Colin Garrett is a ghost writer facing challenges in a contemporary publishing company.

Is There A Light At The End Of This Tunnel?

BLACKBEARD PUBLISHING-- Colin Garrett is a spirited individual who is living his dream from beyond the grave. Colin is a ghostwriter. But despite the heavenly pleasure he derives from his disembodied career, Colin still has many earthly challenges.

Colin works for Blackbeard Publishing, in their paranormal department. The company produces and publishes 15 new ghost-story titles a year. Colin does most of the writing but a stable of 'name' authors take credit.

"That's all right," said Colin. "I'm well compensated for my efforts." Colin is on the staff payroll, a position he has been coveting for years. In spite of the security, Colin has still been struggling in a job that's mostly invisible to all but a few insiders.

"It has its advantages," said Colin about not having his name attached to his books. "The critics murdered one of my last books, but because someone else was the 'author' it wasn't a suicidal career move. In fact, they were glowing over the next one I did."

The publishers at Blackbeard Publishing are more critical of Colin's work.

"The problem with Garrett's stories is that they're transparent--you can see right through his plotlines," said Ed DesRoches, editor. "It would be nice to have something more substantial, more down-to-earth, but he works for so little it's worth it to keep him hanging around. He only needs a bowl of sheep's blood and he'll be buried in his work for a week."

"When he does get into the spirit of it his work can be ethereal," admitted Ed.

Colin began his career as a ghostwriter shortly after his death. In life, he wanted to be a writer, but he was haunted by dreams of failure, and never took the chance. Being dead offered him the greater freedom to write.

"At first I was scared to death of rejection," said Colin. "I've gone beyond that. Now I'm just afraid of these killer deadlines," he said with a laugh. "It isn't hard digging up material, but I still can't write horror. I guess I spook too easily, and truthfully, I sometimes scare myself."