How do you as an author decide when something is a series? For one thing, when you just can’t leave your characters behind. For another, when that dratted inspiration imp continually pokes you in the ribs and says, “Keep going!”

That dratted imp certainly nagged me ceaselessly. “You can’t keep a demon caged for long,” it said. I said, “Yeah, I guess not.” And the imp said, “So continue the story.” And I thought, yeah, I guess I should. After all, I ended the first book with a teaser for a second book, so I sorta built up reader expectations. And slaying demons is kinda fun—at least, in terms of writing about it. Can’t say I have any real life experience in such matters, unless you count the postman (but that’s our secret, and it was his fault for bringing us too many bills).

So how does one slay a demon bent on destroying the world and teaming up with a creature known as the Spirit of Yfel? And what the heck does a volcano have to do with it? You’ll need to read the book to see.

Available from these sites so far:
Goodreads | Amazon Kindle | Amazon paperback | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub | Everand | Apple Books | Kobo | Smashwords | Thalia (German) | Vivlio (French/English)

Sadly, the only site that is showing the book series correctly as of the posting of this article is Amazon. See it here:

The Wiccan Tales series

Other book selling sites show only this one book or include another author’s book as part of my series. I’m told that will be corrected in time, but it shows why Amazon dominates the book market (and thus can jerk us around as much as it wants).

The audio version will be out in a month or two.

About the novel:

Lord Edward Mondall II, grandson of Lady Krystaline Mondall, follows in her footsteps by setting Nergal the Destroyer free of his captivity in the arms of Druantia, the Spirit of the Trees. Nergal, Maeve Darke who was also set free from her captivity, along with the Spirit of Yfel, author of Ye Grimoire of Yfel, and a host of foul creatures engage once again in attempting to destroy the human race. Edward learns in his grandmother’s diary that only the Silver Sword of Deliverance can harm the demon, subduing his evil. The catch: Edward doesn’t know where the sword is hidden. He also discovers that his friend Wally has been possessed by the Knowledge of the Spirit of Yfel. The plot thickens further when Edward’s girlfriend Phyllida becomes a target in Nergal’s thirst for world domination. The chase takes them to various locations, including the Taupō Super Volcano in New Zealand.

Ebook, paperback, and audio book covers

No AI generated images here! Just me playing around in Photoshop Elements 10. The ebook cover is actually the one I do second, the audio book being first. Not sure why, but it just ends up being easier that way, at least for me.

The paperback cover is always the most fun and challenging. I start with the ebook design and then spread across to what will be the back side of the book. The sky was the hard part. I needed to keep things dark. I also had to make a slight adjustment for the D2D version to avoid my bio text being too close to the ISBN box that they generate. Their requirements are a little different than KDP’s. And, as with A Very Bookish Christmas, I included my mugshot. Hope it’s not too scary for you (and no glowing eyes).

Audio books always take more time to become available, as those of you who record your own surely know, but the cover ends up being the first one I do, as mentioned above. This one went through several versions before I ended up with the final (hubby approved, of course).

The Wiccan Tales 2: Return of Nergal by A.C. Cargill (c) 2026, all rights reserved

[ My Author Website ]

[ My Books on Amazon ]

[ My Books on Barnes & Noble ]

My other six books (so far):

I ask a small favor: if you’ve bought and/or read any of these, please post a review here or elsewhere online.

Where to Buy:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub | Books-A-Million | Everand | Apple Books | Apple Books Audio | Kobo | Smashwords | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable | Thriftbooks

Audible Links

Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales
The Stardust Alliance and More
The Wiccan Tales
The Greeting Card Girl’s Christmas
A Very Bookish Christmas
From the Files of Fontaine Investigations

Having had two items rejected in a week (a manuscript for a novel that is twice as long as my current publisher will accept and a short story for an anthology), I thought I would pass these thoughts along. (Coincidentally, posted this article a couple days ago.)

Oh, and I am including the rejected story and would love to hear your thoughts on it, considering that it was written quickly to address my understanding of the anthology’s theme, that it is far too short (no chance to really develop the situation and the characters) in accordance with the anthology’s submission criteria, that I took time out from four works in progress to write the story, and that I wasn’t too comfortable with it to begin with.

And that brings me to…

Why You Get Rejected

First, let’s address why you send something off in the first place. For novels and novellas, it is because you think the publisher is in tune with what you have written, at least if you have done your research. For anthologies, it is because you have written something that seems to fit what they specify for their issue. So being rejected is partly because your piece actually did not fit what they were seeking. The other part, of course, is that your writing didn’t strike a cord, was sloppy, or otherwise didn’t measure up. (Not sure where my story fits here since I got no pertinent feedback.)

Second, more and more publishers and anthology editors want you to be an extension of them, not yourself. (There are exceptions, of course, and I’m not naming anyone here since it is a wide problem, not confined to any particular person or persons.) Same goes for literary agents (more on that in a future article). We writers face enough challenges, such as AI generated text and various tools. Now we face people controlling the publishing (again with some exceptions such as my publisher) who only want to deal with certain genres, ideas, themes, tropes, etc., that they already think are good or that just suit their personal taste. We writers are being squeezed into straitjackets.

Standing Tough Against Rejections

Look at rejections the same way you would a gym workout. Like sit-ups, pull-ups, lifting weights, and aerobics, these rejections toughen you up, inure you to disappointment. Do your research (time consuming and not foolproof), which will in itself toughen you up and may inspire you to incline toward cynicism, to be sure you are sending out to people who will at least be interested in the type of thing you are writing.

And don’t abandon that rejected item. Share it on Substack or your author site, save it for another submission opportunity, put it with other stories you have written and get it published as a book (as was the case with my first two books), but don’t shove it off in a lonely corner.

The Story

I may not be totally happy with this, but I still like it overall. (Just so you know, “Duirdhi” is pronounced “Dweer-dee” and is a name I made up.)

Your comments always welcome.

The Ghost of Duirdhi Bay

“That winter blast continues, folks. Current temperature here in Jake’s Bluff is nine degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill of minus twenty. Today’s high is expected to be around twenty-five degrees, and the wind chill will be around five degrees,” announced Babs, the woman who reported the weather every half hour from the local station on the radio in Tony’s bedroom.

The unusually cold weather for Duirdhi Bay on the coast of Washington State had lasted almost two months. Tony knew he had to go out fishing anyway. It was his livelihood. His father had been a fisherman and had taught his son the trade—forced it, actually, since Tony had wanted to play the piano. No, not just play. To be a concert pianist. But his father had snorted at the very idea and said, “What’s music? A man’s gotta eat.” He and Tony had then gone out in his boat The Wave Queen. Tony had given up on the idea of pursuing music, having missed enough school where the music teacher had been trying to help him. And Tony’s mother had died of flu when he was a boy, so he had no support there.

Now Tony was thirty-three and living alone in the small house with its weather beaten wood siding where he had been raised. About a year ago Tony had been too sick to go out with his father, so the older man had gone out alone and never come back. The Wave Queen had been seen bobbing on the light waves over their favorite fishing spot and had been brought to the pier near the small town of Jake’s Bluff.

“The ghost got him,” one man had said, but not to Tony’s face.

He had whispered it to another man as they both watched Tony board the boat and check it over.

Tony had lived alone since then. He had thought about that music teacher who was older now and still gave private lessons in her home. But there were bills to pay. His father had been right. A man’s gotta eat. Tony had to go out fishing again, catch what he could without the game people detecting him exceeding his designated limit, and sell it to his regular cash paying customers in town. It would cover his food and other expenses for a couple months if he was careful.

So cold weather couldn’t be a reason to keep him on shore.

Tony bundled up as always. Cold and water could be a deadly combination this time of year. He had already had a bout of flu this winter. He couldn’t afford another one. He left the small house and trudged through the community to his boat tied up at the pier. The sun hadn’t risen yet. It was the perfect time to go out except for one thing—the ghost of Duirdhi Bay.

“Jake was a card sharp,” Tony’s father had told him one evening after a long and fruitless day out in the bay. “Came here in eighteen ninety-seven, about ten years after the town was founded.”

They had come home exhausted, heated up their usual dinner of beans and hotdogs, and sat at the table, eating and watching the flame of the candle there, stuck in the neck of an empty wine bottle.

“He cheated one too many times,” continued the older man. “They hung him in the center of town, which used to be called Smithville or something equally mundane. They changed the name as sort of a warning to others. His ghost now haunts the waters of the bay.”

“Why there?” Tony had asked. “Why not where he was hanged?”

“He knew how important fishing was to everyone here,” his father had replied. “Besides, the people who strung him up were fishermen, including one of our ancestors.”

A month later, Tony’s father had gone out by himself, never to be seen again.

Now Tony thought about Jake the card sharp and hoped the ghost would stay away from his boat. Tony didn’t want to end up like others from Jake’s Bluff—scared into hysteria, confused so that they ran their boat aground, or falling overboard and drowning as their boats, untended, continued out of the bay to the Pacific Ocean. Several boats had been totally lost. Others now had new owners. None of them were up yet, though. The pier was deserted.

Tony boarded The Wave Queen, started up the engine, backed carefully away from the pier, and turned out toward the chilly waters of Duirdhi Bay. He increased speed and was soon out in what had proven in the past to be the best area for fish. He slowed the boat and eventually stopped. The wind from the north was bitingly cold, and a chunk of ice was floating on the water near the boat’s hull. “Ice in Duirdhi Bay—must be that climate change stuff I keep hearing about,” he thought. “We’re not getting hotter, though. We’re getting colder.”

“Neither,” said a whisper that seemed to float over the water and through the air around Tony.

He looked around in the darkness but could see no one. He prepared the nets and was about to drop them in the water when a form began to rise up from that chunk of ice. The shape was just a blob at first and then took roughly the form of a man.

Tony watched, as frozen in place as that figure.

“Are you Jake the card sharp?” he asked after a moment.

“No,” said the whisper that seemed to be all around him.

“Then what are you?” asked Tony, shivering as much from fright as the cold air.

“Just Jake,” said the whisper.

“But—”

“I wasn’t a card sharp. I never cheated. They lied about me. They were the cheaters. Your ancestor was one of them.”

“Visiting his sin on me?” demanded Tony, feeling his anger rise.

“Not at all,” came that whisper, swirling around his head like a mist as that icy shape seemed to stare at him.

“Then what?” asked Tony.

“An exchange,” replied the whisper. “I’m tired of the cold.”

Tony began pulling up his nets. The icy figure moved nearer. Tony dropped the nets and rushed to the helm. He started the engine and took off as fast as he could go. But the boat didn’t seem to get anywhere. Finally, he stopped. The icy figure appeared in front of the boat.

“You can’t run,” said the whisper. “None of them could run. They tried as you did. It ended badly for them.”

Tony stood frozen again.

“So, what’s this exchange about?” he asked after swallowing hard.

“An exchange,” said the whisper. “You know, a trade—one thing for another.”

“What thing for what thing?”

“My spirit for yours.”

The figure laughed, the whisper sounding as cold as Tony felt. He grew colder and colder, unable to speak or move, his hands still on the boat’s wheel. Then he was hovering over the water, looking at his body in the cabin and feeling icy cold. His body stared back at him from the boat’s helm. Then it waved and smiled as Tony sank beneath the bay, joining others from Jake’s Bluff.

Final Thought

Believe in your work. Don’t let rejections deter you, especially since they often come with no helpful feedback justifying the rejection. Keep on writing. It is the only way to get better.

Best wishes on your writing (and reading).

My Author Website

My Books on Amazon

My Books on Barnes & Noble

My six books (so far):

I ask a small favor: if you’ve bought and/or read any of these, please post a review here or elsewhere online.

Where to Buy:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub | Books-A-Million | Everand | Apple Books | Kobo | Smashwords | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable | Thriftbooks

Audible Links

Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales

The Stardust Alliance and More

The Wiccan Tales

The Greeting Card Girl’s Christmas

From the Files of Fontaine Investigations

A Very Bookish Christmas

Subscribe now

Why so long to get this? Simple. It takes time to produce an audio book, and the demand for people to do the reading gets a bit—well—hectic during the end-of-year holiday season (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, etc.), so it’s small wonder that the audio version of my Christmas Romance Novel didn’t quite make it to Audible.com during that time.

Listen to a sample and/or buy a copy here.

Also in print and ebook on these sites:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub | Books-A-Million | Everand | Apple Books | Kobo | Smashwords | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable | Thriftbooks

Audio versions also available for:

Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales

The Stardust Alliance and More

The Wiccan Tales

The Greeting Card Girl’s Christmas

From the Files of Fontaine Investigations

Subscribe now

The audio version of From the Files of Fontaine Investigations, first in what will be a series, is now out! Took a little longer than others since the book is longer.

I have two links to give away to two of you lovely subscribers to say thanks. (Sorry, but you have to be in the U.S.)

Just comment that you would like it. I will select two from those comments.

Also, in December, I’ll be focusing on mystery writers who post here and/or have books published. Feel free to post your links in the comments.

Where to Buy:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub | Books-A-Million | Everand | Apple Books | Kobo | Smashwords | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable | Thriftbooks

Subscribe now

My sixth book (my second Christmas Romance) is here with more depth, a trickier plot, but in the end…

If you pre-ordered the Kindle version, the book should have been be auto-delivered to your Kindle on November 1st. You can also order a print copy, complete with a very snazzy back cover and my photo (I got talked into putting it there).

My Author Website

My Books on Amazon

More about the new book and the cover designs:

My other five books (so far):

I ask a small favor: if you’ve bought and/or read any of these, please post a review here or elsewhere online.

Where to Buy:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub | Books-A-Million | Everand | Apple Books | Kobo | Smashwords | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable | Thriftbooks

Audible Links

Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales

The Stardust Alliance and More

The Wiccan Tales

The Greeting Card Girl’s Christmas

Happily announcing the publication of my latest novel, a Christmas romance novel, The Greeting Card Girl’s Christmas.

Buy ebook or paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads

and ebook on Kobo, Thalia (German), Smashwords, or Palace Marketplace

The Story

This is what many publishers classify as a light-hearted, “sweet” (i.e., nothing more than hand-holding and light kisses) romance. Stacy Frost designs greeting cards, meaning she works about six months ahead, for example, designing Father’s Day cards at Christmas. And that means shutting out all things Christmas. Jack Anjill drives for Uber and has his car decked out inside with tinsel garland, a dancing Santa, and outside with a plastic reindeer head and rear.

The stage is set, as on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving here in the U.S.) Stacy calls for an Uber ride and Jack shows up. From there it’s a matter of these two people finding their paths crossing and dealing with conflicting needs as well as family, friends, and bosses.

What’s interesting to me as a writer is that I have soaked up so much romance stuff (mostly from “sweet” romance movies like those shown on The Hallmark Channel) that incorporating the elements needed in such a novel came fairly easily. And I hadn’t even realized I had done it until hubby brought home the November/December 2024 issue of Writer’s Digest magazine. The article starts on page 36, if you care to look it up, but here are the elements that I met (more are in the article):

• Crafted the proper setting – a mid-sized town (fictional) in eastern Colorado – detailing sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches.

• Created a pair of characters with interesting personalities and back stories – both are absorbed in their work; Stacy is a small town girl while Jack is from a big city (Denver).

• Developed the love-themed plot – the accidental meeting of Stacy and Jack, their paths continuing to cross, and all the factors in their lives finally intertwining.

And, of course, the holiday cheer is everywhere and, no matter how hard Stacy tries to shut it out while she works on those card designs, that cheer… well, read it and see!

The Cover Design

Writing is a great activity (it keeps my brain from overloading with all those ideas). But designing the book covers is just as satisfying (and rather challenging). This was especially true for this novel. It had to look seasonal but also give readers the right impression of the book.

The Main Design Elements:

Doing a cover design means sitting down and thinking about the book. It’s one reason I do my own designs. That is, I know the book inside and out. For this book, these were the key elements that I wanted in the design somehow:

• Eastern Colorado with a view of the Rocky Mountains

• Wintry weather, including a hint of snow

• Greeting cards (well, actually, just one)

• And a Santa Hat! (read the book to see why)

Mostly, I avoid putting in people since I would have to use photos found online and might get into a copyright tangle or I would have to be in the photo, which I am for the cover of a yet-to-be-published book. Everything I use is publicly available or my own photos and often greatly altered from the original. (I’ve been using Photoshop for around 27 or 28 years.) You’d never guess where the image of the chimney on the cover of Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales came from. And if you saw the original versus what it ended up looking like after my tinkering…

Design Formats:

Books are available in three main formats these days: ebook, paperback, and audio. Each needs its own cover design. I tend to do variations of the same design. Others sometimes do different designs for each. Which you choose is your option.

I did 3 or 4 designs for the cover, showed them to hubby, got his impressions, and then started over. Sigh. At the end of the day, I had this one, and hubby gave it a big thumbs up. Hope you like it, too.

So much for the front. Time to address the back of the paperback version. What to do? I wanted it to be eye-catching. Yeah, it’s the back, so who’s gonna see it on a bookshelf? Doesn’t matter to me. I still want it to be appealing. A dozen designs later, I came up with the white tree-shape with the text in it. Again, I showed it to hubby and got a big thumbs up.

Off to the publisher the designs went. And I waited. A few minutes later I got her feedback: “Great!”

Phew!

Now, I hope you’ll enjoy the inside of the book as much as you (hopefully) enjoy the covers. See one of the links below to buy a copy in ebook or paperback (audio is in process).

Thanks for reading.

My three other books (so far) from Wordwooze Publishing:

• Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales – my first book of eerie short stories (ebook, paperback, audio).

• The Stardust Alliance and More – my second book of eerie stories with a touch of Sci-Fi (ebook, paperback, audio).

• The Wiccan Tales – a novel and a real Halloween treat.

(All human written. I even designed the covers.)

See them all here:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Kobo | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Smashwords | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable

Question: What could be more boring than listening to a writer talk about her writing?

Answer: Listening to a writer whose mind is half on her current works in progress (WIPs) but who is trying to remember what she wrote in the book being discussed.

I did my best, while addressing the local book group, to set those works aside and focus on the book I finished months ago. And to add a little flourish, I entered the room where the group sat waiting attired in my teal colored wool hooded cloak. That garment had been part of the inspiration for the book, so it seemed appropriate. Plus, it’s the Halloween season, so I put on a little bit of a show.

And then I sat to face the jury—uh, readers. The evening progressed with the head of the group asking me questions he had prepared and group members asking a few. As is typical of such groups, one person spoke up a lot, a couple spoke up a few times, four spoke up once or twice, and one person never spoke at all. They applauded politely at the end and had me sign their books.

The experience was educational. It has me more determined than ever to keep writing what I want to write as opposed to trying to guess what others will want to read. If this group had been my Beta readers, my book would have turned into a garble. They all had their own views of the characters and actions. The meeting also confirmed my refusal to be interviewed (I’ve been asked a couple times). I have read a few such interviews and been disappointed, feeling like I now knew things about the writer that would distort my perception and enjoyment of his/her work. There are exceptions, of course, such as when someone is incorporating personal attributes (but not in an autobiographical way) such as prior use of addictive substances.

A final note: About half of the people who had received a copy of the book (paid for by a local patron) didn’t attend. Not sure if that was just schedule conflict, not valuing something they got for free, or not liking the book. Nah, couldn’t be that last one. Har!

Thanks for reading. Please check out my three books (so far) from Wordwooze Publishing:

• Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales – my first book of eerie short stories (ebook, paperback, audio).

• The Stardust Alliance and More – my second book of eerie stories with a touch of Sci-Fi (ebook, paperback, audio).

• The Wiccan Tales – a novel and a real Halloween treat.

(All human written. I even designed the covers.)

See them all here:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Kobo | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Smashwords | Angus & Robertson: | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable | Palace Marketplace

This post contains NO text or images generated by AI.

Finally got up my author page on Goodreads. (My thanks to Pat O’Neill on MeWe for alerting me to this feature of that site.) My Amazon author page has been up awhile.

My three books (so far) are listed. I hope you will check them out.

And I ask a favor. Your time is valuable. But so is your review. They help other readers find my books. Post a review on Goodreads and/or Amazon. I will do my best to return that favor in kind.

Thanks and best wishes with your reading and writing.

It’s Scaretember, a prelude to Halloween Month (October), and I have just the thing to get you in the mood: my newest book, a novel titled The Wiccan Tales.

About the book:

Lady Krystaline Mondall, head of the Mondall Wiccan coven and living on her ancestral Mondall Estate southwest of London, England, deals with challenges when she accidentally unleashes an ancient demon on the world. It’s a game of release, capture, release, and so on, as Krystaline battles, with the aid of her coven members and the silver Sword of Deliverance, not only that demon but a rival coven bent on gaining control over it to rule the world. As romance blossoms between Krystaline and the newest member of her own coven, the chase for the demon takes them to the USA and back to England. It’s an up-and-down adventure for fantasy fans.

Available in ebook and paperback. Audio book coming soon.

See all 3 books here: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

I am always interested in your feedback. And if you have a moment, please leave a review on the site where you buy the book.

Thanks, and enjoy! [Wicked cackle here]

Halloween will be here sooner than you think! And what better way to prepare mentally than reading my newest book (a novel this time) entitled The Wiccan Tales. Coming soon (around the first of September 2024). For now, enjoy my cover design, full of elements from the novel.

Summary:

Lady Krystaline Mondall, head of the Mondall Wiccan coven and living on her ancestral Mondall Estate southwest of London, England, deals with challenges when she accidentally unleashes an ancient demon on the world. It’s a game of release, capture, release, and so on, as Krystaline battles, with the aid of her coven members and the silver Sword of Deliverance, not only that demon but a rival coven bent on gaining control over it to rule the world. As romance blossoms between Krystaline and the newest member of her own coven, the chase for the demon takes them to the USA and back to England. It’s an up-and-down adventure for fantasy fans.

And it all started with a short story, now part I of the novel. That story was inspired by various posts on social media and from my hubby bringing home Hooky, an illustrated novel. Cute, interesting, and definitely not the childish story you would expect as was a book I recently read called Howl’s Moving Castle that hubby brought home from the library (there are two sequels, and we just ordered all three Castle books as well as the three Hooky books).

This book, as is true of all my writings and other creative efforts (design, music, etc.), is pure human effort. Oh, and hubby is my reader and substantive/developmental editor (see my article here for various types of editors). Sometimes he would question something and have me thinking that the error he was pointing out would make the whole plot collapse, but there was always a way to fix it and make things work. (Writing is such fun, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to turn that joy over to computer programmers behind the thing called “AI.”)

And don’t worry. The gore is relatively mild—just a rampaging demon and his pillar-of-fire minion. And the sword play is more magical than slashing.

Oh, and my thanks to Sword & Saturday host for inspiring me to add the silver Sword of Deliverance to Krystaline’s arsenal.

My Other Books (all human written)

Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, Everand, Thalia (German) ebook & print, Smashwords, Angus & Robertson, Mondadori (Italian), Vivlio (French/English), Fable, Palace Marketplace

Dive into these six eerie journeys into science fiction.

Get your thrills and chills “on the go”! Buy a copy on Audible.

See this book and my first book Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales on these sites:

• The Stardust Alliance – Amazon Kindle & Amazon paperback

• Wind Down the Chimney – Amazon Kindle & Amazon paperback

• Barnes & Noble

• Apple Books

• Kobo

• Everand

• Thalia (German) ebook & print

• Smashwords (sale continues through the end of July 2024)

• Angus & Robertson

• Mondadori (Italian)

• Vivlio (French/English)

• Fable

• Palace Marketplace

And check out other titles from Wordwooze Publishing. They are very active in audiobooks but publish regular paperbacks and ebooks, too.

And rest assured that the books they publish contain NO AI-generated content, including the cover designs.

Here are six more stories that invaded my “brain space” while I was working on the Freelan novel series. And the ideas keep coming. Check these out and let me know how you like them.

Buy on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Books2Read, Apple, Kobo, Everand, Thalia (German), Smashwords, Angus & Robertson, Vivlio (French/English), Fable, Palace Marketplace

I would also greatly appreciate you posting a review wherever you buy.

The paperback version will be available any day now. I had lots of fun designing the cover.

The Stories

The Stardust Alliance —

A group of people take the idea that we are all stardust a little too seriously. And when the grandson of one of the members, who has bone cancer and is wheelchair bound, takes that “journey to the stars,” the shocking reality hits home.

Read an excerpt on Substack or my site.

Sally’s Destiny —

We’ve all heard of AI (artificial intelligence) by now. A lot of fancy programming that should be called AP (advanced processing). And a programmer puts it to a use that no one ever intended. Four intrepid souls (a family of three and a stranger they met) find themselves in the position to stop that use before it spreads around the world.

Read an excerpt on Substack or my site.

A True Joule —

A young woman is caught up in global scheme to power the world. She finds that she has a special connection, one that makes her the target of some very sinister folks. She has to call on that inner strength, that special connection, to break free.

Read an excerpt on Substack or my site.

If Looks Could Kill —

Aliens are the mainstay of sci-fi. And the more terrifying, the better. So, what’s more terrifying than a beautiful woman who is really in search of energy, the kind that we humans can provide? She gives new meaning to the term femme fatale.

Read an excerpt on Substack or my site.

The Eyes of Cleopatra —

This legendary Queen of the Nile has a long held secret involving ancient rare emeralds that hold the key to the end of the world. The dynamite team of Zachariah Fontaine and Jessica Cushing uncovers that secret. And as a result, Jessica once again finds herself coming to Zachariah’s rescue.

Read an excerpt on Substack or my site.

A Long Way from Arach —

Caution, all of you who have arachnophobia. We sent out a message to the universe that we were here. The creatures from the planet of Arach heard it. They are coming this way! And guess what their favorite food is. Get your can of Raid ready.

Read an excerpt on Substack or my site.

Thanks for reading!

Read about the first book on Substack or my site.

Here is the sixth excerpt from my book of short stories in the science fiction realm that now available on Kindle through Wordwooze Publishing. (Great editor there, very accommodating and easy to work with.) I’ve saved the best for last, unless you have arachnophobia, that is.

The Excerpt

Sethla’s eight eyes gazed out at the blackness dotted here and there with bits of light. “So cold and empty,” she thought, all eight of her limbs shuddering. “I need to check on them and get back into hibernation. We still have a long way to go.”

“Close cover,” she said.

The voice command control closed the cover over the window in the side of the ovoid spaceship as Sethla turned gradually around, feeling along the web guide threads that lined the interior, avoiding the sticky lining on the floor, walls, and ceiling of the passageway, and making her way slowly and carefully to the hatchery. She checked on the eggs. All was well. The thermostat showed the optimum temperature, and the hatch time tracker showed that the ship would reach that planet, rich with food the hatchlings needed, by the time they emerged.

Pleased, Sethla returned to her hibernation chamber, curled her limbs around her, and said, “Lights off.” The control dimmed the lights, and Sethla once more dreamed of those who had sent her and her precious cargo on this journey to a destination a long way from her home planet, Arach.

As the ship had left that planet, Sethla had sent back word that the nursery was full. A cheer had risen in the launch control room, and the High Council had spread the news around the globe. Their food supply may be depleting, but her destination offered hope for the continuance of their kind.

Once upon a time, Sethla’s planet had teemed with food—creatures that had exo- or endo-skeletons. Easier to catch than Endos, Exos often flew or crawled into the traps that Sethla’s ancestors spun for them. The two-legged Endos, as Sethla thought of them, with rational brains began killing off many of those Exos, though, since both competed for plant food and the Exos tended to spread diseases to those Endos. As a result, Sethla’s ancestors had decreased in numbers at an alarming rate—that is, until they found that Endos, both with four legs and with two, were a more substantial food source than Exos. After a few millennia, though, the Endos’ numbers had also declined alarmingly. They didn’t reproduce fast enough. Also, the two-legged ones tended to engage in violence against each other, succumbed to diseases, took months to gestate, and required years after that to grow large enough to make a good meal.

And the High Council had been getting desperate as pressure mounted on them to find another food source.

About a decade ago, fortune had smiled. An object from space had crash-landed on their planet. It had strange markings on the outside: HUBBLE. When they had succeeded in opening it, they had found star charts, one showing what looked like their solar system highlighted in a constellation of stars that resembled Sethla’s kind in basic shape: two body parts and eight limbs. The constellation in a galaxy labeled “The Milky Way” was named “Spider Constellation,” and her solar system was “Arach System 1.” Realizing that this was their same galaxy, the High Council had begun calling the planet “Arach” and referring to themselves and all like them as “Arachnians.”

Other items in the thing called “HUBBLE” included photos of beings that looked just like the two-legged Endos on Arach and labeled “human male” and “human female.” There were also space coordinates back to the origin planet.

The High Council had heard with great excitement the report from the team examining the object.

“A whole planet teeming with food for us!” the Council Head had exclaimed.

“How do we get there?” a Council Member had asked.

One of their Endo collaborators—too puny to be a slave and too intelligent to fatten up as food— had spoken up, “Build a spaceship.”

Several Council Members had laughed, but the Head had agreed.

“But they have to be much more advanced than Endos here,” a Council member had warned. “Who knows what other technology they have—advanced weapons, for example? How could we land?”

“Don’t worry about that,” the Council head had replied. “The ship will have defenses. This is too important to risk anything less. Our Endo collaborators will install those defenses first.”

The Council had immediately formed the Arachnian Space Team, consisting of Arachnian overseers, Endo collaborators, and Endo slaves, for project Destination Survival. They began work on the design and construction. Ten years later, using a lot of the information found in HUBBLE, they had the ship completed and tested. In fact, the Arachnians had managed to surpass and greatly advance the technology for the space flight propulsion system used in HUBBLE.

“We’re ready to launch,” the Team Lead had announced to the High Council.

A few months prior to that announcement, knowing that the ship was nearing completion, the Council had put out a call for a volunteer to travel in it. Hundreds of candidates had applied, but Sethla had been the final choice, coming from a long line of Arachnians, as they had now gotten used to calling themselves, who laid large egg batches—usually ninety to one hundred instead of the average fifty. She had mated with an intellectually and scientifically advanced male Arachnian to pass on both his and her total genetic knowledge just before launch and then had eaten him, something Arachnians saw as a sign of good luck. And she needed luck for the long journey through that cold, empty space.

Now, back in hibernation, a vision ran through Sethla’s dreams, something shooting at her as the ship approached that destiny planet. She had been briefed about this possibility before the launch. Her eight limbs twitched a little, and a faraway voice called out in her dream, “Have no fear.”

Now, Back to Earth...

Hope you’ve enjoyed these six excerpts. Your feedback is most welcome.

And best wishes with your writing!

See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF.

Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.

———

———

Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of recently published eerie short stories (ebook, paperback, audio), and my new book of eerie Sci-Fi stories (ebook only for now), both from Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the covers.)

Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales: Ebook, paperback at Barnes & Noble, Amazon. Ebook on other platforms: Books2read. On Audible.

The Stardust Alliance and More: Ebook at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and elsewhere for now. Paperback and audiobook coming soon.

Here is the fifth excerpt from my book of short stories in the science fiction realm that now available on Kindle through Wordwooze Publishing. (Great editor there, very accommodating and easy to work with.) Being a fan of The Twilight Zone, I must confess that an episode inspired part of this story. Other parts were inspired by other sci-fi and horror readings I have done over the years. (Let’s face it, we are not only what we eat but what we read.)

The Excerpt

“Hurry up, Marvin. The others are already there,” said Harvey impatiently.

The old man sat in the front passenger seat of the SUV, twisted his head around as far as he could in spite of the pain it caused, and watched his grandson get the wheelchair out of the back and open it out.

“Okay, Grandpa, gimme a sec. This thing’s tricky. I don’t want it folding up on you like it did the other day.”

Harvey sat fuming a little as Marvin fastened the latches that kept the chair fully open.

“Dang thing,” muttered Harvey. “Won’t need it much longer though.”

“This is totally nuts, Grandpa.”

“Who says? You? You flunked astrophysics, remember? You’re twenty-one and still working on your bachelor’s degree.”

“I changed my major. I have to take additional courses.”

“Yeah, from astrophysics to social crises or some damn thing.”

“Oh, Grandpa! It’s elder counseling. I’ve had lots of practical experience.”

“Hmph!” snorted Harvey.

Marvin just sighed, finished snapping the levers that kept the chair from folding back up, and put the cushions in place that Harvey needed for his frail form wracked by bone cancer.

“We’ve calculated this out carefully, following my Grandpa Elijah’s mathematical formula. The beam’s due at one a.m. It’s twenty till now. Hurry up!”

“This whole thing, beaming to the stars, is nuts—”

“You said that already. Just get that wheelchair over here and help me into it!” Harvey was getting impatient and fidgety. “My name was drawn. It’s my turn. Hurry up!”

Marvin sighed again and wheeled the chair across the grass over to the front of the SUV where his grandfather sat.

A year ago if anyone had told Marvin that he would be helping his grandfather become stardust, he would have told them they were crazy. Now, here he was at Gazer’s Hill, which Harvey had inherited from his grandfather Elijah, to do just that. Marvin had used Harvey’s key to unlock the gate in the fence that surrounded the hill and the acreage around it and then had driven the SUV through, locking the gate behind them. Then he had found a parking spot on the grass at the base of the hill.

Since he was a small child, Marvin had often heard Harvey talk about the Stardust Alliance.

“Grandpa Elijah started that alliance because he loved the stars,” Harvey had told his young grandson. “That smelly, noisy factory was just a hobby to him. My pop made it the success it is now. He wanted me to take over, but I had better things to do. Your pop was the better choice to take charge when the time came. Neither of them understood Elijah and the Stardust Alliance, but I do, and I want you to.”

Then Harvey would run through the whole story of the beam, Gazer’s Hill, and the alliance. Marvin had listened, his young eyes wide as if hearing a ghost story around a campfire. As he got older, his skepticism had kicked in a little, but he hadn’t voiced it—not until this “journey to the stars” thing came up. If the beam was real, Marvin comprehended that whatever this beam truly was, his grandfather wasn’t going to fare well being in its path. But Marvin had no idea how to stop this, and he wasn’t sure he should. Harvey was in so much pain, and he had the right to choose his own ending to that life, even if the entire concept was insane.

More to Come

Watch for an excerpt from the remaining story in the book next Friday. Your feedback is most welcome.

Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!

See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF.

Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.

———

———

Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of recently published eerie short stories (ebook, paperback, audio), and my new book of eerie Sci-Fi stories (Kindle only for now), both from Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the covers.)

Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales: Ebook, paperback: Barnes & Noble, Amazon. Ebook on other platforms: Books2read. On Audible.

The Stardust Alliance and More: Kindle only for now. Paperback and audiobook coming soon.

Check out the first glimpse, 2nd glimpse, and 3rd glimpse.

Here is the fourth excerpt from my book of short stories in the science fiction realm that will be published soon by Wordwooze Publishing. (Great editor there, very accommodating and easy to work with.) Being a fan of The Twilight Zone, I must confess that an episode inspired part of this story. Other parts were inspired by other sci-fi and horror readings I have done over the years. (Let’s face it, we are not only what we eat but what we read.)

A short note first: In the past week or so, I have read articles on Substack and elsewhere stating that dialogue tags are bad, to keep sentences and paragraphs short, and other such terrible writing advice. Sadly, one of those articles was by someone currently serving as temporary editor of a lit mag. So, if you wonder why your stories don’t get selected for publication, this is why—editors following their own bad advice. And it’s also why I encourage you to seek other routes for your work.

Also, an update on Neil Clarke, editor of Clarkesworld, a top sci-fi mag, states that submissions are once again being accepted, but that they are still being flooded with what he calls “terrible stories” being churned out by AI. This makes your odds as a real writer, not a faker, of getting seen, let alone selected, even tougher.

The Excerpt

Ever hear the expression “if looks could kill”? Well, in Thultha’s case, it was more than an expression. Her looks could kill. But not in the way that expression usually meant.

When I saw her for the first time she was just another pair of spiked-heeled shoes topped by a great pair of shapely legs that led to a pair of short shorts and a well-filled halter-top half-concealed beneath a main of long blond hair. Nothing else mattered…

— A month ago —

She moved coolly on this sweltering summer day through a crowd of sweaty, irritable mortals hurrying from one air-conditioned building to another. I stood transfixed, suit jacket slung over my shoulder, and watched her stride along a griddle-hot sidewalk like a mistress surveying her property. Waves of heat shimmered up around her, making her look like some mirage in the desert. When she went out of sight around a corner I followed, working my way through the noontime crowd hurrying to their favorite eatery.

If only my hunger had been a little more intense or my lust a little less.

“Excuse me,” I said to the rotund man I ran into while rounding that corner. I had dropped my jacket and now picked it up just as a passerby was about to step on it.

“You lumber bus!” the man shouted at me while I bent over. “Watch where you’re going!”

“Did you see a beautiful woman walk by?” I asked, straightening up.

“So, that’s it. Chasing skirt. Shame on you. Find something better to do!”

He stomped off, running into a woman carrying a bag of groceries from the little shop a block away and rushing on with a brief apology. The contents spilled all over the sidewalk, and the woman yelled at him before crouching down to pick up cans of lima beans, green bananas, and a half gallon plastic jug of milk that mercifully hadn’t split open. A man stomped her loaf of bread without even noticing, looked at his watch, and quickened his pace.

I would have helped the woman pick up her groceries, but at that moment I caught sight of the woman I had been following and whom I later learned was named Thultha. She was examining items in a shop window. I rushed off toward her. The corner of her mouth curved upward in a sly smile before turning away and striding off, as if she had seen me and wanted me to follow. At least that’s what my libido was telling me.

I walked another block, weaving around the people sticky with heat and worry over having enough time to eat before returning to their desks. I lost sight of Thultha again and stopped at the entrance to an alley, looking down the street. But then a movement caught my eye in the dim light in the alley, and I turned toward it. There she was, standing at the far end. I almost called out to her but then saw a man—one of the throng of homeless in the city—standing in front of her, his back against the brick wall slick with oily grease. He stared at her with a look of utter fear but appeared to be mesmerized. As I watched, he shriveled, his clothes eventually falling in a heap on the greasy pavement as he disappeared entirely. Thultha seemed to take on a glow in the dim alley light and then stand up straighter. I backed away quickly before she noticed me.

I hadn’t known at the time the true nature of what I had seen.

More to Come

Watch for more excerpts from the two remaining stories in the book over the next weeks. Your feedback is most welcome.

Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!

See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF.

Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.

———

———

Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of short stories (a couple are actually novelette length), newly published by Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the cover.)

Ebook and paperback available from: Barnes & Noble and Amazon

Ebook on other platforms shown on Books2read.

Listen on Audible.

He pulled molecules from the air, grabbing them with his thoughts, feeling their energy, shaping them as a blacksmith would shape the red hot metal pulled from his fire, hammering them with his mind as that blacksmith would hammer until the shape of the sword appeared—a shimmering thing that light passed through and that danced and moved like a mirage on the hot sun drenched sands of the Sahara.

This shimmering thing—an extension of his hand, a thing formed from his mind—sang in the air as he swung it quickly up and around, slicing the very air from which it had been made and sending fear into hearts as men’s knees weakened so that they could not run away. Those men who boasted of their might, who flexed muscle and pranced and scoffed at those of lesser being and substance and whose muscles were as airless balloons and whose sinews snapped if a sharp word were spoken—these men of might now trembled and could not run away, for the Sword Maker has fashioned with so cunning a design a blade that ran through flesh as a hot knife runs through butter too long sitting in sun’s rays.

“Spare us, O Sword Maker, for we have no challenge to your might, to this great sword that sings with your every move. We shall leave in peace and this village will see us no more.”

“Be gone then,” said the Sword Maker, swinging the air sword and making it sing.

These men of muscle and might, these men of armor and steel, on foot and on horseback, now quaked and bowed.

“We thank you, Sword Maker, for the mercy you have shown us this day and shall sing your praises around our campfires in our distant homelands.”

And so they left, these men of muscle and might, on foot and on horseback. And one among them turned his head, looking back at the Sword Maker and seeing him wielding his arm the air, and the man knew that there was no sword, that it was just an old man swinging his arm as he lay dying. The man smiled, remembering the old man’s last words, and turned back around. They were leaving this village with treasure, slaves, cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs to take home and give them glory.

As they rode off, the old man, on his back on the ground knew that his life was bleeding away and his sword drawn from the air had been naught but his old man’s fancy. The screams of other men dying and of the women and children being dragged away in servitude filled his ears as the last breath left his body.

———

———

Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of short stories (a couple are actually novelette length), newly published by Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the cover.)

Ebook and paperback available from: Barnes & Noble and Amazon

Ebook on other platforms shown on Books2read.

Listen on Audible.

Here is the third excerpt from my book of short stories in the science fiction realm that will be published soon by Wordwooze Publishing. (Great editor there, very accommodating and easy to work with.) This is a story inspired by the growing spread of a technology called “artificial intelligence” (AI), something that is certainly not intelligent, even in a fake way.

The Excerpt

“Leave that!” said Themba Maduna to his son Akani, looking in the boy’s bedroom door. “We must take only food and a few clothes. And hurry!”

Kaya Maduna looked at her husband, her brown eyes wide and seeming to ask, “Can we get away fast enough?” She knew that Themba had no answer, so she didn’t say the question out loud. She just looked at the things their son had piled on his bed to pack, chose a couple items as her hands trembled slightly, and told him to leave the rest. The evacuation order from the South African government had been expected, but it had given them only a short time to leave Pretoria.

“Oh, Mom!” protested Akani, but he could tell by the look on his mother’s face that she wouldn’t change her mind, just as she hadn’t changed her mind about him going on that hike over the upcoming weekend with friends from school.

“No,” she had said last night, and her husband had shaken his head along with her.

“But why?” Akani had whined.

“Well, we…,” but Kaya hadn’t been able to say it, hadn’t been able to tell him about the possible catastrophe to come.

Neither she nor her family knew anything at this moment about Sally or the man who would soon play a role in the Madunas’ lives. But in a few days they would all become intimately involved. At this moment, Kaya focused apprehensively on getting what they needed on their long trek northward to stay ahead of this devastation coming their way. She remembered a news headline she had seen the week before:

Mysterious Horror Continues Spreading — No cure available

The news had started with mere rumors and grown into bonafide fact. It had come to light with instances being reported in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth and traveling northward. Soon it would reach Johannesburg just south of the Maduna family’s home in Pretoria.

Kaya had heard the latest announcement on the TV that morning just as the evacuation order came:

“It starts with a tingling feeling in your extremities and quickly travels through your body, building into a burning sensation until you feel on fire inside. After that…”

The announcer had stopped, a look of horror on his face while reading the copy on the teleprompter before him. Then the station had gone to a commercial. Newspapers and internet sites were filled with stories that screamed out what the announcer hadn’t been able to say:

“…the body breaks down and starts to decompose rapidly…”

More to Come

Watch for more excerpts from the three remaining stories in the book over the next weeks. Your feedback is most welcome.

Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!

See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF.

Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.

———

———

Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of short stories (a couple are actually novelette length), newly published by Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the cover.)

Ebook and paperback available from: Barnes & Noble and Amazon

Ebook on other platforms shown on Books2read.

Listen on Audible.

Here is another excerpt from my book of short stories in the science fiction realm that will be published soon by Wordwooze Publishing. (Great editor there, very accommodating and easy to work with.) This is a story inspired by the film noir days when Dana Andrews played a hardboiled detective and Humphrey Bogart had Lauren Bacall teaching him how to whistle.

The Excerpt

Zachariah Fontaine sat at the highly polished mahogany desk in his tastefully and expensively furnished office on the seventh floor of the glass and steel building in Rockville, Maryland, north of Washington, DC. The office door sign said discreetly in gold painted letters “Fontaine Investigations.”

As the Egyptian man sat in the guest chair in front of the desk, Zachariah watched him with a nagging feeling that he should have sent the man packing. Most of his clients wanted dirt on a political opponent or someone out of favor with the group currently in charge. Occasionally, he handled simpler cases, finding evidence on cheating spouses for a nasty divorce. On rare occasions, he hunted lost objects, but none like this.

“I am Ahmud Rah,” said the man, “special emissary of the Cairo museum.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” said Zachariah quietly.

“You have heard of me?” asked Ahmud.

“Should I?” asked Zachariah, hiding his urge to grin

Over the phone, Ahmud had said it was a matter of world importance. Zachariah had refrained from saying, “Yeah, right.” He had just set a time to meet.

“The story—it was in the papers, on TV, online. They were entrusted to my care. I must get them back.”

“Ah, the Eyes of Cleopatra. Dramatic name.” Zachariah stifled a yawn, held up his right hand, and looked at the immaculately manicured nails. Frankly, a couple of missing gems with a strange moniker didn’t interest him much.

“An appropriate name,” said Ahmud, seeing the lack of interest in Zachariah’s face and manner. “Cleopatra and the ancient Egyptians believed emeralds could treat eye diseases. Cleopatra was going blind—possibly cataracts—and had a servant place these stones on her eyelids as she lay on her bed. Within a minute, her eyes were cured and turned green. As she lay dying, a servant obeyed her instructions and placed the stones on her eyelids. When Cleopatra was dead, the servant put the stones in a small box and gave them to the high priest of the temple of Ra. He entombed the stones with her. They were discovered a few years ago. Since then, they were on display in the Cairo museum. I brought them here to exhibit for a month at the Smithsonian. I had them in my room at the hotel. Someone broke in. They are gone.”

“Call the DC police,” said Zachariah.

“I did.”

“And?”

“They said they could do nothing, that I should file a claim with the insurer.”

“Were they insured?”

Ahmud sat a moment and then nodded. “I cannot file a claim, though.”

“Why?”

“I did not have them in the hotel safe. I felt they were more secure in my room.”

Zachariah thought, “Guess you were wrong.” But he didn’t say it.

“Egyptian government’s angry with you, right?” he said instead.

“Yes. Besides, the story of the theft has had too much publicity of a negative nature.”

“And so have you, I’m guessing.”

Ahmud nodded.

“How’d the press find out?”

“Someone at the hotel, I suspect. Please, this must be done discreetly.”

“And you need to regain your reputation, not to mention the trust of your government.”

“True,” said Ahmud, sitting with a stony look on his very Egyptian features.

Studying the man a moment, Zachariah sighed, sure he was about to get involved in something unpleasant.

“My services aren’t cheap,” he said.

“Yes, yes, I expected that.”

“Fifty thousand to start, plus expenses.”

Ahmud swallowed hard and nodded. “Do you take checks?”

“Sure, but I start when the check’s cleared—could take several days. Cash is better.”

“I will return in one hour.” Ahmud stood, bowed his head, and left.

As the office door closed, Zachariah laughed.

More to Come

More excerpts from other stories from the book will be coming over the next few weeks. Your feedback is most welcome.

Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!

See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF.

Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.

———

———

Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of short stories (a couple are actually novelette length), newly published by Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the cover.)

Ebook and paperback available from: Barnes & Noble and Amazon

Ebook on other platforms shown on Books2read.

Listen on Audible.

My book of short stories in the science fiction realm will be published soon by Wordwooze Publishing. (Great editor there, very accommodating and easy to work with.) The encouragement I have received from everyone following me here and elsewhere has been like a tide raising my boat safely to shore. As a thank you, I will be posting excerpts from some of the stories. This first one is from a story that came to me in a dream (honest!) but that turned out a bit differently than any dream ever would. Hope you like it.

The Excerpt

Hugh laughed. “My grandfather tracked seismic activity and the core temperature for decades, and was the first human to make the connection. My father took over from him. I’ve taken over from my father. We’re part of a global team. Did you know that plate shifts are related to the Earth’s core temperature? Water isn’t the only substance that expands as it cools.”

“Isn’t it normal for a planet’s core to cool?” I asked naïvely, wishing I had brought my sleeping pills and at least a piece of stale bread with me along with my coat and gloves. My hair fluttered out behind me like a silken black cape as I rushed to keep up with Hugh’s long-legged stride. And I could see my breath when I exhaled.

“Not this fast,” he said. “It’s dropped about thirty degrees per year since 2020.”

“So about twenty-four-hundred degrees?” I asked, doing a quick calculation in my head.

“Fahrenheit.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Do you really think a cold front is causing this deep freeze?”

“Well, I—yes.”

“Because some guy claiming to be a weatherman on the radio said so? China controls the media. They’re hiding this from us.”

“Any idea why?” I asked, glancing behind me and seeing the people who had met me at the entrance following us down that glowing hallway.

“Because they set this in motion—quite by accident, but if word got out, accident or not, it’d set the world against them.” Hugh stopped and laughed. “They’re so worried up there about carbon emissions. No one’s thinking—or probably even knows—about the huge thermodynamic generator the Chinese set up. How do you think they’re staying all warm and cozy with plenty of electricity while the rest of us in the northern hemisphere freeze? And it’s going to get worse.”

He resumed walking.

I followed, remembering the icicles. When the deep freeze had first hit, the snow came down heavy but landed on relatively warm roofs, causing snowflakes to melt and drip off the roof eaves and gutters. As the temperature continued downward, those drops froze before they could fall, and massive icicles built up, some ripping gutters off those eaves. One gutter had fallen with its weight of ice and crushed a man shoveling snow below. An icicle had pierced his heart and others had gone through other parts of his body. They had to be chopped off his frozen corpse.

More to Come

I’ll be posting excerpts from other stories from the book over the next few weeks and welcome your feedback.

Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!

See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF.

Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.

———

———

Thanks for reading. If you’ve been enjoying my flash fiction on here, please check out my first book of short stories (a couple are actually novelette length), newly published by Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the cover.)

Ebook and paperback available from: Barnes & Noble and Amazon

and ebook on other platforms shown on Books2read.

Listen on Audible.

A special treat for you all. Some of you have been very inspirational. All of you have been faithful and supportive readers. So here’s a sneak peek at my latest foray into Sci-Fi, soon to be headed to a publisher.

Six longer stories (at least one is novella length) where science takes the driver’s seat. Each story is infused with mystery, tension, a hint of horror, and even a dash of hopefulness where the human spirit wins out.

The stories in order of appearance:

The Stardust Alliance — Marvin wheels his cantankerous, cancer-ridden, wheelchair-bound grandfather Harvey at the old-man’s insistence up Gazer’s Hill to join with other members of the Stardust Alliance for the “beaming” as they call it, something that occurs approximately every five years. Marvin witnesses the event and is shocked into carrying out Harvey’s last wish, but members of the alliance, most of them in their seventies or older, are determined to stop him since that wish was to disband the alliance!

Sally’s Destiny — The Maduna family in Pretoria, South Africa, are part of millions now evacuated from their homes as a mysterious thing is killing people. When someone answers his cell phone or looks at a computer screen or electronic tablet, he/she screams in fiery agony as the cells of his or her body break down into atoms, the human equivalent of ones and zeroes. The Madunas break away from the evacuees fleeing this killer and head off in another direction. They soon find themselves, with the help of an elderly British man, in a position to save mankind from this scourge.

A True Joule — Sherry Corbin is a social media consultant in a city near the border of what had been Canada but is now Yi North, a province of China. The U.S. is now Yi, also a province of China. Sherry learns from her boyfriend Hugh Stagg, head of the Joule Group, that the deep freeze they have been experiencing the past month is caused by a new power generation plant in China. Having discovered that Sherry can direct electricity from the Earth’s polar fields through herself and to objects around her, Hugh convinces her to help him find that power plant and shut it down. But she eventually finds that another plan is in play.

If Looks Could Kill — Thultha Smith isn’t an ordinary hot babe, walking the sidewalks of the city shimmering in the summer heat. Charles Niler soon discovers this when he sees her suck the life force out of a bum in a dirty, smelly alley. Then he discovers that she is a new hire at the law firm where he works. She claims more victims but doesn’t seem interested in going after Charles, telling him that he’s not her type. Police detective Reece Simms enters the picture when Charles’ neighbor in his apartment building disappears. Soon Charles learns the truth about who or what Thultha really is.

The Eyes of Cleopatra — Zachariah Fontaine and his assistant Jessica Cushing of Fontaine Investigations in Rockville, Maryland, north of Washington, DC, are on their weirdest case yet. This time their client is Ahmud Rah, an Egyptian official in search of two very special gemstones stolen from his hotel room. He hires Zachariah, and the hunt begins. But Zachariah and Jessica can tell that these gems are even more special than Ahmud had told them. A dead Egyptian scholar, a dead professor, a dead waiter, and the kidnapped daughter of the Egyptian ambassador who is to be the new Cleopatra spur Zachariah and Jessica to quicken the search. It leads them to a Gothic style stone house in a farming area of the state where they encounter Univera, creator of the universe who is ready to resume the role she had played as Cleopatra millennia earlier.

A Long Way from Arach — We sent out an invitation to alien life in the universe. That invitation has been accepted by a sentient race of spiders on the planet Arach. They have mutated to be the size of ponies and to eating endoskeletal creatures, especially the two-legged kind. In the year 2085, a scout ship from Arach lands in Detroit in what is now CanUS (Canada and the U.S. combined) on Earth. A hundred hatchlings stream out—the advance force for the mass invasion. Dr. Sharon Grant, an arachnologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, teams up with Dr. Nathan Vanderley, director of the NASA Research Park in San Jose, California, to track down the hatchlings while Nate’s team studies the remains of the egg-shaped spaceship in which they had arrived. Meanwhile, Earth satellites have detected a swarm of one hundred egg-shaped spaceships headed their way. The war against the Arachnians is on.

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If you’ve been enjoying my flash fiction on here, please check out my first book of short stories (a couple are actually novelette length), newly published by Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the cover.)