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The Locket
The locket was a mystery. There was no doubt about that. First of all, how does one suddenly find a locket nestled cozily inside a heat vent of a bedroom that one has lived in since one was a baby? That was Maggie’s first question when she pulled the locket out of her heat vent on the very night her grandmother, by some divine intervention, had allowed her friends to sleep over on a school night! The inscription on the back, To My Beloved…” heightened the mystery. What she didn’t know, however, as she slipped the locket around her neck was that she was about to set in motion a chain of events that would change her life forever. First, it was the mysterious girl who appeared to her in the hallways of her high school and beckoned Maggie to follow her. Next, it was the discovery that this girl had died at her high school prom eighteen years earlier. Then there were the visions that bombarded her, some while she slept, but others while she was wide awake. She began to question her own sanity, but more than that, she was overcome by an overwhelming desire to discover what really happened to this girl, Summer Stillwater, who died at her own prom. The real question was, however, would her boyfriend and her friends stick by her as she frantically sought to uncover the mystery of this girl that no one else could see. Her journey with this girl from the past is one of spurned love, rape, true love, and redemption. It exposes Maggie’s own loveless family life for what it is, and shakes the very foundation of her world. By the end, her life has been changed forever.
ebook
First published February 10, 2013
About the author
Lance Hodgdon
5 books4 followersHello! My name is Lance Hodgdon and I am a storyteller. I don’t know why that is. It is just a part of me that I can no longer deny. Not that I ever tried all that hard to deny it, but now, late in my life, I have decided to embrace that fact rather than relegate it to the back shelf where I put all unimportant things in my life. I am also a teacher, a retired teacher, I should say.
My journey, thus far, has been fairly uneventful, but that’s not to say I am disappointed with my lot. I grew up in a small town in Western, Maryland. My father, who was a biology teacher, would often take me camping with some of my friends at one of the many state parks in Garrett County, Maryland, usually New Germany State Park. While camping, we spent each night clustered around the campfire, listening to stories my father would tell us, usually about his life as a boy in Maine. Those stories fueled my imagination and during the day, my friends and I spent the day acting out the stories that had so enthralled us the night before. When not camping, my friends and I would often gather together on a summer night and tell each other our dreams from the night before. Scary nightmares were much preferred, the scarier the better. If the dreams were not eventful enough, however, we turned to our imaginations to spice up the story, as it were.
Those days are long gone, but I can still recall some of those stories. Years later, as a high school English/journalism/yearbook teacher, those stories morphed into new tales that were told to my classes every Friday, the last 20 minutes of class. These stories were told serial fashion, and often continued on for several months. Many of these stories you’ll be reading on my blog. I plan to continue with this tradition of storytelling here, so feel free to revisit this site and make comments. Hope you enjoy the stories.
About year fifteen of my illustrious teaching career, I decided to add a broadcast element to my journalism class. We started out doing newscasts with a pair of VHS cameras, and a VCR. A few years later, our school, during the course of renovations, added a broadcast studio, and the quality of our broadcasts improved dramatically. The reason this is important here? As part of our broadcasts, we included a segment where we told a story in monthly installments. We came up with a story and then filmed it the best way that we knew how. Why is that important? Well, one of those stories later developed into a screenplay and then later, yet, blossomed into a novel called, The Locket. You will find a sample of this novel also on this site.
During the latter half of my teaching career, after technology, wonderful thing that it is, brought true video editing within the realm of possibilities, (a huge thanks goes to Adobe Premiere here). I began writing screenplays of some of the stories that I had rattling around in my head. I then created independent, very low budget, films from those screenplays. Some of the stories told in these films have now become novels, mostly because the limitations of filming at the time hampered what my stories could be. In the novels, they are told in the way they were meant to be told. (On a side note, the video links you see by the sample chapters are to the movie trailers for the films that were made about each corresponding story).
At last, here I am, retired from teaching, living in the country, and I have finally given in to my nature. I have decided to devote the remainder of my life to writing down the stories I have created over the years. After much research and soul-searching, I have decided on indie publishing as the most appropriate vehicle to get my stories out to you, the public. I have not completely ruled out publishing in a more traditional format, but for now, I believe that epublishing is my best bet. I hope you enjoy this site, and I hope it inspires you to take one or more of my novels out for a spin! As you trav
My journey, thus far, has been fairly uneventful, but that’s not to say I am disappointed with my lot. I grew up in a small town in Western, Maryland. My father, who was a biology teacher, would often take me camping with some of my friends at one of the many state parks in Garrett County, Maryland, usually New Germany State Park. While camping, we spent each night clustered around the campfire, listening to stories my father would tell us, usually about his life as a boy in Maine. Those stories fueled my imagination and during the day, my friends and I spent the day acting out the stories that had so enthralled us the night before. When not camping, my friends and I would often gather together on a summer night and tell each other our dreams from the night before. Scary nightmares were much preferred, the scarier the better. If the dreams were not eventful enough, however, we turned to our imaginations to spice up the story, as it were.
Those days are long gone, but I can still recall some of those stories. Years later, as a high school English/journalism/yearbook teacher, those stories morphed into new tales that were told to my classes every Friday, the last 20 minutes of class. These stories were told serial fashion, and often continued on for several months. Many of these stories you’ll be reading on my blog. I plan to continue with this tradition of storytelling here, so feel free to revisit this site and make comments. Hope you enjoy the stories.
About year fifteen of my illustrious teaching career, I decided to add a broadcast element to my journalism class. We started out doing newscasts with a pair of VHS cameras, and a VCR. A few years later, our school, during the course of renovations, added a broadcast studio, and the quality of our broadcasts improved dramatically. The reason this is important here? As part of our broadcasts, we included a segment where we told a story in monthly installments. We came up with a story and then filmed it the best way that we knew how. Why is that important? Well, one of those stories later developed into a screenplay and then later, yet, blossomed into a novel called, The Locket. You will find a sample of this novel also on this site.
During the latter half of my teaching career, after technology, wonderful thing that it is, brought true video editing within the realm of possibilities, (a huge thanks goes to Adobe Premiere here). I began writing screenplays of some of the stories that I had rattling around in my head. I then created independent, very low budget, films from those screenplays. Some of the stories told in these films have now become novels, mostly because the limitations of filming at the time hampered what my stories could be. In the novels, they are told in the way they were meant to be told. (On a side note, the video links you see by the sample chapters are to the movie trailers for the films that were made about each corresponding story).
At last, here I am, retired from teaching, living in the country, and I have finally given in to my nature. I have decided to devote the remainder of my life to writing down the stories I have created over the years. After much research and soul-searching, I have decided on indie publishing as the most appropriate vehicle to get my stories out to you, the public. I have not completely ruled out publishing in a more traditional format, but for now, I believe that epublishing is my best bet. I hope you enjoy this site, and I hope it inspires you to take one or more of my novels out for a spin! As you trav
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April 15, 2014
The Locket is two great love stories and a great mystery in one book! Maggie Snow and her friends were typical teenagers. It really took me back to my high school years and remembering the friendships I made. This is a must read! I really hope there is a sequel to this book. I want to know happens to the characters that were reunited and the ones that made Maggie so unhappy. This book is a great young adult book. It is an easy read full of love, mystery and true friendship. I can't wait for more!!!
Lance HodgdonThe Locket
Lance HodgdonThe Locket
Displaying 1 of 1 review