In 1794, William Blake wrote a hauntingly beautiful poem, The Tyger, exploring the genesis of and the relationship between evil and good. I borrowed the title for my work from his first stanza. As Blake explained, there is evil in the world. And there is good. And sometimes, the dividing line between the two gets blurred. Judy Wilson is a beautiful teenage girl in the initial bloom of womanhood, eagerly enjoying her first real romance and exploring a sweet and excating introduction to physical love. On the very night when she had planned to finally consummate her love, she is abducted and viciously ravaged by a ruthless criminal gang. She manages to escape with her life - but with little else intact. Southern justice often moves rapidly. But sometimes it does not move at all, especially when a big city mob is involved and when sizeble sums of money make problems go away. Judy and her family are left without a champion, without justice, and almost without hope. What can a poor, widowed mother, beset with a crippling illness and with only her three teenage children to help her, do against overwhelming injustice? What can they do against armed criminals who take what they want and who kill without remorse? In the silent forest of a deep, dark, Tennessee night, they find a way to achieve - if not justice - at least a measure of revenge. Not only will you want to finish this story with the lights on, you may want to double lock the doors. And you will want to give up going for walks in the woods. Alone. At night.
About the Author: Will Jowers was born on a share-cropper's farm in rural West Tennessee sometime around the middle of the last century. His education started in a two-room country school house and proceeded, ultimately, through three universities and as many degrees (educated way beyond necessity or practical utility!) in engineering, business administration, and psychology. Along the way, he escaped the farm and factory-worker life (and being drafted into the Army) by accepting a commission in the Air Force and becoming a career soldier. With service spanning the Vietnam War to the First Iraqi War, he spent almost half his time somewhere outside the country (experiencing strange and exotic cultures, meeting fascinating people - many of them with somewhat evil intentions - and, on the rare occasion, blowing things up). He flew a variety of special mission fighter aircraft as an Air Force "Wild Weasel" (don't ask, you wouldn't believe it anyway) in South East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He served as a cold war Intelligence Officer, an enemy threat systems analyst (definition of "enemy" varied depending on the war and international relations at the time), and on the Base Chaplain's "Good Works Committee" (think Karma adjustment). After his (first) retirement from the military, he was a Director for three major aerospace corporations (not all at the same time, of course). His major duties involved international weapons negotiations and deployment (can you say gun runner?), and airport security (explosives detection systems - in this case, keeping things from blowing up!) in such places as Tel Aviv, Rome, and Singapore. Since his (second) retirement, he has taught high-school drop-outs in an alternative school GED program (potentially, the scariest assignment yet!).