Mix Ups Happen

If you were one of the three people who looked for me over at Pat Bean's blog, there was a bit of a mix-up and she has a different guest there today. However, you might want to pop over to meet Helen Ginger and get to read her short story that is in the book, The Corner Cafe: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories. It is quite clever.

The post I was going to do for her, will be here next Wednesday, so come back then to meet Frank, the central character in my story that is part of the collection. When I told him he was not going to be featured in the blog today, he was quite put out and insisted that he get his air time. I told him this was not television or radio, but he didn't care.

And now for your visual enjoyment, a picture of some of the flowers blooming around our place This is a little flower that grows close to the ground and is seen all over in East Texas. If I did more than admire wildflowers I would take the time to look them up on the Internet and find names. I'd rather just look at them.

Book Blog Tours

 

First I want to remind everyone about the new book, 
The Corner Cafe: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories, prepared by the BBT Cafe Authors, an online group of which I'm happy to be a member. This month, our group is on tour, promoting The Corner Cafe, and a full list of blog stops can be found by clicking the link.

I have a short story in this collection and tomorrow I will be at Pat Bean's blog, introducing the central character in my story. Actually, the central character will be introducing himself. Cheeky fellow, Frank is.

If you don't have a kindle, go to http://amzn.to/CCKindleApps
for free apps to download this book.

 

Next, I want to mention that Stephen Tremp is hosting a Breakthrough Breakout Party this week.

Today and tomorrow, June 18th and 19th, his thriller

Breakthrough: The Adventures of Chase Manhatten 

will be available as a free download from Amazon. 

Stop by his blog, say hi, and tell him thanks for your free copy.

 

Now I want to thank my blogging friend, LD Masterson, for giving me the Lucky Seven Meme. This is a bit different from other blog awards in that it asks the blogger to share from a story they are currently working on. It was fun to read LD's excerpt, and I hope you will go by her blog and read it. 

Here are the rules for the meme:

1. Go to page 77 of your current manuscript

2. Go down to line 7.

3. Copy down the next 7 lines.

4. Tag 7 others. 

 

Okay, here is the excerpt from the book I just finished writing and am doing a final revision on. It is titled, Boxes for Beds. 

 

'"Heck! They don't want me. They only take babies." Mandy patted Leslie's hand and Leslie almost laughed at the motherly gesture. "Come on. Help me with my English paper."

Leslie was grateful for the diversion that ate up a couple of empty hours. But after Mandy went to bed, the loneliness and discontent settled back in like an unwelcome guest.

In those empty hours of late evening, Leslie recognized her need for someone to talk to. Being afraid and uncertain was bad enough, but having no one to share it with made it harder to bear.  There was too much silence, during which her mind was busy playing frightening games with her.

I hope Lucky Seven does not turn into bad luck, but I may not tag seven people. I know how busy everyone is, and not everyone has time to play, but here are just a few of my cyber buddies.

Morgan Mandel - who always makes time to play

Ginger Simpson - who may have time

 

Patricia Stoltey - who will probably make time to play

Book Review - The Corner Cafe: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories

I'm not sure if there is any rule against reviewing a book that  you are a contributor to, but if I don't say anything about my story, will that work?

A few weeks ago, all of us who contributed to The Corner Cafe: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories were asked to download the book to do some proofing and check for formatting issues, so we have had the opportunity to read all the stories first.

In reading some of the first stories in the collection, I noticed a theme that involved strong women taking charge of their lives. "You Can't be too Careful" by Bob Sanchez features George, who is a bit off his rocker, so to speak, and has made his wife, Lila, live with him in a storm shelter. Duct tape plays an important role in this humorous story that has a bit of an O'Henry twist.

Shon Bacon's story, "I Wanna Get Off Here" brings us the character of Bay, a bus driver and closet writer. She doesn't want to be forever trapped in the abusive relationship with Darryl. He thinks she is too stupid to be anything but a bus driver, but in her heart, Bay knows she is better than that. She needs to find the courage to get him out of her life, and she finds it at The Corner Cafe.

In "What's Next" by Karen Casey Fitzjerrell, the reader meets a woman named Wilson, named so because her mother desperately wanted "a baby with a penis." Wilson has grown up in a little town in Texas near the Gulf  and longs for more than the endless routine of days and nights living with her grandmother, and wondering what happened to her father who died at sea before she was born. How she decides to break that endless cycle is both harrowing and enlightening.

I found these stories of strong women particularly endearing. Maybe because I like to write about strong women. But I also really enjoyed the other stories as well. On her blog, The Fabulousness, Red Tash shares a list of all the stories with a short blurb for each one.

This collection, a collaborative effort with 14  writers is free at Amazon UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. You can download it to your Kindle by clicking here: http://www.amzn.to/Cornercafe and read at your leisure!

If you don't have a Kindle, you can download a free Kindle app to many other gadgets like your computer, smartphone, or iPad. Click here: http://bit.ly/CCKindleApps

Free Kindle Book

Surprise, surprise. I don't normally post on Saturdays, unless I'm doing the A to Z challenge, but I had to pop in today to let you know about a free book this weekend.

The Corner Cafe A Tasty Collection of Short Stories is described on Amazon:  Sweet, dreamy, steamy, and sometimes slightly seamy, this multi-genre collection of short stories includes something for every taste. Prepared by the BBT Café authors: Marian Allen, Shonell Bacon, Karen Casey Fitzjerrell, W.S. Gager, Helen Ginger, Dani Greer, S.B. Lerner, Audrey Lintner, Morgan Mandel, Maryann Miller, Bodie Parkhurst, Bob Sanchez, Mary Montague Sikes, Red Tash, Christine Verstraete.

During the month of June we are doing a blog tour and the authors will be visiting blogs to talk about their stories, their writing, and sometimes some little known facts about themselves. I hope you can find the time to visit a few of the blogs and meet these terrific authors that I am honored to share pages with. Here is a link to Dani Greer's blog with a list of all the tour stops. We hope you join us each day to read more about how The Corner Cafe: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories evolved.

Today and tomorrow the book will be free for Kindle. The good news is you don't need to own a Kindle to download and read the book. You can download an app for another gadget at this link and it's free:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

So happy reading all, and if you download the book and like it, it would be wonderful if you would let us know by writing a short review.  My story is titled "Over the Threshold" and is a cross between noir mystery and "The Twilight Zone."

My Y/A novel, Friends Forever is also free today, Saturday.  This is book for tweens dealing with the issues of friendships lost and friendships found and the consequences of bullying.