About Summer of Love: Soul Journeys 1
Written by AJ Wilde
48 pages / 25000 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-005-4, 1-60370-005-6
Available file types - html,
lit, pdf, prc
NYPD officer Rick Rathburn has some issues his department wants him to work through. After a series of failed therapy sessions, he ends up with Dr. Martell, who convinces him to take a chance on hypnotism and past life regression. He finds himself in 1967 San Francisco, falling for Johnny, a free-spirited commune member that fascinates him beyond what's wise.
Johnny brings a whole new host of problems, including the fact that
he has a wife who wants in on the action, and a deep passion for activism
that might turn ugly at any moment. Can Rick survive his past life?
And what will it mean for his future?
Review
Kiernan Kelly, Torquere Press author, writes: Rick Rathburn is a police officer who has seen the dark side of the job one too many times. Haunted by an incident involving a psychotic parolee whom he’d originally helped to convict and who’d sought revenge on Rick, he is ordered to undergo therapy by his superiors.
As he bounces from one therapist to the next, besieged by his memory of the incident and by mysterious aches and pains that he has no explanation for, he is cynical about finding any help from the psychiatric quarter – until he arrives for his appointment with hypnotherapist, Dr. Angela Martell.
Against Rick’s better judgment, he allows Dr. Martell to hypnotize him, beginning a regression back into Rick’s former lives, seeking the cause for the troubles that grip him in his present one.
He finds that he’s still a police officer, working in San Francisco during the height of flower power in the sixties. During a protest against the Vietnam War that turns violent, Rick forms an unlikely bond with a longhaired, free love touting hippie named Johnny Ross.
SUMMER OF LOVE brings us back to the era of communes and peace signs, folk music and tie-dye; when no one over thirty was to be trusted, and a war in the rice paddies of Viet Nam drove a wedge between generations.
Rich in the flavors, colors, and textures of the sixties, SUMMER OF LOVE explores the what-ifs of reincarnation and the possibility that, not only can the memory of pain intrude upon our present life, but that love can endure from one lifetime to the next.
This is a wonderful story with a unique premise, and a cast of characters that will draw you in and keep you glued to the pages as the plot unfolds. Sizzling sex that is at times passionate and at other times poignant, will leave the reader breathless, and caring deeply about the characters.
Those who lived during the sixties will remember it, those who hadn’t will wish they had, and both will look forward to more stories about the past lives of Rick Rathburn.
Sample
The next visit, Rick was more prepared. He'd done a little research
on past-life regression, and he'd been surprised at what he found. Although
the practice of hypnotherapy was not regulated in the United States,
naturopathic doctors like Dr. Martell had a stringent certification
process and adhered to all the usual codes of ethics and professional
business practices. The doctors had high standards of education, most
had medical degrees, and the testimonials of patients all bore witness
to startling results. Rick was determined to give Dr. Martell a chance.
As he lay down on the daybed, the occasional flutter in his heart made
an appearance. Rick coughed. His ordeal at gunpoint, although almost
six months ago now, had left him with a stubborn niggle in his chest.
He strove to ignore it. He'd had an ECG, all the blood tests had come
back fine; he was fit and strong. Get over it, Rathburn.
"Are you okay, Rick?" Angela's soothing, sing-song voice crooned
in his ear.
"Yeah, good to go, Doc, thanks." He couldn't quite get his
head around 'Angela'. 'Doc' would do just fine. The candles were lit,
the delicate aroma of sandalwood incense wafted past Rick's nose, and
the strange soft music played once more. Rick sank back into the pillows
and let himself drift.
"Be safe, Rick." Angela's voice murmured. "Where
are you? What year is it?"
"Hmmmmm, mmmmm..." Rick mumbled. "San Francisco. 1967.
Spring. It's cold. Man, I didn't know California was this cold?"
A soft chuckle from Angela. "Have you ever been to San Francisco,
Rick?" A test question. The tape recorder was running.
"No. I'm from Brooklyn."
Angela's voice faded into the distance, and Rick's surroundings wobbled
and shifted. He was there. It was April, and Rick was hemmed in by people
on either side of him, pushing and shoving. In the distance he could
see the graceful outline of the Golden Gate Bridge.
It was an amazing sight. Thousands of people, but all with one purpose:
to speak out against the war in Vietnam. Rick, in his cop uniform, was
arm in arm with a line of fellow officers, struggling to keep things
from getting out of hand. Rick strained against the crowd, who kept
pressing closer, stronger. If the police couldn't maintain control,
utter chaos would break out across the city.
The marchers carried banners of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Every
one of them was protesting the war in some way or other. The people
themselves were like nothing Rick had ever seen. Of course he'd heard
of hippies - but he'd been serving in Vietnam for the past two years.