Cranford Author Publishes Young Adult Novel

When Tomas Priano sought to publish his first children’s novel in 2010, he never imagined the odds that he would face. Although he was acting as caregiver for his 89-year-old and 92-year-old mother and father, he still managed to find time every day to break away for a few hours every day to write and edit his 100-page novella Ephemeral’s Beautiful Nightmare, now found in digital format on the Kindle and the Nook and in hard copy on Lulu.

“It was an amazing feeling,” Priano said. “I am still really excited to have this finally come together.”

The novella, echoing Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland from the dark comedic perspective of Roald Dahl, follows to adventure of a little girl name Ephemeral and her eccentric group of friends, her dolls that come to life in her dreams. Ephemeral awakens one morning to find her parents “sleeping the sleep of the sleepy,” unable to be woken up by normal actions. After an explanation from the intelligent and veracious Doc Green, Ephemeral and her friends find out that Mrs. Goodnight disappeared and ran away with Morning.  Now, dreams normally encompassed by frolicking through meadows of white daisies and playing with buttery butterflies transforms quickly into a place of terror where even the most innocuous-looking place could be ready to strike at any moment. Ephemeral and The Chorus of Dolls, led by Doc Green, must go out into this new land known as Nightmare to find Mrs. Goodnight and bring back Morning to wake everyone from an eternal sleep.

The gothic modern-day fairytale Ephemeral’s Beautiful Nightmare started in 1996, when Priano attended a writing class at Barnes and Noble in Clark, NJ to learn more about structuring children’s stories.

“I wrote the beginning poem introducing the dolls and thought that it needed something more,” Priano said. “Eventually, I just kept thinking of this made-up world where the dolls came to life and have to face different trials in this place called Nightmare. Finally, Ephemeral’s Beautiful Nightmare was born.”

Priano put the poem away, focused on taking care of his aging parents while making a living as a golf instructor at the Plainfield West Nine in Plainfield, NJ.  The task of writing soon became harder and almost left his mind. Waking up at odd hours to cater to his parents’ needs, being home on a regular basis and suffering from a disconnect from the outer world, while fulfilling work, was taxing.

“Writing would have been more than it was worth,” Priano said. “As much as I wanted to write books, I couldn’t because I had to take care of my parents.”

After a few years had past, Priano found a flier advertising a local writing group but found that it was full by the time he tried to join. Instead of being dismayed, he met with a group of other writers who shared a similar fate and they created the Cranford Writing Group together. 

While the group helped, Priano found that it was not for him. Instead, he broke away but with a new outlook at writing and managed to dedicate time each day to his story, along with his other writing.

“I still have a hard time believing that I am finally done,” Priano said. “Now, I have three books out in publication, along with Golf for Baseball Players and Stop Looking at the Ball, Start Playing Golf, but this is really the big one.”

Priano incorporated his vastly different interests in his book, including life lessons, neurolinguistics programming (NLP), psychology and his love for classic movies and music.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, TOMAS PRIANO:

Tomas Priano is a Certified NLP Practitioner, dog and animal lover and Certified USGTF golf teaching professional. He is the author of several golf-related book including, Stop Looking at The Ball, Start Playing Golf and Golf Tips for Baseball Players. He had written the beginning poem, “Ephemeral’s Dolls” in 1996 after attending a writing class dedicated to children's writing. He is not sure where that poem came from. Priano decided that the poem deserved to be fleshed out into a full novel. After fourteen years of that idea on the shelf, he started writing and re-writing. He released his first full-length YA novel, Ephemeral’s Beautiful Nightmare, in 2012, a work that lends to both young adults and adults looking to take a journey of the self.

Tomas lives in New Jersey. Before his worldly wonderings he was a caregiver for five years to his 89-year-old mother and 92-year-old father and his cat, Pretty, in Cranford, NJ.  Every so often, you can find him still teaching golf on Saturdays or Sunday morning at Plainfield West Nine in Plainfield, NJ, or walking the beach at the Jersey Shore, Ocean Grove, NJ.