybody who reads my novels. Which reminds me: Perverted Realities was released in 2005 and Dragging Wings comes out in October 2008.  
Thanks for this opportunity—it has been a real pleasure.

A Second Chance 

By P.S.Gifford 
 

Mr. Philips looked despondently at his beloved Border terrier as he carried him in his arms from the taxi to the vet's office door. That morning the inevitable had finally happened -his beloved companion's legs had finally given up.  
As he scratched his best friends head affectionately tears welled up in his eyes.  
“We have had fifteen years old boy, you can't expect anymore than that. You have been the dearest companion a man could ask for. After Mildred died I had no-one, after twenty six years of marriage and not having any children I was all alone in the world. When Charlotte from next door brought you round, I told her I did not want a dog, that they were too much trouble and that I was quite content reliving my life's memories by myself. Then I looked into your eyes old boy and I saw something so very extraordinary and captivating in them. That was fifteen years ago, and I don't regret a single moment of It-you gave me a second chance at love you did”  
The vet glumly examined the terrier and then Mr. Philips forlorn face as he spoke in a mellifluous voice.  
“Did you consider all we discussed last week Mr. Philips? We both knew that this day was coming and it truly is the best and kindest thing we can do you know, for the both of you.”  
With that Mr. Philips nodded and laid his beloved pet onto the shiny stainless steel table, by now he was desperately fighting back the compulsion to completely break down and weep, yet he wanted to remain strong. As he softly scratched the nose his closest companion for the very last time he sang in a whispered voice.  
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…” As he sang the little terrier looked up lovingly at his master and despite evident discomfort managed to wag his tail.  
As he finished the song he paused for a few moments. 
“Goodbye,” he eventually said and with that he took a deep breath, and somberly left the surgery silently closing the door behind him.  
He decided he was going to walk the two miles home, to ponder his emotions and so he set off into the cool afternoon. Every step he took, he encountered places and sights that brought memories rushing back. He smiled as he looked at the fire hydrant, the one he used to always like to raise his leg up on. He shook his head at the butchers shop, as he remembered the day he ate the sausages he had brought from there without him even realizing till they were almost gone. The park however was by far the worst, as this was there very special place; this is where they had visited practically every day for the last fifteen years. At first they had both excitedly chased and raced together playing with balls or Frisbees, but as the years gradually slipped by, they became far more contented to simply while away the time sitting on the bench gently absorbing all the wonderful sights and smells.  
Eventually he arrived home to his now silent house. Sullenly he hung the well worn leather leash and collar into his hall closet then he sat in his favorite chair, the one they always used to share, and wept.  
                                                 *** 
Ten weeks later the phone rang early one morning. As he picked it up he was excited to hear the vet's voice which was far more cheerful than the last time they had spoke. “I am delighted to tell you that we have some wonderful news! The cloning was a complete and total success Mr. Philips, your terrier was the perfect specimen, and right now I am staring at a healthy young puppy identical in virtually every way to your old dog Chance. He even cocks his head to the left in the same curious manner as you scratch him behind the ears!”  
Excitedly Mr. Phillips thanked the vet and hung up the phone. Then with a renewed sparkle in his fading grey eyes he once more retrieved the leash and collar from the hall closet, put on his jacket and almost skipped out of his front door into the morning sunlight.  
“A second chance!” he thought grinning ear to ear. 

The end.

The Forever Trail 
They roam miles over hillsides
stride aimlessly cross open plains
and grassy fields
unseen and silent to all cept' those
who see with more
then their eyes,
hear with more
then their ears,
and believe with more
then their hearts and minds.
Twilight,a gray blue haze, settles in
quiet, no sound(s) heard
but those of time almost forgotten
souls lost, blanketed by death
foot-steps hushed by time
travel now in ghostly silence
their destiny! to travel the forever trail.
Physical lives long shed in defense
of the very ground they are now one with
their cries must be heard! always honored
never to be forgotten
lest their lives were sacrificed for naught.
 
Melody A. Coster