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The God Mother


CoverElizabeth Ann Scarborough's The Godmother puts a new twist in contemporary fantasy with the assertion that fairy godmothers exist here-and-now and they have magical power that allow them to intervene in real-world problems. The story is grounded by being set in and around a social-services agency in Seattle and by making her central character sympathetic and realistic but the author still manages to have a lot of fun with the idea.

Rose Samson is neither fashion-model beautiful nor a twit and she happily joins forces with Felicity Fortune, a "Godmother" who demonstrates that the basic situations in Grimm's fairy tales are still relevant in our humdrum modern world. The two work with many people including a sweet and smart pair of Hansel and Gretel-like abandoned children named Hank and Gigi, a Snow White ("Sno") who is royal if you count her father's rock-star status and "Cindy," who is suing her stepmother for control of her trust fund.

In all their encounters, Rose and Felicity try to blend their magical aid with realistic human initiative and social responsibility. Scarborough's fully-realized settings and the humor built into the mix of magical solutions and grim reality make this work an entertaining and compelling read.


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This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, January 2010

E-Reads, Ltd.
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SKU: ERBAEN0097

Copyright© 1994 by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

Electronic version by WebWrights
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This is dedicated with admiration, gratitude and affection to
Anne McCaffrey,
who manages very nicely without the benefit of a wand.

   

DISCLAIMER and ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, although Seattle is real, and the King County Police and other law-enforcement agencies are real, and Washington State does indeed have a social-services department, the police and social services represented in this book are definitely not real and in no way are meant to be taken as representations of the present agencies.

The background of this book is an alternate near-future projection of the sort of things that could go wrong in human-services organizations given an uncaring government, lack of funding and unqualified leadership taken to an extreme that has not occurred in Washington or, to the extreme mentioned in the book, anywhere else.

Some states and cities may have one or more of the types of administrative problems Rose Samson faces in her job, but the department represented is a fictitious composite. The Department of Family Services does not exist in Seattle.

I've also taken liberties with the administration of the King County Police, which has separate jobs for patrolmen and detectives. Thanks to the department for allowing me to tour, and to Hank Cramer for alternative police styles assistance. Also thanks to Whatcom County Search and Rescue, especially Neil Clement, Acting Director of the Department of Emergency Management; Sergeant Ron Peterson of the Whatcom County Sheriff's Department; Jerry Darkis, Search and Rescue 4X4 coordinator and man-tracker (who helped me find just the right camp for the seven vets); and Sherill Brown of the Sheriff's Posse.

Mostly, thanks to Becky Hoff, Sandy Charon, Linden Staciokas, Sally Brown, Marilyn Berry and John Swan. Their enthusiasm for helping others was what primarily inspired this book.

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