Tag: fiction

Release: 2021 BOULD Awards Anthology Available Now!

“In this fourth annual edition, you’ll find 100 of the weirdest, most outrageous, wackiest, scariest, puzzlingest (is that really a word?) short stories submitted for this anthology in 2021.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be shocked, scared, and maybe even perflutzed by some of the stories you’ll find, in many different genres and styles. But with nearly every story, we know you’ll be surprised.

But now it’s time for you to quit reading these promo bits, brace yourself and dig in. Have fun!”

I have two stories featured in this anthology, A Mother’s Heart and Rare Reception ~ and was amazed to learn that out of the 100 stories featured in this year’s anthology, A Mother’s Heart was awarded 2nd place! This year’s volume is so thick that the print version had to be split into two editions, but there’s a Kindle version available!

Find here.

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Recent Story Acceptances

My story Tracked will appear in the Bloody Good Horror Anthology, which is expected to release this winter. This is a more recent piece, written during the last year, and is the first horror story I’ve written in half a decade. Tracked is also unique in that it’s the first Young Adult short story I’ve ever written, but fear not – the teenage characters don’t make this story any less dark and disturbing! I had so much fun writing this one that it led to the inception of what is perhaps my most spinetingling, toe-curling horror short ever (also YA), a piece I’m really proud of and hope to be able to share with you soon!

My piece Love Blind has been accepted by the quarterly literary magazine Third Wednesday for their winter issue. Love Blind is a work of flash fiction that I wrote several years ago and recently ‘rediscovered’ in my files. This short mixes what I hope is a surprise ending with a little dark, tongue-in-cheek humor.

Two more flash fiction stories rediscovered in the dark corners of my file drive, A Mother’s Heart and Rare Reception, have both been accepted by The BOULD Awards Anthology. Both pieces lean towards the satirical. A Mother’s Heart is dark (do you see a theme here?) and sardonic and does not end up where you’re expecting! Rare Reception is more of a straight-up humor piece that I still clearly remember writing back when I accepted a job position that required me to help answer the phones. I hate answering phones. You have to find a way to make it fun. (Trust me – you do NOT want me answering your phone!) Expect to see the BOULD Awards Anthology late this November.

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Publication Announcement: Short Story Anthology

If you’re a subscriber to my newsletter, this won’t be a surprise for you.

Last year I was contacted by an acquisitions editor in Russia who had stumbled upon a story of mine that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, wanting to know if I’d be willing to consider working with the publishing company she represented on a book. They were specifically interested if I had more short fiction featuring Detective Shaw, the main character from the piece It’s All About The Cat.

Well, I did. Detective Shaw is a reoccurring character who’s stories have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies. But I felt a little sketchy about the offer, because, at least in my experience, this isn’t the way it usually goes . . . it seemed to me like it could have been a scam.

It turns out it wasn’t!

The publishing company purchased the use of all my previously published pieces featuring Detective Shaw to use in a book intended to help Russian speakers learn to speak English, and vice versa. This would be achieved, they explained, by presenting the stories in both languages. It was simple enough on my end – all I had to do was sit back while they performed the translation, the formatting and design. Easy peasy.

And now . . . the book was just released and I have my contributor copies in hand!!!

But it got me thinking . . . why not release a version in the US?

So guess what? I am!

Check back later this week for the cover reveal! And if you don’t feel like waiting, join my mailing list and be among the first to check it out and get a copy for FREE!

Click here to JOIN NOW!

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Monday (Mini #BookReview) Madness

This week I read:

Secrets, lies, and betrayal? Yes, please! Honestly, I wasn’t feeling this one at first. It took me a while to warm up to the characters, and even the plot – an estranged family full of secrets – didn’t seem like it was going to deliver the payout I’ve come to expect from McManus. Then the twists started rolling in like waves during a storm, relentlessly crashing against me – and forcing me to change my mind. Not my favorite by the author, but way more than I initially expected. She’s sure to blindside you at least once with this well thought out mystery.

The YA Silence Of The Lambs

I think the cover and the title of this one don’t do it justice. I was expecting a somewhat hokey teen slasher. What I got was the YA The Silence Of The Lambs! Creepy, suspenseful, and atmospheric in an eerie Hannibal Lecter perfect villain that you can’t quite hate kind of way! I will say that while I love the use of an incomplete sentence for effect, this author does at times take it to extremes. But, I got much more than I bargained for with this one, so no complaints here. So good!

I just started:

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Monday (Mini Book Review) Madness

This week I read:

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I picked this one up, then almost set it down after a few pages. I didn’t like the writing and could tell right away that at least one of the characters was going to rub me the wrong way, but I had just seen the title on a list with many books that I had enjoyed, so I kept reading. It never shocked me like the cover blurb promises, but it ended up being decent with a nice twist. 

Mexican Gothic
This was a #BlameItOnLitsy read because this book is getting so much hype right now. While it was definitely creepy with well developed characters, an eerie setting, and plenty of atmosphere, I found that at times the descriptive writing broke up the suspense with all its details. Good, but not as good as I was hoping.

I just started:

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ARC Review: Foreshadow by Emily X.R. Pan & Nova Ren Suma, et al

48768420From Goodreads: Thirteen Short Stories from Bold New YA Voices & Writing Advice from YA Icons

Created by New York Times bestselling authors Emily X. R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma, Foreshadow is so much more than a short story collection. A trove of unforgettable fiction makes up the beating heart of this book, and the accompanying essays offer an ode to young adult literature, as well as practical advice to writers.

Featured in print for the first time, the thirteen stories anthologized here were originally released via the buzzed-about online platform Foreshadow. Ranging from contemporary romance to mind-bending fantasy, the Foreshadow stories showcase underrepresented voices and highlight the beauty and power of YA fiction. Each piece is selected and introduced by a YA luminary, among them Gayle Forman, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jason Reynolds, and Sabaa Tahir.

What makes these memorable stories tick? What sparked them? How do authors build a world or refine a voice or weave in that deliciously creepy atmosphere to bring their writing to the next level? Addressing these questions and many more are essays and discussions on craft and process by Nova Ren Suma and Emily X. R. Pan.

This unique compilation reveals and celebrates the magic of reading and writing for young adults.

My Review: Featuring 13 short stories by underrepresented and ‘fresh’ voices, this book has an interesting format. Appealing to both readers and writers, each tale is followed by a short discussion focusing on an element of craft that was well developed in the proceeding story. Writing prompts/exercises are also sprinkled throughout the book, providing opportunities to apply the craft knowledge gleaned from the pages. It’s an interesting approach, made more so by the exposure to new writers with such unique perspectives.

The stories themselves represent a gamut of genres, from fantasy to speculative, mild horror to contemporary. One of the things I found most interesting about this book was the way the authors’ diverse backgrounds shaped the worlds they created. I enjoyed the stories and the discussions about craft, but it wasn’t my favorite in terms of either short story anthologies or books on writing.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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