When Life is Stranger Than Fiction– The Twilight Zone Connection

[Julie Ann Shapiro]

Here's the dejavu-like press release on my soon to be published novel, Jen-Zen & One Shoe Diaries. This one press release sent out in February connected me with a real life version of my character, Brad, proving that sometimes life is stranger than fiction.

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February 3, 2007 - Encinitas, California - Fiction author, Julie Ann Shapiro shares a Twilight Zone phone call that's a story worthy of being on the Oprah show. "I felt a Dejavu twinge when Randall Louis Hamilton, the famed photographer said, "I have the One Shoe Diaries - Photo Collection." I stopped breathing for a second. "You what... no it can't be, that's the same name as my novel, One Shoe Diaries? In it Brad [the main character] obsesses with photographing singular shoes, the ones he's see everywhere. He calls it Shoe-osophy."

*** Photographer, Randall Louis Hamilton responded, "That's me...I also photograph the solo shoes I find in my journeys where they lie." A mutual pause..."It's both of us." From two separate coasts, both Randall Louis Hamilton and Julie Ann Shapiro shared an artistic vision, albeit independently. Neither artist knew about the other's work or the many parallels that existed between them. Simultaneously in Florida where Randy lives and in Southern California where Julie lives, a fascination with the "one shoe sightings" emerged. Both artists wondered about the untold story of the singular shoes. Julie imagined a table top book of the shoe photos to go along with her novel; the very photographic collection Randy is amassing. The One Shoe Diaries™ - Photo Collection will be in its first gallery showing in March 10th in Pensacola, Florida. Not so different than the photographer in Julie's novel, who also wound up touring the galleries. Randy also imagined people sharing stories about where and when they noticed a singular shoe sighting. When it all materialized in real life, both Julie and Randy felt like they'd stumbled into the Twilight Zone.

Randy states, "When I came upon Julie's online announcement of releasing a book named The One Shoe Diaries™ I was both excited and disconcerted. After speaking for a bit on the phone we just knew there had to be a way we could collaborate on this shared vision."

About Jen-Zen & The One Shoe Diaries ™ -The Novel
Everyone has seen one lost shoe on the side of the road. After experiencing Jen-Zen & The One Shoe Diaries™, you will wonder about its untold story.

Haunted by the memory of a lost girlfriend, a successful photographer finds himself first fascinated then obsessed with shoes – but only lost shoes! In an off beat love story, Brad struggles with grief and finds whimsy in a world where lost shoes keep popping up, challenging his sanity and the very notion of what makes the heart tick.

Jen-Zen & The One Shoe Diaries ™ will be published in the fall of 2007 by SynergEbooks, http://www.synergebooks.com/ .

About the One Shoe Diaries ™ - Photo Collection Randall Louis Hamilton and his wife Sharon in October 2004 lost their residence located in Pensacola Beach, Florida due to Hurricane Ivan. Since then they have been touring the U.S. in their motor home collecting photos and stories. The single shoes littering the highways really caught their imagination. It was their idea to chronicle their adventures through the one shoe photos, combined with the stories surrounding each discovery and offer them in a coffee table book titled, The One Shoe Diaries™ Photo Collection.


Contact Information
The collaborative efforts of both photographer, Randy Hamilton and Julie Ann Shapiro are profiled on the One Shoe Diaries™ website, http://www.oneshoediaries.com.

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