Searching for Halloween Short Stories? Check out "Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories" and "Shadows After Midnight"

As the temperature drops and the leaves change from green to gold, red, yellow, or orange, my thoughts turn to Halloween -- and tales of ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night.

To help keep my hands off the Halloween candy, I pick up a pen and write -- or grab a book and read.

If you're looking for some scary short stories to read by the fire on a chilly October night, here are two collections to check out.

Shameless plug: Did I mention I have stories in each of these collections?

Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories has recently been released by Rocking Horse Publishing.

My story about the haunted Bissell Mansion in North St. Louis "Ghost in Celestial Blue" is included in the collection, along with tales from blogger buddies, Missouri author Val the Victorian from Unbagging the Cats and Canadian author and travel writer Sean McLachlan of Civil War Horror.

I haven't received my contributor copies yet, so I haven't read all the stories, but I know what great writers Val and Sean are because I am a frequent follower of their blogs.

If you're curious about who else is in the anthology and want to purchase a copy, visit the RHP website.

If you're a frequent visitor to my blog, you might remember the title of the book Shadows After Midnight.

The e-book was published late last year by Welkin Press, but editor Patricia B. Smith has redesigned the cover and reduced the price, just in time for Halloween.

The Shadows After Midnight e-book is now available for a limited time on Amazon.com for less than a dollar. The collection of "12 Spooky Tales for Halloween" includes my short story "Stairway to Heaven."

How about you?  Do you have any scary books to recommend reading on chilly fall evenings--that is, when the Cardinals aren't playing in the World Series?

Special Announcements: Free E-book and a Call for Submissions

Because of the time-senstive nature of these announcements, I didn't want to wait until Monday to share them with my blog readers. 

 

The first announcements comes from Pat Smith, publisher of Welkin Press.

 

For a limited time, Pat is giving away copies of Shadows After Midnight e-book through the Amazon Kindle store. The promotion runs through Tuesday, March 26. The anthology features "12 spooky tales," including my short story "Stairway to Heaven." 

 

The second announcement comes by way of Colleen Sell, former editor ofthe Cup of Comfort Series.

 

Although Colleen is not involved in this project, she is helping spread the word about a call for submissions for Grammy-award winning songwriter Gloria Gaynor's anthology, How I Survived.

The editors are looking for "personal narrative essays that tell the story of how you survived the experience and how the song influenced your life. We’re looking for real-life stories that read like fiction—similar to the stories in the Cup of Comfort book series, compiled and edited by Colleen Sell."

 

The book will include 50 real-life stories of 1,000-1,500 words each.

 

Contributors whose essays are selected will receive a payment of $75, a complimentary copy of the book signed by Gloria Gaynor, and a signed photo of Ms. Gaynor.

 

Note the short deadline: April 20, 2013.

 

Send submissions to: glolo2004@me.com or susancarswell@aol.com

 

 

Whee, It's Free: Fifty Shades of Santa Kindle E-Book is Free Until March 5

Why wait until Christmas? 

 

From now until March 5, you can download for free Fifty Shades of Santa, a collection of "nice not naughty" humorous romantic stories from twelve award-winning writers. 

 

The collection includes my short story, "Time To Get Your Jingle On."

 

Pat Smith, publisher of Welkin Press, describes the anthology as "romance for the rest of us--the rest of us being readers whose idea of love doesn't include implements of pain.The stories range from laugh-out-loud-funny to warmly humorous to poignant, but all will leave you feeling uplifted."

I don't have a Kindle, but I was able to download the book on my iPhone, using a free Kindle app.

 

There's that word free again.

 

PLEASE NOTE: This book is NOT explicit.

 

And did I mention, it's free --until March 5.

 

Happy reading!

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Announcing the Cupid's Quiver Anthology Release and A Healthy Heart Giveaway

February is a month for red, with love and flowers and hearts -- and giveaways.

In the love department, my romantic short story “The Promise of New Beginnings” is among the twelve stories in the just-released Cupid’s Quiver anthology. Oh, and flowers play a large part in my story.

What’s special about this anthology is that it includes stories from some of my writing friends and blogger buddies: Sioux Roslawski, Linda O’Connell, Pat Wahler, and Claudia Mundel to name a few. Cupid's Quiver is available on Amazon Kindle.

In the heart department, last week my sister Kathleen and I attended the Her Heart: Every Beat Counts seminar and luncheon, sponsored by SSM Health Care. It’s the third year we’ve attended the free event. The inspiring speakers included local cardiologists and a young mother who is a heart attack survivor. There were several vendors and lots of activities going on all morning. Lunch was tasty, and although I didn’t win a door prize, they looked fantastic.

While I was at the event, I picked up some handouts and promotional items. Rather than keeping everything for myself, I decided to have a giveaway so I could share them with one of my blog readers. The giveaways include a red-and-white bag to hold the goodies, two colorful pens for writing, a Go Red for Women pin to wear, a nail file to keep you sharp, and several pamphlets with educational information about women and heart disease.

For a chance to win the bag of heart-healthy writerly goodies, be sure to have a mailing address in the USA and leave a comment by February 22. I’ll pick one name at random and announce the winner’s name on Feb 25.  Good luck!

 

Are You Ready for Some Romance? Last Call - Cupid's Quiver

I received an e-mail over the weekend from Patricia Smith, publisher of Welkin Press.
She is still looking for romantic short story submissions for her latest anthology, "Cupid's Quiver."

Here are the submission details:

Word Count: 2,500-7,000 wirds
Payment - $10 per accepted story, plus royalties on book sales
Deadline: January 15, 2013
Submit to: pbsmith@welkinpress.com

I am working on a story I hope to finish today, read at my critique group tomorrow, and submit by the deadline.  

How about you? Do you have a story to submit?

Anthology News from Welkin Press: Shadows After Midnight and Cupid's Quiver

 If you like to read scary stories on long winter nights, check out the Shadows After Midnight Anthology, which has recently been released by Welkin Press and is available on Amazon as a Kindle e-book.

The anthology of "12 spooky tales of terror by 12 award-winning authors will raise the hair on the back of your neck and make you want to check under the bed and sleep with the light on."

Edited by award-winning journalist Patricia B. Smith, the collection pays "homage to a variety of ghosts and nightmarish creatures." I'm please to announce that my short story "Stairway to Heaven" is among the stories in the collection.

***

If you have a flair for writing romance, here's a call for submissions. Be sure to note the short deadline. 

Welkin Press has also announced a call out for Valentine's Day short stories for Cupid's Quiver, a romance anthology.

Word count range is 2500-7000.  Payment is $10, plus royalties. Submit short stories to pbsmith@WelkinPress.com by January 15. Click on the cupid photo for more details.

On 12/12/12, Good News Comes in Threes

Among the many words of wisdom I remember my mom saying is, "Good news comes in threes." She also was quick to remind that "bad news comes in threes, too."

Mom's good-news-comes-in-three saying won out today. Maybe it's because of the 12/12/12, triple 12 date. Or maybe not.

At any rate, after my bad-news start of the week, which I won't go in to here, I was ready for some good news.

Everything about my three-part good news is Christmas related, which helped put me in the holiday mood. Please excuse this shameless self-congratulation.

Good news #1: A reprint of my Christmas short story "Canned Beets" will be included in the Saturday Writers 10th Anniversary Edition, Cuivre River Anthology VI. The original version of "Canned Beets," which received Honorable Mention in the Steinbeck National Short Story competition, was previously published in CRA II and the Mid Rivers Review. I share this good news with more than 40 other writers, whose award-winning stories, essays, and poems also appear in the anthology. Almost all contributors are members of Saturday Writers, and many of them belong to Coffee and Critique. The final version is hot off the press today, but you might have to wait a few days if you want to order a copy.


 

Good news #2: My short story "Time to Get Your Jingle On" appears in the Kindle version of Fifty Shades of Santa, which is available today from Amazon. The anthology from Welkin Press is a collection of "12 Nice (Not Naughty) Humorous Holiday Romances."  I share this good news with writing friends -- Marcia Gaye, Pat Wahler, Pat Smith (the editor), Lou Turner, Lynn Obermoeller, and Regina Williams -- and several other writers I hope to meet. The print version will be available in a week or so. Isn't the cover cute?

Good news #3: My recipe for German Gluhwein (Donna's Hot Glow Wine) and the story behind the recipe are featured on the Panera Bread Company website this month. Actually, I received the news that the recipe was posted yesterday afternoon, but for some reason my home town was shown as somewhere in North Carolina. After a quick e-mail to the editor, a fix was made and my correct home town appeared there this morning.

So, that's my good news for 12/12/12.

Congratulations to all the other writers whose works are included in the anthologies mentioned above.

I think it's time to make a batch of German Gluhwein to celebrate.

Prosit! (That's German for Cheers!)

Time to Get Your Jingle On - Call for Submissions: Fifty Shades of Santa

Time to get your jingle on!

A couple weeks ago Pat Smith, editor of Welkin Press and one of my writing buddies, called to invite me to submit a story to a new anthology. The excitement in her voice flowed through the phone lines. Pat is putting together humorous holiday stories for a romance anthology titled "Fifty Shades of Santa." 

The anthology will be published in October (yes, you read it right) by Welkin Press.

 

Pat writes that "the title is already attracting media attention."

She is looking for your best writing, featuring unusual situations, interesting characters, great romantic chemistry and lots of laughs.

She is NOT looking for stories about tying anyone up or beating them with whips or anything like that. She writes, "It's Christmas, people!"

Story Length: 2,000 to 8,000 words

Deadline: September 30, 2012 (Better get moving!)

Payment: $10.00 per story, plus royalties on sales of the anthology.  

Authors retains copyrights for their stories after publication. Submit stories to Pat at mizgotrocks@wt.net