The Casebook of Elisha Grey
Elisha Grey, graduate student in many sciences and private consulting detective in Atlantis, solves three different mysteries with the help of his roommate, Kiara Ptolmai, the daughter of an Atlantean diplomat and a woman from the far off region of the Caucasus, who records the adventures. Cases include solving the disappearance of a multimorph (human/animal hybrid); the theft of a chemical formula for a badly needed pain relieving medicine; and the kidnapping of underage girls for recruitment into a household of odalisques (multiple brides). The technology of Atlantis and its contact with other continents is covered, as well as its ethics and mores.
The Casebook of Elisha Grey II
"The Poisonings At The Pantry" is a mystery surrounding multiple cases of apparent food poisoning which require help from other students at the Temple of Learning to gather data on foods from various farms and factories; "The Relentless Sun and Thunder" centers around the possibility of someone able to change weather with his mind, requiring a journey to the country of Albion on the northeastern shores of the Atlantean Sea to visit a seer with experience in the matter; and "The Deaths At The Crooked Tower" focus on a polyamorous architect, his consorts, kinky architecture, and a variety of apparent murders and suicides.
The Casebook of Elisha Grey III
Elisha Grey, scholar in numerous subjects & consulting detective in Atlantis during its Second Era, together with his flatmate Kiara Ptolmai -- daughter of Menos Ptolmai, Atlantean Ambassador to Chungkuo, investigate three crimes. In "The Missing Daughter" the capitol's constabulary recruits them to help find a young woman who has gone in search of her natural parents, one of whom may be arch criminal Samax Rex Pahadron. The story reveals not only the foster child system of Atlantis, but the increase of crimes against women as a result of what Grey calls "the commoditization of the human being." "The Jewel Theft on Riot Night" leads the two sleuths through the aftermath of civil unrest to investigate a crime that introduces them to a legendary yet never seen jewel thief, Coral Fox. In "The Return of the Weatherchanger", enigmatic artist Kamay Pellay has returned to Atlantis; when his room is burglarized he becomes central to understanding drug smuggling between Atlantis and Chungkuo. He also reveals the reason for his disappearance: travel to study shamanism in the distant region of Baikal.
The Casebook of Elisha Grey IV
In "The Bones in the Cornerstone" a building renovation to which Kiara Ptolmai and Kamay Pellay have been assigned by their professor in sacred geometry, Magnus Wren, contains the remains of a mother and daughter who may be Lemurian, which slowly sends part-Lemurian Pellay into a temporary psychosis requiring Kiara’s healing skills as well as Elisha Grey’s research abilities. "The Rebirth of the Crime Ridden Slum” results when constable Kaliska Saukenuk reports increased crimes in her neighborhood – the same one Kiara Ptolmai has been assigned to renovate as part of her architecture studies. The changes in the property toward revitalization flushes out a number of criminal activities and requires Saukenuk to become a sleuth along with Elisha Grey, Kiara Ptolmai, Ishmael Endymion -- flamboyant chemist head of Dark Ladder Laboratories -- Kamay Pellay, and demipantherine multimorph woman Bast. In "The Sabotaged Lift", an apparent accident resulting in the death of someone close to Kiara Ptolmai is quickly revealed to be a murder. She is the first witness. The question becomes: who was ultimately responsible?
The Casebook of Elisha Grey V
In "The Pilferings in Albion: Kiara's First Case", Kiara travels with Kamay Pellay, the weatherchanger and artist who has trained as a shaman in the Baikal region to the west of Chungkuo and finished the Spiritual Studies curriculum at the Temple of Learning, to study in Albion with seers Rowan Fisher and Ivy Hunter, and are surprised to discover strange visitors to their island country -- extraterrestrials, originally met in a case from the seminal volume of Casebook. "The Men Robbed of Their True Wealth" requires Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai, along with Constable Kaliska Saukenuk, to investigate a series of murders at first attributed to the extraterrestrials who have made open contact with Atlantis -- but in fact are committed by someone quite unexpected, requiring Elisha Grey to put himself in the position of being bait for the killer. In "The Fall From the High Place", Kiara Ptolmai begins her new profession as an architect -- and unexpectedly becomes victim to a crime that changes the direction of her life -- as well as that of Elisha Grey.
The Casebook of Elisha Grey VI
In "The Lost Visitor", Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai are asked by the constabulary to help find a Metalon (extraterrestrial) who has wandered off the ship for an unknown reason. As communication with the Metalons is still largely non-verbal, and their ship is only residing on Atlantis a few days a week, Elisha enlists the help of friends to find out if they have seen it. In "The Destruction of Dark Ladder Laboratories", Kamay Pellay awakens Elisha via the commnet early one morning to tell him that the main facility -- where Elisha's close friend Ishmael Endymion lives -- has blown up. Because of their personal connection with Endymion, they aid the constabulary in retrieving personal effects; a painting Pellay was working on reveals he had precognition about the event, and with his observations of Dark Ladder's patrons at closing time when he is shapeshifted into an owl, he is able to identify several people -- one of whom constable Kaliska Saukenuk recognizes. Further investigation leads them to ties between Samax Rex Pahadron's crime network and the drug smuggling from Chungkuo. In "The Haunting of Sunrise Terrace" Elisha Grey is asked by his sister Mara and her partner Sylvian Sweetwater, renowned fashion designer, to look into the rumors that a property they want to buy is haunted.
The Casebook of Elisha Grey VII
In "The Runaway Musician and the Return of Lorelei", Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai are asked by the constabulary to meet with an underage runaway because she uses the same surname as Kamay Pellay, which indicates she is part Lemurian and may be prone to his psychotic episodes. Shortly afterward, the demiequine multimorph Chiron comes to see Elisha about retrieving his multimorph daughter, Lorelei, from where she has been living in Thebes for several years. In "The Deaths at Hanunnah Hot Springs", former jewel smuggler Walela Pearl asks for Elisha Grey's help in solving the cause behind unexplained yet natural deaths of Atlanteans who have traveled to crystal mines in Hanunnah, the continent to the west of Atlantis. In "The Drowned Fisherwomen of Hanunnah" Elisha Grey, who has remained in Hanunnah to help establish a constabulary there, finds out that Kiara Ptolmai -- who is carrying their twin daughters -- is having a difficult pregnancy because the souls of the girls in their previous lives were sisters who were drowned while fishing at a contested fishing ground in Hanunnah.
The Casebook of Elisha Grey VIII
In "Elisha Grey and the Silent Boy" Elisha Grey returns to Atlantis after a long absence, and is asked to look into a murder case where the only witness -- an earwitness -- is a teenage boy who refuses to speak. Due to his intellectual brilliance, Elisha asks Kiara help him adopt the boy. "The Minerva House Murders” are brought to Kiara's attention as she is the lead architect on the project whose workmen are being murdered one by one as they travel home. Elisha and Kiara's questioning lead to the personal history of her employer and uncover an unusual motive. In "The Disappearace of Sequoyah and the Passing of the Trident", after Kamay leaves Atlantis for a few months with the extraterrestrial Metalons to learn more about his illness before Kiara bears his son, she and Elisha discover that Sequoyah has seemingly vanished. Their investigations take them into his late childhood and involve his partner Beatrix in collecting information about his newsstand.
The Casebook of Elisha Grey IX
In "The Mesmerist" Kiara Ptolmai’s new client for an architectural renovation project turns out to be someone who has the ability to mesmerize people without their consent. Elisha Grey and Kamay Pellay determine how best to protect her from being hypnotized against her will. In "The Tainted Soil and Remembrance of Things Past”, Kiara and Kamay’s son Tai discovers that soil in the new vegetable garden bed is making the plants sick. Elisha Grey asks his colleague at the Temple of Learning, Galen Toth, to assess the soil in comparison to the other vegetable gardens on their property, and is led to discover that modern farming practices are putting depleted soil in the market. When “Constable Saukenuk Misses Her Lecture”, Kamay Pellay is immediately aware that a crime has been committed. Elisha Grey follows him to the Temple of Learning and discovers that she has been mutilated in a way that points to sexual jealousy.
The Casebook of Elisha Grey Story Bible
The story bible for The Casebook of Elisha Grey (seminal volume, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX) with details regarding concept, research, character profiles, and overviews of each story's plot and themes. Offered as a reference for people in other media for consideration for adaptation, as well as for other writers to make a touchstone reference for their own works. Two more volumes are in progress.
Not exactly a book, however, for anyone writing a story series, as well as for anyone wanting their work to be adapted into other media (TV/Film/Streaming) having the "lay of the land" parsed out not only for the writer's reference, but for other co-creators to consider, can be a real help. It wasn't easy getting all of this together yet I'm so glad I did it. Most likely this format can be improved upon by other writers, however, I offer it here as a good start to organizing your creative vision as your characters take you further down the path of your story (whether it's a long novel or a series of stories as mine is). After all, it's the characters who write the book. We just take dictation and do the proofreading.
Author Bio from Smashwords.com
Isabeau Vollhardt received her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and English Composition from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, in 1980, where she studied Novel Writing with Charles Johnson, and the Philosophy of Science Fiction with Michelle Beer. A longtime reader of Victorian era authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, she was writing The Casebook of Elisha Grey in part as an homage to Doyle and in part as a result of her readings of esoteric works on Atlantis, when she began studies at Samra University of Oriental Medicine in 1991. Graduating with a Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine and receiving licensure to practice acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, she then went on to receive training in Reiki, reaching level IV (Seichem) Reiki training. Energy work and intuitive work in a variety of realms have been part of her personal and professional life since 1985 and encompasses study of Kuang Ping style taijiquan, shuilong qi gong, feng shui, clairvoyancy, Western Astrology, Native American journeywork, and Iai-Batto-Ho. She currently lives in Ashland, Oregon, where she has been in private practice since 1997, and continues to write. She has had several articles published in print and on line regarding feng shui and acupuncture, and her short story "Farewell at a Graveside" was published by Innisfree Magazine, a literary journal, in 1990.
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all book cover photographs c. Isabeau Vollhardt
Poetry
“Songs For the Water Dragon/Poems for Plants & Planets/and Others” has been published as an e-book through Smashwords.com (all platforms, adult content) and through Amazon.com for Kindle (also adult content). In addition, it is available through Amazon.com as a paperback book.
warm sun
cool river
steady stream
tingling flow
washes my mai
forward and back
then downstream
down to rocks
up to sun
and down again
plant the roots
push the water
trail my laogongs
in the river…
and again and again
and then to sun and dry
from water’s cold heat
to the sun’s baking
i’m led to shivering.
from cold?
or from what
the cold pulls forth…
from fear?
fear of cold?
or old fears
the cold has pulled out
like stains so deep
i thought the fabric of me
was a different color…
i sun and i wonder
when i learned
to stop the flow
and fear…
i know the cold
is not the thing
i fear
just teaching me
of what i carry
deep in my bones,
unknown until
immersion…
while my knees and fingers blossom a silken veiled vermillion.
book cover photograph c. 1999 Elizabeth Ellingson
