NEW LIFE INCOGNITA

Kelly Butler was a young African-American male whose potential is going to waste. He'd once had an ideal life, a large family, nice home, hopes and dreams. A tragic fire on Christmas Eve, the night before his fourteenth birthday, robbed him of his home, half his family, and those dreams. Kelly never lost his faith in neo-paganism, his religion of choice, but he had lost faith in himself. He had chosen the wrong path, the road to easy money. He sold drugs though he never used them. He respected his body too much for that. He had one good thing in his life, a woman he loved, Amire, but he had messed that up too. Kelly thought about all these things as he hovered above his lifeless form, a victim of a drive-by shooting, another statistic.

But Kelly Butler is not done with life and life is not done with Kelly, he's being sent back. Imagine his surprise to find two stuffy middle-aged white folks arguing in his hospital room. There must be some mistake. Kelly is in the body of a petite blond woman, an apparently well-to-do one at that. A married one if the Hispanic hunk Tyler Diaz has anything to say about it. He is now Mrs. Dagny Castle Diaz. These strangers are her parents and her cop husband who apparently don't get along. Dagny had suffered an aneurysm on the day Tyler had filed for divorce and she'd been in a coma for several weeks.

Kelly has all of his own memories and none of Dagny's but he takes to heart the fact that he's been given another chance to live right. Dagny had been a pretty messed up lady, involved in drugs, affairs, and other destructive behaviors. Soon Kelly learns to embrace the feminine perspective, to appreciate what a good man her husband truly is and becomes determined to make things right between them. Tyler is willing but his trust will have to be earned.

Unfortunately Dagny's former life has caught up with Kelly. An illicit liaison has left Kelly with a disgruntled ex-lover who will stop at nothing to keep her, even if it means taking Tyler out of the picture. Coincidentally Tyler's mother is a Wiccan high priestess Camilla Diaz, one of the former Kelly's idols. Her perception tells her immediately that her daughter-in-law is a "changed woman." In her, Kelly has one of her strongest allies.

Camilla has faith that Kelly and Tyler will make their marriage work but she also "sees" that Dagny must clean up the mess the old Kelly had left behind as well. Amire is also in danger. Kelly will have to reveal herself to all the people that she loves. Will they accept her? Will she be able to save them? Will she finally have the love filled life she deserves?

All's well that ends well and if the readers can get past the gender confusion they will find this a very different and enjoyable piece.