Author Renee Coloman reads an excerpt from Emergency Exit, a short story from her book, Born of Dirt & Dust. The story is quite meaningful to Renee, as the premise is based on an article she read in a digital newspaper; a factual event about young lives taken for granted in our real world ... all in the hope of finding someone to love them; whereas, in this reality, that unusual someone isn't the kind of person who knows how to love.

One of my top-tier favorite pastimes is attending OC Library's hosted literary events featuring best-selling authors. A few days ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Kaira Rouda, an award-winning USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author of contemporary fiction that explores what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. Yeah! Bring it on, Kaira!! "Let's talk murder. The fictional kind, of course." That's her tagline. And I love it.