Dream Brother takes its name from the Jeff Buckley song, and tells its story through short prose pieces, poetry, and collage.

"This unusual love story set in [West Sonoma County] focuses on the relationship between a 15-year-old boy and the narrator, a somewhat older woman. The boy is born under mythic circumstances in a haunted Petaluma farmhouse: 'One afternoon the ghost kicked their dog, and soon after they moved to Occidental, where rent was cheaper and the ghosts were friendlier.' As the narrator falls deeply in love, she grapples with the emotional and moral issues involved. Meanwhile, the west county works its fey woodland magic, confronting the couple with unicorns and UFOs and police search helicopters." --The Sonoma County Independent, Sept. 16-22, 1999

"Mesmerizing." --Amazon.com reader review

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Excerpt:

Eventually I reached the grove. The footsteps behind me had come and gone, and I eventually thought to ignore them. Up the hillside I saw a form, white, gilded, like a foggy silver shadow between the trees. I thought at first it might be Adam, his pale boy face and lion's mane of white-gold hair stark against the growing dusk. But when I waved, the image did not respond, come forward; it kind of melted into a nearby tree. I walked closer, unable to get too close because of the instability of the ground, finally resigning myself to a picnic bench on the edge of the grove nearest the hill. I looked, I stared into that white shimmering presence, watching it glow back at me with similar curiosity.

Finally I heard the boys approach making gun-noises and aiming sticks into the darkening woods, but I didn't move for fear of scaring off whatever I was seeing in the twilight. But when I turned back to see it again, the shape, the whiteness was gone. Utterly. What remained was an almost-whisper, an almost-promise, but one I could not comprehend. I sat in silence, unable yet to move, hoping Tyler and Adam would see me as they approached. They almost walked past me entirely when I finally managed to get up and confront them. "Where were you?" Adam asked. I pointed to where I'd been, still dumb from the experience. "I looked over there just a minute ago. Are you sure you were there?" I nodded. "Maybe you were just invisible," he laughed.

We crossed the creek, using only the last remnants of grey-blue light to guide us. Once on the gravel path, Adam's hand in mine felt like an anchor for me, as if I'd sail away but for the firmness in his grip. I gazed into the blue-black sky, watching bats and owls swoop out for their morning stretch, walking blindly towards Adam's house. Once there, we sat in the yard and I continued to look heavenward, unable to speak or explain what was on my mind. Finally Adam whispered in my ear, "Are you all right?" I nodded "Did something happen to you in the woods?" I nodded again.