Killer Whale Blues

Ida Corley, a troubled thirty-six year old nurse from Albuquerque is searching for her unknown half-brother, a sibling she discovered by reading an old letter in her deceased mother's personal effects. On her deathbed, Ida's mother had confessed a teenage abortion, but the letter reveals a different past, a secret that unhinged Ida and drove her on a quest to find him. Her journey takes her to Victoria, Canada where she goes on a whale watching tour and becomes bewildered by a close encounter with a killer whale. He captures her eye with his own eerie whale eye, luring Ida into new spiritual territory and the mystery of interspecies communication. Ida searches the Inside Passage where killer whales act as guides, save her life, open windows into the natural world, and reach deep into her soul. It is as if these powerful mammals carried Ida up to the heart of Mother Nature, showed her the stars, and then returned her to a new life. Ida had set out to find her half-brother, but ended up finding herself. Ida Corley first appeared as a character in "Prairie Dog Blues," and surfaced again as Danny Sandoval's lover in "Dog Shelter Blues," both from Sunstone Press. Along with "Killer Whale Blues," the three novels explore the power of nature and living creatures to transform broken peoples' lives. MARK CONKLING lives in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, writes fiction and seeks daily peace of mind. His short fiction has appeared in the "Minnetonka Review," "Diverse Voices Quarterly," "The Legendary," "The Monarch Review," and "Celere 2012." Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Mark attended and taught at the University of Oklahoma (PhD Philosophy) and moved to New Mexico in 1969 as a teacher at Highlands University.