Shade: Respite and Risk

Shade_compressedEpisode Two of The Roaring Redwoods is out! And I wouldn’t be doing my capitalist, entrepreneur, publishing-is-a-business best if I didn’t tell you to buy it on Amazon, Nook, or Kobo.

(You can get a Kindle app for your phone or computer too.)

Okay, pitch over, where was I?

This episode is titled Shade.

I almost titled the whole thing something to do with Shade as the  concept of shade is a big part of the story.

Throwing Shade is slang for being bitchy. As in, blocking the light from shining on someone else.

Shade offers respite from heat, glare. We seek shade. Shade can offer life to what otherwise could not grow. There are entire species of animals and plants that can only thrive in shady areas.

But shade also can conceal, as things retreat into the darkness shade offers.

Shade can also contribute to decay and rot as some Light is essential.

Shade also moves. It is not guaranteed or necessarily what we could term permanent.  It’s shady in one spot and then the sun moves and you’re feeling the sun on your skin.  And there you have “shady characters”.

I think Joe is shady. In all the good and bad ways. Even Helen, who I wrote with as much light as anyone I could imagine, has her moments of shade. Charlotte didn’t cast shade, but she lived (and died) in it. William seems to not only make shade but need its shadows too.

Any thoughts on shade in your life?