The Spirit of Romance

About the Book

“The Spirit of Romance” is a collection of fifteen unrelated short stories. They were written over a number of years and originated from a variety of sources of inspiration. The over riding inspiration for the stories came from my all encompassing belief in the resilience and strength of the human spirit and heart. The fact that I am a hopeless romantic also had a great deal to do with the creation of my characters and their situations. In each story I attempted to take ordinary people and place them in extraordinary situations. I hoped to illustrate the awesome magnificence of the human spirit and the mighty power of true love. How the spirit of love, whether it be the love a father has for his son or the bond between soulmates can survive even death. Within its pages you will find ghosts of both a congenial and malevolent nature. You will discover children being given magical gifts. You will find enchanted potions, magical spells and supernatural intervention. I chose the name of the book, based not only on one of the story’s titles, but my strong belief in the spirit of romance.

About the Author

Mike Elliott graduated from the University of Akron with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Media Communication, with emphasis on Journalism. He also has a minor in Sociology. It was while attending the university that his writing career officially started by being a staff writer for the university newspaper. Mike is a great admirer of Rod Serling. He credits a quote from Rod as being the major influence in his writing. “I like to take ordinary people and put them in extraordinary situations.” This sums up Mike’s writing philosophy. While the actual ideas for his stories come from a variety of sources, Mike firmly asserts the characters come from within his heart claiming there is a lot of himself in each of his characters. Mike describes himself as a hopeless romantic and aspires for these sentiments to come out in his characters Mike was born in Akron, Ohio and raised in Willoughby, Ohio, before returning to Akron. He now resides in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He has a daughter, Crystal Renee, who was the inspiration for many of the stories included in this collection. Mike’s passions include music, films, classic television, reading, animals and the outdoors. Mike also enjoys sports and while he lives in Pennsylvania he remains a loyal fan to all the Ohio sports teams.