I’ve never been a religious person. I suppose the best way to describe my opinion on the greater mysteries of the Universe is that I believe everything is energy. Whether positive or negative, whether manipulated or left unfettered, everything is energy. Not unlike George Lucas’ concept of the Force I suppose, albeit slightly remiss of most of the mysticism. Because of that, deities never sat well with me.

However, I’ve always been fascinated with the Native American idea of totem spirits. The notion of a singular consciousness that represents a particular feeling or abstract concept always struck me as a really romantic way to view the world.

In my writing I’ve taken that concept even further by imaging what conversations with those totem spirits might sound like. In truth, totem spirits have been making their way into my work for many years now.

Let me preface this by saying this is purely fictional. At no point have I ever thought I was seeing spectral animals doling out words of wisdom. If that were the case they would have had to lock me up a long time ago. Years ago a woman I was dating read one of my stories out of context and thought one of my friends was trash-talking her behind her back. She couldn’t accept that it was a work of fiction although for some reason she didn’t seem to bristle at the fact that I thought he was a bear. But I digress.

Ursal the Bear, Bringer of Wisdom and Tallis the Wolf, Bringer of Courage both graced the pages of my Cover Stories. I had a rough draft that featured Istaqa the Coyote, Bringer of Patience but that story was cut in favor of another choice.

These totem spirit tales usually wind up springing from something I have difficulty rationalizing about. In both cases these stories related to women. Dating Advice dealt with a little freakout I had when a woman I had a couple of really great dates with appeared to be blowing me off. And Let Your Mouth Tell The Story was my way of grappling with the difficult task of kissing a woman for the first time.

As I stated in the story, I’ve always had a difficult time identifying exactly when the right time is to kiss a woman. Don’t get me wrong, I can hold my own with everything else both before and after, but zeroing in on that exact moment has always been like trying to hit a moving target to me.

Interestingly enough the events in real life unfolded almost exactly as they did in the story with the obvious exception of the conversation with the spectral wolf in the middle of the bar and his lurking under a streetlight at the end of the story. In and of itself I think the story was somewhat bland but the addition of Tallis and his accompanying mysticism and gentle support turned it into something unique and gave it a life of its own.

With the framework of the actual date, the story practically wrote itself. Even his advice seemed like something a totem spirit would say. It was sage advice in the truest sense of the words. I look forward to seeing what advice he has for me in the future and what kind of stories spring from it.

Things didn’t work out between me and our heroine. We dated for a few months but things just sort of fizzled and I haven’t spoken to her since then as I don’t make it a habit of remaining friends with my exes. I have no idea if she has read Cover Stories or not but if so, she should recognize herself instantly. And if she has, does she now bristle at the thought of a potential wolf lurking behind her the first time we kissed?

I will likely never know, but I imagine Tallis would say that it doesn’t matter. That story has already been told…