Trafford Publishing: Dream Catcher: The First Story

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Dream Catcher: The First Story

by Robin Harris

149 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0085; ISBN 1-55212-686-2; US$18.50, C$20.95, EUR15.00, £10.50

This book is a fictional adventure about reclaiming the soul's dreams. A refreshing change from traditional self-help.

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about the book about the author sample excerpts catalogue info

About the Book

The story begins almost like a fairy tale in the upper realm where the Collector called WHISPER, a frail, middle-aged, timid looking angel, is sitting at the East Bank. He is approached by FLEETING THOUGHT who has come to enlist his help in rescuing her little girl from a tragically unfulfilling life. We soon realize that this is not a child's fairy tale when we find out the little girl is a 37 year old named CARMEN; a single African American woman who appears to have a very successful life. The only problem is her life is void of passion, purpose, and personal power. Whisper listens to Fleeting Thought's plea but is convinced that another more powerful Collector would be better suited for the job. Fleeting Thought announces that she needs the whispering one, the one who won't draw the attention of the Slayers and by the time they notice, the other Collectors, Faith, Passion, Purpose, and Vision will be poised for battle.
Carmen is submerged in her work life with her normal persona called "attitude". Carmen has forgotten what makes her happy, she simply knows her present life "ain't it". PVS Corporation is a workplace that has come under the direct influence of Slayers. The company is going through accelerated deformation rather than transformation. It has restructured and reorganized itself in to a state of utter chaos. The moral and productivity is continuously being eroded by bureaucratic policy and shallow decision-making. As the impact of each bad decision becomes apparent, the management reacts by implementing deeper budget cuts which result in layoffs and additional workloads for the employees left behind.
The Slayers FEAR, PESSIMISM, DISTRACTION, and ANGER are present. Even though they operate unseen by the human eye, just as the Collectors, their impact on the human psyche is clearly evident. These four Slayers control the work environment at PVS. Fear is the dominant Slayer in this region. At first, Fear doesn't appear to be a menacing demon. This is the natural quality of all Slayers, but when in full form, his long flowing black hair, dark eyes, leathery skin, gripping claws, and unmerciful scowl will bring out the fear even in the other Slayers. Pessimism is a male demon, a gentleman type who provides logic and reason about why things will never get better, will probably get worse, so why bother. Distraction is a femme fatale demon. She is beautiful, seductive, and conniving. She offers every opportunity to forget, loose focus, and enter into a state of perpetual procrastination. Anger is the Slayer that lays low, simmering and then erupts into a raging fit. Pessimism and Distraction are hanging around Carmen's office stirring up sullen feelings of hopelessness. After awhile they get bored and return to their home in the lower realm. Whisper and Fleeting Thought watch the enemy at work and when the coast is clear they enter the time space continuum where humans dwell.
LINGLING, Carmen's Chinese American officemate and WERNER, their white co-worker, begin their first exploration of what makes them happy. This conversation takes place under the whispering guidance of Whisper and the intermittent impulses of Fleeting Thought. Dreams long forgotten find a way to emerge in a conversation that just would not have occurred on an ordinary day at PVS. At PVS there are four kinds of employees; the pissed-off, the resigned, the happy-anyway, and the pretenders. The latter is where BLAKE SMITH shows up in full effect. Blake has drifted up the corporate ladder by riding the coattail of associates. He does god-only-knows-what and draws a six figure income for doing it.
Each character has a different story constituted by something to be lost or something to be won. Their stories are woven together over a period that spans almost a year's time. The Slayers will do all in their power to slay the dream and the dreamer while the Collector's will do all in their power to help the characters reclaim their soul's dream. It is a fast paced adventure, an emotional roller coaster, and much more. Once you have read their story, you are motivated to begin to re-write your own. Also included is a dynamic workbook, which takes you step by step through the process of reclaiming the soul's dream and living an extraordinary life.

About the Author

Robin Harris is the youngest of nine children. She has been writing since she learned to write, or so it seems. She has written poetry, prose, songs lyrics, fiction, non-fiction, movie scripts, etc. Her inclination to write was so innate, the gift long remained transparent to her and therefore underutilized. Robin spent a great part of her life searching for a niche that could contribute to the world at large and offer her a sense of personal fulfillment. Robin is currently completing a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology at Wayne State University. Her area of concentration is Human Performance Technology. Dream Catcher: The First Story, the book and workbook, was her first written work to merge her knowledge gained from her graduate studies with her natural ability to write inspirational stories. Dream Catcher: The First Story was birthed from her realization that our gifts, talents, skills, and inclinations intersect in a time and space that can open up the experience of living an extraordinary life.

Sample Excerpts

Excerpt One - Prologue

Vision paced the heavenly spaces, looking from the past to the present to the future. Every now and then his wings would flutter as if he were going to expand them but suddenly decided otherwise. He was fit to be tied over the distended kingdom that his arch nemesis, Fear, had erected. The humans were loosing their sense of vision and Vision himself was bound by their lack of faith, passion, and purpose. He closed his eyes to the angst swelling within. Without his presence, the humans would shrink into nothingness and Fear would reign.
He stopped ruminating, and became himself again. His wings stretched out decisively. He saw and opening. "Of course," he said with quiet resolve. "I must consult with the Dream Catcher." And so the story begins ...

From the Chapter "The Slayer's Network"

Over the next three weeks, work was little more than a series of political brush fires. PVS had prematurely launched two major software packages that had not successfully passed beta testing and the company stock dropped 20%. Quiet Storm moved among the Board of Directors. One by one they began to react and shortly thereafter, the CEO announced a re-engineering strategy that was sure to leave a significant number of employees permanently displaced. Quiet Storm was inviting a torrential downpour to rain on the lives of PVS' employees, contractors, and vendors alike. Public scrutiny had imposed a sell-and-bail mentality on PVS' shareholders, and PVS was large enough that this was going to have a rippling effect on certain segments of the economy. Quiet Storm laughed triumphantly - so little effort would ultimately yield so much destruction and all she had to do was set the ball in motion.
The easy-going Andrew Caplietti was replaced at HR by his cutthroat underling, Brian Wood, and life at PVS turned into corporate hell. Fear struck at every opportunity. Pessimism uprooted any hope of a full recovery. Anger hacked his way into those who left as well as those who stayed. The corporation was infected on a large scale. Werner made enemies because he refused to be anything but happy. "Sure, this is awful," he'd say, "but look at the bright side, it's still good to be alive. I don't know about you, but I feel blessed."
Pessimism took Werner's positive outlook as a personal insult, and began wondering what it would take to bring the cancer out of remission. "How blessed would he feel then?" he scoffed. He tried to pass through Werner, but the man's energy was so focused he could only stay in for a fraction of a second. Even Werner's cells were happy.
"Looks like I'm going to have to come back to this one. In the meantime, I'm sure I can find someone more vulnerable to destroy." He combed the halls of PVS looking for a candidate, and eventually settled on a man he found lounging by the drinking fountain. Something about the man's lazy posture caught Pessimism's eye, and he moved in for a closer inspection. "Blake Smith. He's perfect, absolutely negatively perfect." Blake Smith, an independent advertising consultant in his late thirties, had been with PVS for almost 7 years. Blake had a wife and three small children and he knew he had a bright future ahead of him as long as he remained the golden gopher of William Harman, VP of Marketing and Sales. He spent as much time kissing butt and sloughing off as he did working. 'Sycophant' was the word Werner applied to Blake's disgusting ability to suck up to senior management.
Whisper stayed out of the mainstream and traveled the undercurrents. He was shocked by the complex network the Slayers had erected since they had targeted PVS. Fleeting Thought did what she could to help by nurturing whatever positive thoughts she detected, but Pessimism had done his seed work well, and most of those who were strong enough to resist Pessimism's lure were updating their resumes or waiting for lucrative buy-out packages. Werner infected a few stray souls with his hopeful optimism, and Lingling, who worked closely with him, decided it was a good time for her and her husband Xane to have a second child.
Whisper stayed close to Carmen, but he knew he was not ready to take on the Slayers yet, so he only spoke to her in the dreamtime. It was safer that way. It didn't keep her from being affected by the negativity in the atmosphere, but it did keep the dream seed alive in her subconscious mind.
It rested there, undisturbed at the bottom of the trough, for over a month, until the day she realized her cut had grown out and she needed to go see her stylist, Vicki, again.

Catalogue Information