The Moon Garden

I’m a little late in sharing this news, but my short story, The Moon Garden, was published by Fantasia Divinity back in March 2019.  The title of the anthology it can be found in is Gardens of Enchantment.  Here’s the summary from Amazon:

Gardens are places of mystery and enchantment where fairies hide among the leaves and magic courses through the roots. But beware, the snake of temptation slithers in the undergrowth and the most beautiful flowers might be poisonous. The stories in this collection will take you on a botanical journey into the heart of greenness: you will taste dangerous liquors, see the desert break into blossom or venture into breath-taking bowers.In this bouquet of tales you will find re-imagined legends, magical realist musings, fantasy and a pinch of sci-fi.Authors featured in this anthology: Damien McKeating, Zoey Xolton, Sally Basmajian, Madison McSweeney, Vonnie Winslow Crist, Fanni Suto, Judith Field, Jennifer Vizner, Frank Roger, Pamela Jeffs, Ed Ahern, Maia Cornish, Lucy D. Ford, Elaine M. Lies, Sammi Cox, Helen Mihajlovic, Steve Carr, Scott G. Gibson, and Bill Davidson

Isn’t the cover beautiful?!  I must say, all the covers to the anthologies and books they put out are stunning.  My heartfelt thanks go to Fanni Süto for including and editing my story, and Fantasia Divinity for publishing it.

The Moon Garden

My story focuses on Alexa Harrison, who has just moved into a new house.  However, there’s a discrepancy between the maps of the property and what can actually be seen.  It’s a mystery Alexa can’t let go of, but there’s a price to pay for learning the truth…

I loved writing this story.  In fact, it was one of the short stories I worked on as part of NaNoWriMo 2018, where I tried out a new writing technique of starting to write a story in the middle, working through to the end before returning to the beginning to write the opening.

One Final Word…

If anyone is looking for a venue to submit to, Fantasia Divinity have just released a new list of submissions calls, including a drabble and flash fiction anthology.  You can find all you need to know about submitting to them here.

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I’ve been interviewed!

I’ve been interviewed over at ShiftnShake by the wonderful D. Avery.  You can read my answers to what were an amazing set of questions here, including a little bit of news regarding my novella, The Winter Ghost, which I have as yet, not got round to posting here…

Thanks once again for having me, D.  It really was fun! 🙂

Psst…

The Winter Ghost has made it onto the Open Novella Contest 2019’s Longlist!  Yay!  That was certainly unexpected…

If you’re interested in learning more about it, or would like to read it (yes, it’s free!), you can do so by following this link here, to Wattpad.

The Winter Ghost

I’ve recently been busy with my entry for a Wattpad writing challenge, the Open Novella Contest, hence my prolonged absence, for which I apologise.

Using one of a set of vague prompts from all manner of genres, you had to write a minimum 20,000 word story (up to a maximum of 40,000).  It started in January, and deadlines were set by which you had to reach a certain number of words.  If you reached the milestones by the deadline, you could submit it to the contest and hopefully qualify for the next round, if it passed the judging criteria.  The final deadline was 2nd April and not only did you have to meet the minimum word count of 20,000, you also had to have the novella complete.

Rather surprisingly, I’ve made it through to Round 3, the final round, along with a whole host of amazing stories penned by some amazing writers. The results for the contest are still pending, and to be honest, I don’t expect to make the longlist because the competition is so fierce, but I have loved every minute of it.  It was such a fun challenge to participate in, and I now have another fantasy world in which to set stories, as well as a whole host of characters who want their stories told.  What more could I ask for? 🙂

What’s The Winter Ghost About?

At nineteen, Rhyshard Pellian, son of Tershard Pellian, Lord of Kamvor, has been told by his father that he must take on the role of Acting Lord for the duration of winter. Sent to a town he can barely remember, to watch over a people he cannot recall, he is in a strange place, surrounded by strangers. But things are set to get all the stranger…

Folklore and real life are about to collide…As winter closes in on the town and the weather worsens, rumours of The Winter Ghost are whispered. Is this the year the ghost is set to return, leaving terror and death in its wake?

And what does this mean for Rhyshard Pellian? Mysteries and secrets abound as the Acting Lord of Kamvor does all he can to avert disaster. But is it enough?

* * *
The Winter Ghost is a paranormal mystery set in a fantasy world.

Where can you read it?

You can read the novella by following this link to Wattpad.  If you do have a read of it, don’t forget to let me know what you think! 😉

Endless Horizons

 

The horizon stretched on

No end in sight

No pause for rest

Endlessly expanding

Tirelessly discovering

Moving quickly over ground just covered

In search of new ground to conquer and claim

*

On and on

Into the distance it reached

And on and on

It continued to grasp

*

I wished that it would stop

Just for a moment

In peaceful stillness

*

But instead, the horizon

Keeps moving

It won’t be still

It won’t be content

---

Written for Weekend Writing Prompt #93 – Horizon | Word Count: 74

I’ve seen other writers turn their prose into poems but this is the first time I’ve tried it myself, and must say, not only was it a fun and interesting exercise, I don’t think the poem is half bad either – for a first attempt 😉  I will be certainly trying this again.

The original piece of prose, Horizon, a 120 word flash fiction, was published on this site in April 2016 and can be found here.

Wool-Gathering with the Seven of Cups

She was never here.  Never present.  Always lost in daydreams, a far-off look in her eye.

She had so much, but couldn’t see it.  She was too attached to her illusions.

Without them, she was nothing…

---

Written for Weekend Writing Prompt # 92 – Wool-Gathering | Word count: 36

Note: The Seven of Cups from the Tarot is often associated with daydreams and having unrealistic expectations from life, and corresponds perfectly with the word, “wool-gathering”, I think 🙂

A Little Exciting News…

A random, sort of spooky photo…

A few months ago, I entered a Tudor Ghost Story Contest hosted by authors Natalie Grueninger, who runs the wonderful website, On The Tudor Trail, the Talking Tudors podcast and is the author of a number of Tudor history books, and Wendy J Dunn, author of a number of books of Tudor fiction.

Last week the results were announced, and I’m excited to share that I placed joint second!  On Christmas Eve, the winner and the second and third place getters’ stories were published on On The Tudor Trail.  You can read the post announcing the winners by the judge of the competition here, where you will also find links to the first, second and third place stories.  The direct link to my own story, The Thorns of A Tudor Rose, can be found here.

The Thorns of a Tudor Rose is a story of Anne Boleyn being visited by the ghost of Katherine of Aragon during the days leading up to her downfall…only she doesn’t yet know it.  If you do have a read of it, please let me know what you think!

UPDATE: The first, second and third placed stories have also been included in a sample copy of Tudor Life Magazine, the monthly magazine of The Tudor Society!