Shrapnel

noun
1. Military.
a. a hollow projectile containing bullets or the like and bursting charge, designed to explode before reaching the target and to set free a shower of missiles.
2. Shell fragments (Dictionary.com, 2024)

Readers often wonder how much of me is within the characters of Ajha’s Web?

Truth is, there’s a hollow fragment of who I am, or what I desire, or what intrigues me in every character. They are shrapnel, microcosmic projectiles bursting with imaginary qualities. By the time they explode into the world I create, they’re distinct from one another and anyone in my real life.

When I’m not writing, I’m an American Sign Language interpreter, a profession I’ve given to Ajha Attwood and Tarah Bennett—the kind of coworkers I fantasize about having. Marcus Attwood (Ajha’s husband, a police commander) is dedicated to ensuring that boys in his community have a father figure and role model they can depend on—a quality I admire in a man. Isabela Perez, a recovering addict estranged from her family, is an accomplished model whose teenage daughter, Bo, is a fashion enthusiast much like myself. The feisty matriarch of Ajha’s family, Denise Martinez, takes after my own mother in beauty and form. Her son Hector Jr. is an impressive lover with a heart of gold. Who doesn’t desire that?

They represent a small sample of characters dwelling in Ajha’s Web, where everyone has a story, fraught and flawed. When this shower of missiles strikes, nothing is unscathed.