Vincent Diamond on Deep Trouble Undercover

Guest post by Vincent Diamond ...

Deep Trouble Undercover was my first fiction sale, way back when teradactyls flew the sky ... Yeah, pre-Internet, man. I think I sent out a hard copy of that one to Alyson Publications, probably their LA office, and got an email months and months later that it was accepted for Best Gay Love Stories 2005. In fact, it was so long between submission and acceptance, I'd actually re-submitted the story to another anthology, and I had to scramble through my submissions log to make sure I could pull it. I did, and it was the start of my short story sales. Even eight years ago, print was still king, and having that solid credit for the anthology made my cover letters for other submissions much, much stronger.

Steven and Conrad would not shut up. They just wouldn't. What started as a one-off grew into a mini-series of stories, seven or eight all together I think, as I thought about how their relationship could develop, and I had great fun setting their stories in Tampa where I was working at the time. I still get fan letters about that series, and it's warming to know that other folks relate to the two characters and wonder how it all turned out.

I have an idea about that actually... Heh heh heh.

Deep Trouble Undercover is free today; grab one!

Vincent Diamond
vincentdiamond.com

Animals by Wayne Mansfield

Animals by Wayne Mansfield is now available in e-book format!

In the future deep space travel is a regular occurrence. After completing a mission to take supplies to Earth 2, or Genesis as the colonists call it, something goes horribly wrong with the space shuttle returning Adam Evans and his crew mates to Earth. The shuttle crashes and Adam and Jason survive, but the Earth they return to has changed greatly.

When tragedy strikes, leaving Adam on his own, he finds the paradise surrounding him has an increasingly darker side. He assumes he can outsmart it, beat it. The product of a lost past, where men and speech are free, he rebels against the rules restricting him. But is he just setting himself up for failure, for pain and misery? Can he ever hope to outwit the powers that be?

Then he meets River Boy, the only person in a village full of dirty, animalistic villagers with whom he connects. There is something intelligent about River Boy. Something civilized about him. Yet is Adam’s growing closeness to River Boy going to save him from himself? Or will his stubbornness, his rebelliousness, cost him more than he is able to pay?

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Helen Ayim on Fortune's Edge

Guest post by Helen Ayim ...

The few short stories I published with JMS Books all had their beginnings in a writing group. We took turns to pick a topic and after a week or three we'd get back together again and read our efforts to one another.

Reading a story aloud to other people is a good way of catching mistakes. That favorite, overused word falls like a hammer blow on the ear the third time you speak it. It's a bit like performing a one-man play. Exposing. Nerve-wracking.

After a while we all noticed that no matter what the topic, each of us gravitated to a certain kind of tale.

I'm drawn to the paranormal, and it slipped into every story.

Guardian Spirits? Shamanistic animal spirits/angels fighting to the death in a library over arcane knowledge.

Fairy Night? The enduring fairy/alien myth recurring in some benign, pastoral future.

Spook Patrol? A short ghost-hunting story with a twist in the tail.

Fortune's Edge? The story of a girl called Holly who finds herself on the edge -- the sidelines of village life, the end of her tether, the edge of several hard decisions-playing out in a hazy, green past.

Fortune's Edge started out with the prompt 'on the edge of a knife.' In the story a Tarot card reading is one of the pivotal events. As the story turned out, it became a story about choice, and the realization that every choice leads to a different fate.

I don't sit down thinking I want to convey this or that message. When I got the prompt, it sat in the back of my mind for a while and then Holly walked into view as we see her in the opening scene: it's early morning, dew is still grey on the grass, and her skirt is dragging a path as she walks along.

I knew she was very angry behind her stolid exterior. I knew she carried a knife hidden under her shirt, as a symbol of her resentment at being trapped in her situation. I knew how important it was for her to carry some means of cutting loose.

I experience the process of writing on two levels. The best part is the creative flux, the birthing of the story -- sometimes painful, some stillborn efforts, but when everything works, when the writing happens, it is THE BEST part of writing.

Then later, when it comes to editing, and every word is weighed and polished, only then do I get to see what was on my mind. I'm often surprised and amused, but also gratified, to learn so much about my own psyche.

Stories are powerful. They are how we cope. To paraphrase a quote I read recently: better to slay your demons in fiction, than to have them destroy you in reality.

You can download it for FREE for today only: Fortune's Edge.

Helen Ayim
helenayim.wordpress.com

The Magical Stones of Pharr by J.T. Marie

The Magical Stones of Pharr by J.T. Marie is now available in e-book format!

The Eight Lands of Pharr are in trouble, and the only ones who can help are a young princess and the sister she believes lost. They hold two of the four Magical Stones, created long ago by an Ancient Mystic to channel the magic of his bloodline.

But when an evil witch named Patadora Coggs seeks to control the Stones, the two girls must join forces to save their unsuspecting world.

With them is a motley crew gathered as they travel to retrieve the remaining two Stones. Airk Ranon, cynical Weapons Master. The Baret Wray and First Commander Dungan Weir, who command King Randel's army. Elke, a centurion who has never been away from home. Skotak, an Emini Plainsman who provides steeds for the travelers. Dreux, a young prince seeking adventure, and his lover, Estelle. And Kitt, a young orphan held enslaved by pirates.

Chased by Patadora's Maelnords and her own shapeshifting daughter, and by the infamous Weapons Master's outlaw reputation, the young friends travel land and sea in their quest to find the last two Stones. Once they have the Magical Stones of Pharr in their possession, they must travel to the witch's lair and end her evil reign of terror.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Jennifer Cierra on Melting Wax and Burning Feathers

Guest Post by Jennifer Cierra ...

Jessewave's review of Melting Wax and Burning Feathers reads, "This short piece packs a wallop, mixing as it does broken dreams and dreams yet to be realized. Gregory, who has put aside aspirations of stardom for safety and dullness, encounters a musician playing for tips who stirs up many longings. Gregory is a tax attorney with broken dreams. Paul has come to California to find his own stardom, he's ready to fly up and touch the sun. Gregory flew at the sun once, with Carl, his lover, who had his own dreams of flight that died in an overdose... But when Gregory manages to find his spirit and his wings, and put aside some of his worst baggage, there is the glorious prospect of what he and Paul could be together. The author hasn't pushed for too much here, and it's lovely."

Blurb:
Gregory Daniels is a man who has given up. Once he dreamed of going to L.A. and "making it big," but those dreams exploded, leaving his lover dead and Gregory disillusioned. Now he works 9-to-5 as a tax attorney in Long Beach, California, trying to convince himself a weekly paycheck is enough to make up for a job he hates and dinner alone every night.

Then Gregory notices a talented, beautiful young guitarist playing on the museum steps on his way to work, and he begins to wonder whether he hasn't sacrificed more than he's gained in favor of predictability and routine. An opportunity beckons; the only question is whether Gregory trusts himself enough to reach out and take it.

You can download it for FREE for today only: Melting Wax and Burning Feathers. I hope you'll drop by and pick up a copy! Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

Jennifer Cierra
jennifercierra.weebly.com