A third-generation native Arizonan, Susan Wells Bennett was born and raised in Phoenix. As a child, she wrote a letter to then-President Carter that was published in a local daily newspaper. From then on, she wanted to be a writer when she grew up – that, or President. At sixteen, she left Arizona to attend Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri, for two years. Returning to Arizona, she attended Arizona State University as an English major. She spent a fair amount of the next decade trying to escape the Southwest, but never succeeded.Susan worked in and around the real estate and home-building industries for the majority of the last two decades, a career that evolved into a position as a writer and editor for one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. In 2009, with the support of her husband, she began writing novels fulltime. To date, she has completed four novels and is working on her fifth.She has no plans to run for political office in the near future.


Susan came to us with four complex and profound stories, Circle City Blues, The Thief of Todays and Tomorrows, The Prophet's Wives and, coming in early 2011, An Unassigned Life.  Circle City Blues is already available through Amazon.com and all the usual digital booksellers.  The Thief of Todays and Tomorrows will be on the shelf later this month.  Welcome, Susan.  After all those years in Real Estate and construction, we're so glad you've found a home here at Inknbeans.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Susan's Circle City Blues:

1)  Mac on his own after dropping off his wife at the home of her new lover:

I was wrong – it was possible to screw up a burger. The meat was over-salted and over-cooked. The lettuce looked like it should have seen the inside of a trash barrel sometime last month. And the fries tasted like rancid oil. After a few bites, I pushed the whole mess away and went to the register to pay my bill. The girl in front of me in line was rail thin and had a black eye. I could see tear streaks on her cheeks. Her voice had a high pitch to it that reminded me of Kirsten when she was a teenager.

“Did you enjoy your meal, sir?” the cashier, a middle-aged woman, asked. One glance at her expression told me she didn’t really care about the answer. The question was an enforced policy of the truck stop corporation.

If I’d been with Kirsten, this poor woman would have gotten an earful. However, I wasn’t in the mood for a fight. “Fine. Thanks.” I paid my bill and left the building.

The girl who had been in front of me at the register was sitting on the ground next to the newspaper boxes, dejectedly fingering a tarnished silver bracelet. I did something else I wouldn’t have done if Kirsten had been with me: I talked to her. “You okay?”

She looked up at me, surprised. “Um, hi. Yeah, I’m okay.”

I smiled at her and hesitated briefly before turning to walk toward my truck. She was at my arm a second later.

“You need some company?”

I kicked myself mentally; I should have known she was a lot lizard. Apparently, the shock of being dumped by my wife had made me stupid. “No, thank you,” I said, picking up my pace.

She was small enough that she had trouble keeping up; she was half-jogging beside me. “Please? I promise you’ll have fun!” I glanced down in time to see the hideous smile she flashed at me – more of a grimace, really.

“No,” I said firmly. She stopped following, but I could hear her sobbing as I put distance between us. I stopped and turned back to her, leaving a gap of ten feet between us. “What’s wrong?”

2)  Mac talking to his sister about the disintegration of his marriage:


She stuck her tongue out at me and ducked into where she and Zack kept the nesting boxes. The doorway was low even for her, so I just leaned against the exterior instead of following. Her voice echoed when she said, “Knowing Kirsten, she didn’t just leave you, did she? She left you for someone, right?”

I sighed quietly and said, “Yes. Sir Kent.”

Karen snorted. “She left you for another role-playing nerd?”

“Hey now!”

“Sorry, but the girl’s sick. Clearly, she wants a boy, not a man.” As an afterthought, she said, “Besides, you stopped playing D&D years ago.”

In Karen’s world, Dungeons & Dragons was completely separate from Warcraft or Guild Wars. She didn’t understand that it was basically the same thing, just in a more sophisticated package. I didn’t enlighten her. “Where’s Zack?”

She emerged from the coup holding two eggs, one in each hand. “He and Hope are off picking out a pumpkin for Halloween.”

“Why isn’t Carson with them? I don’t think I would have wanted to miss that when I was a kid.”

“Carson’s different than you were, that’s for sure. He thinks carving pumpkins is wasteful. He asked Hope to pick one out for him so that he can ship it to Africa to help the starving children.” She laughed. “And he wants to be a princess for Halloween.”

“Oh,” I said, working very hard to keep my expression neutral. “How does Zack feel about that?”

She mimed air quotes and said, “At least he doesn’t want to be a fairy.”

I couldn’t hold the laugh inside, and Karen started chuckling as well.

When her laughter subsided, she shrugged and said, “What can I do? He’s my son and I’ll love him no matter what. Zack feels the same way.”

Want more?  Pick up Circle City Blues for just $.99 right now.  See the menu board for links to Amazon and other purchasing options.

Frustrated novelist Tim Chase just thought of the best plot idea he has had in three years. The problem is he's dead.

Now he's stuck in the afterlife as an unassigned soul with two goals in mind: getting his last and greatest novel published and moving on.

Why can George see me? he thought. Pulling the El Pad from his pocket, he read the answer:

Some living humans, particularly those suffering from a chemical imbalance of the brain, are able to see and interact with you. Unfortunately, this imbalance frequently leads others to label these individuals as insane.

Great, he thought. If I want to hang out in an asylum, I can have all the company I want.

Yes, answered the El Pad.

  Now available where e books are sold.  Coming soon to print.

The Prophet's Wives - XZ29J

This coupon is good until 21 January 2011

Lazarus Dale can teach you how to reach your full potential through his Learning to Listen Well seminars. You, too, can have a beautiful wife, a successful career, a stylish mansion -- all you have to do is follow his instructions for a perfect life.

Available in most digital formats.

Check menu board for links and prices.

When Francis DeLucia returns home at the end of WWII, he encounters a job and housing market crowded with other returning veterans. Desperate to support his growing family, Francis accepts a job from a suspected Mob boss. Katie, his young Irish wife, does her best to support her husband. When she realizes what he may be doing to support them though, she makes a life-altering decision.

Get it at Amazon, Smashwords and most other digital booksellers $2.99

Also available in print.  Check the menu for links and prices.

When the love of his life leaves him for an online knight, Declan "Mac" MacDougal moves through the seven stages of grief while crisscrossing America: rescuing damsels, advising the lovelorn, reading fantasy fiction and trying to decide where he wants to pull of the road and live his life again. On the way he loses his best friend, a set of wedding rings, his money and possibly his mind, but learns the road to recovery is the next exit after The Circle City Blues

Amazon, Smashwords and most other digital booksellers $2.99