BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...

There are nine interconnected, yet separate stories, all taking place in California, from San Diego to San Francisco, approximately around the time of the great San Francisco earthquake, which occurred at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906.

Ghost stories and tales of witches, vampires and other strange creatures have been lore in many cultures for hundreds of years. California is no different. If you have a particular fondness for gaslamp fantasy, Love & Magic is a surprising adventure, both dark and quirky, sure to delight readers of all ages.

WHAT'S INSIDE...

In LITTLE LÉOTARD, Arturo must flee the barrio in Los Angeles because two Italian gangsters from the Matranga crime family suspect the simple, yet loveable street vendor of witnessing a crime. Arturo is sheltered by Uncle Beto in San Francisco, who possess a few secrets of his own.

The lovesick daughter of a U.S. Navy Captain is convinced by her friend to win the young man she loves with the help of magic from a sorceress who is a caster of spells and maker of charms. Like an unexpected earthquake, a LOVE POTION may shake things up in ways a young girl never dreamed possible.

"Waddie" is a commercial salvage diver working in Vallejo near Mare Island Naval Shipyard. A former cowboy riding the trails on cattle drives, he turned in his lasso for a deep sea diving dress outfitted with LEATHER AND LEAD. When he gets a glimpse of something dark and sinister near a wreck, it just may be a foreshadow of the horror to come.

An Italian criminal lies dead on the warehouse floor in LONG BEACH while a beautiful woman is tied to a chair. She explains the death of the gangster to Los Angeles crime boss via tales of ghosts, who are good, bad and mischievous.

LIRIO'S LOVE is the dilemma Jose must face in choosing between the wife he loves so passionately and the secret lust and addiction he has been hiding from her.

A famous stage actor takes a vacation incognito at the Grand Coronado Resort. He encounters a beautiful woman with whom he feels a mysterious, haunting and overwhelming attraction. Meeting this woman, his secret LUST may finally be cast away, but the price he must pay to know her and dispose of his dark secret may be more than he bargained for.

The head of a Los Angeles crime family is tied to a chair, held captive by a man who insists on enlightening him with a LEGEND of the East Los Angeles barrio. The gangster's fate and the future of the barrio are exposed in this tale of evil and bound and gagged tension and intentions.

Detective Donald Trent doesn't have time to entertain suggestions of vampires as a possible cause for an unsolved case. Besides, the detective's getting married and he's so LOVESICK that he can't think of anything else but his betrothed. Can there really be vampires in 1906? Or is there a darkness within the human psyche longing to justify the creature's existence?