The Spaghetti Afterlife - Paperback

by Lj Zinkand (Author)

Young Julia Lloyd has a gripping fear of sunken ships coming back to life, rising up beneath her when she swims in Long Island Sound. Drawn to tragedies at sea which both haunt and fascinate her, she becomes a church organist, hoping to emulate Captain Nemo as she navigates coming of age. When her father takes a drink after a fifteen-year hiatus, revealing his struggle with alcoholism, her world begins to list. Accompanied by a cast of droll, often outrageous characters, Julia embarks on a series of cross country maneuvers through late 20th century pop culture as a musician on a quest to salvage her self-esteem and disrupt her attraction to destructive, alcoholic lovers.

Author Biography

L.J. Zinkand lives in Southern Oregon with her husband and five cats. She is a writer, a graphic designer, a skier, and a sandan in aikido. She owns and operates a chain saw. She grew up on Long Island and spent many hours on and in Long Island Sound. Occasionally, she scuba dives alone in shallow lakes in the Northwest. Small schools of curious trout follow her, pointing out discarded beer cans and plastic bean dip containers for her to stuff into her collecting bag. She likes to open the jars of salmon eggs the fisherman have dropped over the sides of their boats and watch the feeding frenzy. She picks up fish hooks whose nylon line has wound around underwater tree trunks and uses sign language to try and convince the trout not to bite them.