The Shield of Athena and the Ghost of a Chance

The Shield of Athena and the Ghost of a Chance wraparound cover mockup

Morgan Geddes is a junior attorney for an L.A. public interest law firm — beautiful, brilliant, and reserved to the point of secrecy. Morgan never lets anyone get too close, until she befriends Jean McCormick, a talented but cynical film student and the daughter of a woman with whom Morgan once had a torrid affair.

Their tenuous friendship takes a strange turn when Morgan finds herself haunted by the ghost of Jean’s dead lover, a man Morgan never even met. As she struggles to understand what the ghost wants from her, Morgan is forced to confront her own past — and the secrets she’s kept hidden even from Jean.

The Shield of Athena and the Ghost of a Chance is the story of an extraordinary relationship between two remarkable women and a powerful exploration of intimacy, loss, and the price of redemption.


Author’s Note

This is my third novel, originally entitled Dharma Bum and the Shield of Athena. It takes place immediately following the events of Double Yellow Line, although it can also be read as a standalone story. (About the cover.)

The front cover image is adapted (with permission) from an original photo © 2008 Frank Nettekoven. The Aegis tattoo is based on a section from the 1898 painting Pallas Athene by Gustav Klimt. The cover uses the fonts OldSansBlack, which is © 2003 Manfred Klein; euroference, which is © 2000 Tobias B. Koehler; and the Liberation Fonts (version 2.00.1 or later), which are © 2012 Red Hat, Inc., used under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1. Liberation is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc. registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and certain other jurisdictions. Red Hat is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. (None of these creators have approved or endorsed this use of their fonts, and no such approval or endorsement is implied or should be inferred.)

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This novel is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and situations of the plot are inventions of the author, and all the names, places, institutions, and settings depicted or mentioned herein are either entirely fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental. Any textual reference or allusion to any actual person (living or dead), institution, or organization, or to the products, brand names, and/or trademarks thereof, is in no way intended to suggest or imply that the work is anything other than completely fictional; to disparage any actual person, institution, or organization; or to imply that the work has been endorsed, approved, or licensed by any such person, institution, or organization.

The novel text and excerpts thereof are copyright © Aaron Severson. All rights reserved.

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