by John B. Rosenman
My name is Rachel Ross, and my life is good. I have a loving husband and a job that helps others and gives me satisfaction.
Then one day I notice a growth on my left breast. No, it isn't cancer. I only wish it were. It is something far, far worse. A deadly, mysterious disease infinitely more horrible than cancer or leprosy. A disease so terrible that no one dares to speak its name or even mention it.
When my husband hears my diagnosis, he leaves me cold. All my friends shun me, and I am forced to wear a blood red symbol of my disease on my breast. I am the ultimate outcast, a lonely woman hungry for love that people fear and scorn. If I even try to speak to them, they will scream, throw rocks and run.
Then one day I start to change. And change. And change. What am I changing into? As the weeks pass, I think I am turning into some kind of a horrible monster. Or perhaps ultimately it will be something transcendent, beyond humanity's wildest imagination. Either way I am terrified and miserable. Yet I cannot take the pill to end my life which the State eagerly offers me.
The Blue of Her Hair, the Gold of Her Eyes is suspenseful, science-fiction horror, due out from MuseItUp in July 2011. It reflects an obsessive theme in my fiction: the theme of transformation. In this story, I take that theme or concept about as far as I can. I try to stretch readers' minds to the breaking point and beyond. There are only a few stories I've written that rival this novelette when it comes to transformation, and one of them is More Stately Mansions, a cosmic, science-fiction novelette due out from this same publisher in March 2011. Remember the song, "Across the Universe"? Well, I try to take us even further. Perhaps I'll blog about it next time if I don't undergo a sea change of my own.
Gentle Readers, I eagerly invite your comments. For further information on me, please check my website at www.johnrosenman.com, or the MuseItUp website.
