Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "laundry-day"

As a short story writer, I am thrilled to discover that there is such a thing as National Short Story Month! I found out today from my good friend and fellow author, Stacy Juba, who has a free short story available for download on Smashwords entitled, 'Laundry Day'. I've read some of Stacy's work and would encourage you all to download this story; it's bound to be good, she's a very talented writer.

The short story seems to be getting more popular these days because people live busy lives and often don't have the time or energy to really get into a novel. A good short story can be a really satisfying way to end the day. You can read a whole story in one sitting, without having to wonder what happens next, or worry about forgetting important facts by the time you next sit down to read it.

I am an avid reader as well as a writer, and I used to only read novels, but have recently been finding that I enjoy short stories and short story collections just as much.

I'm very happy that short stories seem to be making a come back because I love writing them as well as reading them.

To celebrate short story month, I thought I would recommend a few short stories and collections that I have read and enjoyed in recent years. I hope you will choose one or two of them to read. (I've included quotes from my reviews of the stories, you can read my full reviews on the relevant pages).

In no particular order:



With this short story, Michael Radcliffe is introducing the world of the Guardian's Apprentice, his fantasy novel... If you like books about witches, wizards, magic, curses etc., you will love this story. It kept me interested and I loved the little twists contained within it. Nisha wants to save her father, a powerful Wizard who is dying. Will she be able to find the stone that will cure him, and at what cost?



A skillfully written crime short story, taking a minor character from Darcia's Michael Sykora series of novels, and giving him the spotlight. Sean Riley is a man with a dark past and this story shows just what effect his past has had on the way he now lives his life. If you like crime fiction, you'll love the way Darcia Helle writes. This character oozes pure evil, and the dialogue-driven prose helps to give the reader the impression that they are a fly on the wall witnessing this brutal scene. Definitely not a story for the fainthearted!



More of a novelette, but still a quick read :)
A psychological thriller exploring schizophrenia and the unexplained bond between twins. It's a story that will have you glued to the page. The suspense is well constructed and made me want to continue reading until I found out what was happening. The story unravels bit by bit, slowly revealing the reasons behind the characters' behaviour. Beaudet drip feeds the information in the most effective way, with flashback scenes and high drama. A wonderfully entertaining story. I'd recommend it to everyone who likes a good suspenseful thriller.




(collection of short stories)
This is a book that will give you a fly on the wall look at ordinary lives and the common scars and ties that bind us. It will reveal to you the hidden side of life, the side most people will never reveal, and of which we are usually oblivious.





Those who love a good romance story will love 'A Valentine For Victoria'. It's a sweet story about how an unlikely couple fall in love. Apart from being a story about how love can blossom in unexpected ways, this story has more depth; it looks at the feelings of insecurity that come with loneliness, that can make us reach out to someone who may or may not be ideal... An underlying theme to this story seems to be 'never judge a book by its cover', and it reminds us that sometimes what we've been looking for has been there all along, but we just don't see it for one reason or another. An entertaining read.



A wonderful, well written story, about a young girl and her father, who doesn't always live up to her ideal. She has created a fantasy figure in her mind of what a real father should behave like. The mannequin in an expensive store looks just right for the part. One day, her world changes when a mystery man appears and challenges her view of the world. An insightful and interesting read.



A story that many will relate to. Dean is a 40 something sales rep who is tired of his humdrum life and job, and of the things in his life, like the road markers, that keep him hemmed in. He wants to break free. In the past he has had suicidal thoughts. We follow him on a ride along a dark highway as he deliberates about the consequences that would follow if he were to cross that line and end it all. His mind meanders like the twists and turns of the highway and McIntytre keeps the reader hooked with many a diversion in this skillfully structured short story. A recommended read.


(collection of stories)

'The Heroes and Other Stories'is a well composed collection of short stories. Kat Hausler has a wonderful talent for describing and portraying the nuances of human behaviour. For me this collection included absolute gems... Two stories in particular stood out for me, in that they grabbed my attention from the first page and would not let go: 'Peripeteia' and 'La Fee Noire'... I loved the ending of the first story 'What Makes Us Happy', a study of self-imposed loneliness; the ending is very fitting and thought-provoking, and that is one of the better stories in the collection too. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of short fiction. Many of the stories are so intricately detailed that I am sure I would enjoy reading them again and again. This is a promising debut from a talented author.



A man wakes up one day to find he has been changed into a large insect/beetle. The story follows his efforts to deal with this, and his family's reaction to the change. But it's not just a story about a man turning into a beetle, it's a clever way of writing about how a family would deal with the main breadwinner in the house becoming unable to work, and also on a wider scope, the way a family (and the world at large) reacts to someone who is disabled, or terminally ill... The once able and hard-working man, transformed into a beetle, is now rejected, and his family blame him for their financial situation and the fact that they cannot move to a smaller house, because they need to have a room to keep him in.
The descriptive quality of the writing is excellent, and although it is a sad and gruesome tale, it is also very funny in parts; I couldn't help laughing out loud a couple of times... The main thing that struck me, was that even though this story is nearly 100 years old, it is still totally relevant to today's world.



(collection of stories)

Tom Upton's talent seems to lie in being able to grab the reader's attention and draw them into the story, and most importantly to keep the reader's interest. There are many believeable and well-observed/developed characters in these tales... My personal favourites are, 'The Hanging Boy', which I felt was particularly insightful, and, 'Life Along the Okie-dokie Highway'...
I enjoyed reading this book and it's definitely a collection worth reading.



(collection of stories and plays)

This book is hilarious. If you like Woody Allen's humour I would highly recommend it. It's totally ridiculous, but brilliant at the same time — which sums up Woody Allen as a comedian. This is a book to make you laugh out loud. It's a collection of short essays, short plays and other strange observations... If you want a giggle you should pick up this book.



I have to start this review with a word of warning: you have to read with an open mind, and I would not recommend this collection of stories to anyone who is of a nervous disposition or who dislikes graphic descriptions of sex and violence, or who has an aversion to the use of swearwords. With that out of the way, I have to say that on the whole, I really enjoyed reading this collection. The author is a very talented writer and has a fantastic imagination. He has created many interesting and compelling tales... The stories are written about the darker side of life and some are frightening, some shocking. All the tales will make you think. Most, if not all, are controversial... definitely a book which you will want to read to the end.

And now, of course, I have to mention my own short story collections :)
I have three collections



A diverse collection of short stories, dealing with subjects such as love, luck, loss, and other things beginning with L (LOL).



A themed collection of stories. 7 stories, each one inspired by a different colour of the rainbow.



My latest collection. Contains ghost stories, love stories and even a bit of sci-fi :)


I hope you will find some short stories to enjoy, and perhaps you'll be persuaded, like I was, that short stories can be just as much fun to read as novels.

Happy National Short Story Month!!

Those of you who follow my blog may have seen my interview last year with Stacy Juba.

Here's a link to that interview where we talked about her book Twenty-Five Years Ago Today-- Stacy Juba Interview

Since then, Stacy has been a busy woman, publishing many more books, some of which I've read. I decided that it's been far too long since I had a good old chat with her on my blog, so I invited her back.

Stacy is one of those writers who can turn her hand to many different types of books; Children's books, Young Adult fiction, fantasy, paranormal, murder/mystery. I've really enjoyed reading Stacy's books and look forward to finding time to read her new ones.

She has very generously agreed to give away a paperback copy of Dark Before Dawn, her YA paranormal novel, to one lucky reader of my blog. This contest is limited to those of you who live in the U.S. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment at the end of this interview or simply 'Like' it :) A winner will be picked on the 12th of March 2012.




Here's my latest interview with Stacy:


Your novel Sink or Swim has been getting some great reviews. I found it to be a very engrossing read. The plot revolves around Cassidy, the main character, who is stalked after appearing on a reality TV show. To celebrate the release last year you interviewed quite a few reality TV show stars on your blog. Who was your favourite guest and why?


That was a fun month! I interviewed so many guests, from shows like Survivor, Top Chef, Beauty & the Geek, and Bachelor Pad and loved hearing all their stories. I was especially happy to have Michelle Costa from Big Brother 10 on the blog, as Michelle has been a great supporter of Sink or Swim. She gave me a back cover blurb for the book, interviewed me on her radio show, and has been wonderful about spreading the word on her social networks. Anyone interested can find links to all the interviews at Sink or Swim Interviews





Would you ever consider appearing on a reality TV show of the type featured in Sink or Swim?

No! I'm very introverted and just wouldn't be comfortable in front of the camera. My husband and I did try out for the game shows Jeopardy and The Price is Right, though, but I was praying that he would get picked and not me!

You have published a short story Laundry Day and it is also featured in the BestsellerBound Short Story Anthology - Volume 3. It's a fun and suspenseful read. Do you have any plans to write more short stories?





In the past, I never wrote or read many short stories, but I've been expanding my horizons lately by reading a lot of short stories on Kindle. As a result,
I'm planning an anthology of romance short stories to serve as a companion book to the romance/chick lit novel that I'm currently writing. I'm very excited about both projects and have been keeping a folder of short story ideas for the anthology. They're going to be upbeat, sweet romance stories. I'm also considering having Kris from Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, Cassidy from Sink or Swim, and Dawn from Dark Before Dawn star in their own short stories, but that is on the backburner.

Last year you also released a Young Adult book, Dark Before Dawn, which I understand is a paranormal novel about a young girl with psychic powers. What was the inspiration behind that book?

I've always enjoyed reading books about psychics and I actually wrote the first draft of that book when I was in my early twenties. An editor at Random House thought another paranormal YA novel that I'd submitted had promise and encouraged me to start over with a new book, something in the vein of Lois Duncan's YA books. That's when I began Dark Before Dawn. It came close at many publishing houses, but wound up in my drawer for several years. I'm thrilled that it's finally in front of readers.

You also released Face-Off (Book One) last year. I understand that this Young Adult hockey-themed novel was first published when you were a teenager and has been acclaimed by The Hockey Hall of Fame's Junior Education Program and Booklist among others. What made you decide to re-release the book, and are there any differences between the original version and the newly published one?




It had been out of print since the early 1990s and re-releasing it was on my to-do list for the past couple of years, with the growth of e-books and all the independent publishing opportunities available now which weren't available before. It was on the backburner for awhile as it was quite a project. The manuscript was typed on a computer model that doesn't even exist anymore, and I didn't have an electronic copy. I had to send the paperback book to a company, which took the book apart and scanned it in for me. Then I had to carefully proof it, to make sure I caught all the scanning conversion errors. Lastly, I had to think long and hard about how much to change in the book, as e-mail, cell phones, the Internet, social networking, and texting were not part of our culture in the early 1990s. All of that was in its infancy. But setting the book in the present would mean tearing it apart, and I didn't want to mess with a book that so many kids had enjoyed over the years. I decided to keep it simple, and just delete references that might confuse today's kids, such as the names of rock bands, TV shows, and retired hockey players. For example, I deleted a few lines about The Brady Bunch, as I don't think most kids today are overly familiar with that show.

I read that you're soon publishing a sequel to Face-Off. Was the sequel also something written when you were a teenager, or is that something that you wrote much later on?

I wrote the sequel, Offsides, when I was about 19 or 20 but it was never published. There was a lot of editorial turnover at the original publishing company. It went in my drawer for years and all I had was the typed manuscript. Last year, I hired a company to scan in the manuscript as the thought of retyping it was unbearable! I do feel it needs some rewriting before it's ready for publication, so that's the stage I'm at now - rewriting. I'm balancing that with writing the romance/chick lit novel that I mentioned above.

I love your book covers. Who designs them?

My husband Mark is a graphic designer, so how lucky is that! He designed the covers for Laundry Day, Face-Off, Dark Before Dawn, Teddy Bear Town Childrens E-book Bundle, and my other children's books. He's open to working with clients if anyone is interested, and down the line, we'll probably add some information about that on my web site. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in touching base with him, they can email me through my web site. The covers for Twenty-Five Years Ago Today and Sink or Swim were done by Mainly Murder Press, which published the paperback editions.

Your latest release is a set of 3 children's books: Teddy Bear Town. This comprises The Flag Keeper(which we discussed the last time I interviewed you), and two more recent releases: Victoria Rose and the Big Bad Noise, and Sticker Shoes. Tell us a bit more about the collection and why you decided to release them as a 3 e-book bundle.




I'm really excited about this bundle as I think it fills a niche for parents who love to read to their children, but don't want to clutter up the bookshelf with more books. It's priced at $2.99 and is exclusive to Kindle at this time, but will likely be available at more retailers down the line. I wrote the stories and my father illustrated them. They all feature teddy bear characters, hence the name Teddy Bear Town, and were done in colored pencil. It's targeted at people who have color e-readers. The Flag Keeper is about Elizabeth, a bear determined to prove to her dad that she is capable of raising the U.S. flag by herself while following all the rules of flag etiquette. Victoria Rose and the Big Bad Noise is about a bear who has to learn to overcome her fear of loud noises like the vacuum and blender. And Sticker Shoes is a fun story about a bear who tries to create beautiful shoes using stickers, but runs into a few problems along the way. Sticker Shoes is exclusive to the e-book bundle; the other two stories can be downloaded separately. But I thought 3 books in one download, at an inexpensive price like $2.99, was more likely to capture parents' attention than the standalone picture books so that's the edition that I'm marketing the most. The teddy bear theme tied them all together.

I know you have young children. What do they think of your children's books?

They loved the picture books, especially the illustrations, and I read Face-Off to my older one. They're not overly impressed about the books being published, though. They're used to my writing and publishing addiction so when I show them a new book cover, they nod and smile, and then go back to what they were doing. I'm looking forward to them reading Dark Before Dawn someday though - then I think they'll think Mom is pretty cool!

You are one of the first authors to try out Amazon Kindle's KDP Select. How is that experience going? Do you think it is something more authors should be getting involved in?

It's going very well so far. I think authors should definitely consider it, unless they are making a significant amount of money at other outlets. But the majority of authors do best at Amazon. I think it's especially beneficial for authors with multiple titles, as if readers enjoy one book, they're more likely to seek out your other books. You don't have to put all your titles in it - you can try one or two and see how it goes. And you don't have to keep them in it forever. It's only a commitment of a few months, and then you have the option of whether to extend it or let it lapse. It takes some effort removing your titles from other outlets, but for many authors, I think it's worth the effort. I do understand why some authors are reluctant to give an exclusive though, and it's unfortunate for readers that have other kinds of e-readers such as the Nook. Authors on both sides of this issue have valid points. But personally, I thought this was the best decision for my career at this time. I've been working for 20 years to get established as an author, since I was in high school, and my royalties through Amazon have allowed me to cut back on other kinds of jobs and focus on my fiction.

Thank you, Stacy!

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Remember to leave a comment for Stacy or 'Like' this blog post, for your chance to win a copy of Dark Before Dawn! Good luck!