Cyclone Woman's First Novel Published

Cathy Osborne of Cyclone has been telling stories for years, mostly to the neighborhood children. After seeing "The Chronicles of Narnia," she and her co-workers thought they might write their own story involving a magical kingdom. When the others dropped out, Osborne continued, changing the initial story into her own creation.

"Beyond The Looking Glass" revolves around Bella, a Scottish heiress, who stumbles upon a hidden passageway in her ancient castle. She finds a key that takes her through a portal to a realm lost in time. Bella must learn to use her magical powers to defeat the demons threatening Bellagaria.

The book is currently available from PublishAmerica and other online stores and will be in book stores April 30.

"Beyond The Looking Glass" is my first novel," Osborne said. "I have a few short stories, but never tried to get them published. My sister-in-law read the first draft and kept telling me, if I got it into the right hands, someone would publish it.

"Actually, the book flowed, sometimes so much it seemed someone else was writing it," Osborne explained, adding she joked about having a gremlin on her shoulder who took over the keyboard.

"I had the complete manuscript, mostly edited, in less than six months. It was a lot of fun.

"My nephew, Michael, has a fantastic imagination for places, so if I got stuck on a description of a place, I would call him. He helped with the mages tower," she said.

Deilia Bragg, one of her co-workers, helped create one of the characters, Topher, the pinguinny.

"The idea for him was a stuffed animal that came out of the claw machine at work. We work at the Oceana Pizza Hut. Dee helped me with the ,thoughts, thoughs, and throughs.' For some reason, all three words came out ,though,' so Dee was my proof reader," Osborne noted.

A graduate of Oceana High School, Osborne earned an associate's degree in electronics and computer engineering from National Institute of Technology in Cross Lanes.

"Sadly, unless I want to leave the area, there are no jobs in that field here," she explained. She's been employed at Pizza Hut for the last four years.

Osborne had two children, Peggy and Carl, and has two young grandchildren.

She is currently working on the sequel to "Beyond The Looking Glass."