“Mirror Mirror: Halloween Party of the Century”
This paranormal tale started as a short story until the Relentless Wench Muse whispered into my ear, “Finish this one, Mate!” So we did, and I have added another addiction to my list – writing paranormal thrillers.
Sandy Tillman, the protagonist in Mirror Mirror, coasts comfortably through life until a phone call from a past abuser invites himself to her Halloween party. There, we replay the inevitable confrontation between Sandy and her abuser, Phantastic Phil, as he boasts of himself. The original short story concludes with Phil being struck by a burst of energy emanating from a large floor mirror. The story had barely begun, according to the Relentless Wench Muse. She was right, and a complete novel was the final story.
I think I described Sandy as ordinary in a post several days ago. That descriptive should not denote that she was unattractive, because she was anything but. With a runner’s physique at 32 years of age, she stood 5’-7”, highlighted by steel-blue eyes, a warm and welcoming smile, and her usual tight ponytail of rich auburn hair. The only ordinary thing about Sandy…was her life.
Living with her best friend, Melissa (Mel) Merriweather, since high school, another runner of basically the same dimensions, only 3” taller with a head of chopped blonde hair, not spiked…but chopped. They shared the market with brilliant blue eyes and were quick to smile. Mel was a year older, and she swore wiser, who was ordinary in her own right. She had not planned to retire at 33, but the inheritance from Marcus T. Hawthorne III and his estate made early retirement an option too good to pass up. Getting a job could come later. For now, she was coasting and enjoying a slow life except for the moments when Sandy was in a crisis.
Three months before the party, things began to change in Sandy’s life. Finding that damn book, Mirror Mirror, was a fluke. The title caught her eye, and whatever it was that prompted her to pull the book off the shelf owned Sandy; she just didn’t know it yet. The inscription on the inside cover page gave her pause.
Whoever possesses this book shall have exclusive control of all reflective powers that flow forth when called upon in good stead by the righteous.
Did holding the damn book in her hands count as possession? She didn’t think so and reread the inscription in an attempt to make sense of it. What are reflective powers? Flow forth from where? What is good stead? And what about the unrighteous? She knew her past and what had happened with Fantastic Phil, wondering if that kind of thing made you unrighteous. And who gets to decide?
The story begins to unfold when Sandy finds a hidden room in the library. When she pulls Mirror Mirror off the shelf, triggering the release of a lock, a section of shelves swings inward, revealing a small room with a single armchair and a large oval floor mirror. A lot happens in that secret room between dimensions, where time is stretched to the limit. Things happen in the present, and as the story progresses, in two subsequent visits to the past.
Time travel? If you can accept the exact Time as a destination that appears accidental, potluck may be a better descriptor, courtesy of the entity she met in the mirror. He manages her travels, and as it turns out, the entity owns Sandy as long as she possesses Mirror Mirror.
A double murder later, Sandy meets the entity who saved her from an assault and changes her life, her world, and, for all intents and purposes, her dimension, all courtesy of the large floor mirror. Bizarre things happen when the 3-Dimensional world Sandy Tillman connects with an 11th-dimensional entity she named Paul and establishes something neither wants to refer to as a relationship. Something does happen, and there are feelings, but are they one-sided?
Sandy and Paul become closer, but not in a romantic sense, as her circumstances begin to close in. She becomes a person of interest in the double murder of Phil and his friend in the secret room, shortly before a fire starts that ultimately burns the old estate house to the ground. The book is destroyed, but Sandy is not released from her role as the person in possession of the book. Her status as a person of interest rapidly progresses into a warrant for her arrest. When detectives arrive to take her into custody, Paul intervenes, and Sandy escapes into the past. The whirlwind experience of time travel repeats when Sandy goes back in time to retrieve the book Mirror Mirror to replace the original, which was destroyed in the house fire.
Bizarre does not begin to describe her experiences on a different timeline in a parallel universe where she narrowly avoids coming face-to-face with herself, but is not so fortunate when she runs into Melissa, her very confused roommate. Eventually, Sandy turns herself in and is temporarily incarcerated while working with an attorney in advance of an upcoming trial. Convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in the state penitentiary, Sandy needs Paul one last time to bail her out, but this time her journey ends up where she never expected she would ever be. Plenty of twists and turns before Sandy finally lands, but it’s a journey well worth risking.
Amazon Buy Link – https://bit.ly/3C4qWqK
Video Trailer – https://bit.ly/3GTztmG
REVIEW –
Here’s the note the reviewer sent with her review.
Gary,
Please tell me you are making a follow-up to “Mirror Mirror”? You cannot leave me hanging like that! I will never be able to look at a mirror the same way again 😉
You will see that I’ve posted my review on my blog, Goodreads, Social Media, and Amazon.
I will just be over here counting down the days until you release more reads, as I can’t get enough of your work!
Jill
Despite being labeled as the first fiction author, Gary G. Wise wrote, it reads like that of a seasoned veteran. “Mirror Mirror” begins as all great horror stories do, with two female roommates hoping to throw an epic party at a dilapidated mansion.
Sandy was looking forward to the Halloween party she and Mel had been planning for months, but the threats from Phillip and his friend Wil dampened her mood. Having narrowly escaped a bathroom assault, she wasn’t keen on ever seeing them again. But the Hawthorne House estate, willed to Mel by her grandfather, was the perfect scary setting to throw their party, and invites had already been sent.
Avoiding the library where Mel’s grandfather was suspiciously found dead with a hole seared through his chest, Sandy took charge of exploring the first floor while Mel went upstairs in preparation for Halloween.
However, as Sandy pulled the book Mirror Mirror from the shelf, she unlocked a secret room, housing only a chair and a free-standing oval dressing mirror. The series of events that occur as a result of finding this room set the trajectory of this read.
Having read Wise’s later work, it is clear his grip on science fiction runs deep. From speaking through the mind to exploring new dimensions, bonding with energy forms, and possessing great powers, “Mirror Mirror” is the spine-chilling foundation of Wise’s extraordinary works. Playing with string theory, opening our minds beyond the 3D world we see, and injecting a bit of horror in this read further solidifies the adept ability of Wise to educate, embrace, and entertain readers.
“Mirror Mirror” has a profound plot, encompassing elements of science fiction and suspense. The gripping narrative keeps us on the edge of our seats as we plunge into another great read from Gary G. Wise.
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Author Thoughts are posted on my Facebook Author Page, Learning by Living, and my Substack site.
Peace! G.