About the Book
A warm, sunny day in May... Henny and Bill two very old men, in their eighties, often mistaken for Statler and Waldorf, of Muppet fame, were sitting on a park bench in Stanley Park over-looking English Bay. It was Henny's turn to tell a story. A story completed that morning, something he had been working on since he found an old unfinished manuscript on the floor in his closet. He was anticipating telling the story to Bill, something they had been doing on a regular basis; taking a walk in the park and sitting on a bench, telling each other stories. Bill is disabled and in a wheelchair, suffering from the early onset of dementia. Henny his companion and his best friend, is experiencing bouts of forgetfulness himself. He was a teacher in his youth, but now a writer, with a few books successfully published. Both are living in the same seniors home in Vancouver's West End. Today on their walk, Henny decided to tell a ghost story, one he'd been working on, sitting at his computer late into the night. In his story, an unusual set of circumstances bring six people together; two gay men Chuck Ellis, an older sixty-three year old man and his lover Max Chang. They live in Surrey, British Columbia. A hypnotist, Shawn Brady and his wife Sue, they are leaving Las Vegas, Nevada after doing a show there. Shawn meets Chuck as Chuck claims the seat between him and his wife in the first row on the plane. Two young aspiring hypnotherapists, turned entertainers, and a man named Alex Henderson a cross-dresser who when younger, over thirty years prior, became involved with Chuck Ellis. Finally, the antagonist of Henny's story, a man named Gupta, an East Indian whose father is a multi-billionaire back in India. Gupta was obtaining an education from the University of British Columbia to be a doctor as his father wanted, but he had other plans. He was under the impression that his father and stepmother were trying to keep him away from his heritage, plus he believed he was the reincarnate of a specific Indian, a Thuggee, named Tipu Sultan, hung when a teenager for the murder of hundreds of people, during the early 1800's, along with four others of his family; father, brother and two uncles. Gupta must appease his God, Kali Ma and seek revenge for his previous self, Tipu Sultan. A murder happens, in a Surrey park. The fantasy turns to reality, reality turns to fantasy, as Henny's story unfolds...
About the Author: Dog Brindle (Michael D. Estey) Born in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1950, a Leo. Dog grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. Graduated from Scott Park High School, the first school, with central air (no windows that opened), every classroom, every hallway, every ceiling sprayed with asbestos. Dog's reason for his insanity. Missing the hippie era by a few years he embraced the disco scene in the 70's. He became outed, from peer pressure! And a weekend soft-drug (marijuana) user and an advocator for the medical use of cannabis. Motorcycling throughout the United States in his late twenties and ended up crossing back into Canada via Blaine, Washington, at the "Peace Arch." His final destination - Vancouver, British Columbia, where he settled into the infamous "Gay Ghetto," Vancouver's "Davie Village," until eventually moving out to the suburb of Surrey, infamous for being known as the "Red Neck City." He attributes learning and honing his people skills through thirty years of being, a successful hairdresser. He often thought his clientele really only came to talk. Not to get their hair done. The West End not only infamous for being gay but the largest concentration of single women in Canada. After retiring from hairdressing he went into the antique business. He co-owned a small little antique shop named "Desert Rose" during the 90's. "The prettiest thing you'll see in the desert is a Desert Rose in bloom." That's how he felt about the shop. His first writing gig, a bi-monthly column called, CRIME TIME in a local rag "The Eastside Review" introduced him to the world of journalism. A frequent contributor to the E-Street column in the Province Newspaper. Today he is a full time writer and an avid daily blogger: His genre, ageing and everything that entails. A watchdog speaking out for seniors, always looking for the best in his fellow man and laughing all the way. His website: DogBrindleBarks The Ageing Game His first novel: ONE TWO ONE TWO A Ghost Story
