Electric Press - Literary Insights magazine August 2020

“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. A letter to Ms. Lockwood’s class at Xavier High School

ISSUE 6 EDITION 1 AUGUST 2020

This is Electric Eclectic’s Story book celebrating the 75th VE-Day anniversary, 8th May 2020.

These tales are dedicated to the all the brave and the unsung heroes who made victory possible by their sacrifice.

While each story carries a personal dedication, each is written with respect and gratitude to all those who gave their lives for our liberty and freedoms.

Paperback, https://amzn.to/2NCdGk0 eBook, https://books2read.com/u/bWd9RD Your support will aid the SSAFA—the armed forces charity, thank you

This Months Content 5 A Note from our Editor

53 Vega House writers retreat - Mini article

7 The Origin of Novel, an article by Steven

55 Her Skin - Poem

Moore

56 Author, Douglas R. Cobb &

12 Pocketbooks - A new Trend

‘Shadowlands’ book feature

16 Craig Woods - Author Interview

63 ‘Unto’, poem and ‘Well Versed’ book

20 When Persistence Paid—Article

promo

23 The award winning short story, ‘Twenty

67 Recommended reads from Electric Press

Minuets’ from Lauren Hester

71 Writers Journey, creative adventures -

26 Competition - Last chance to enter the

Feature

Electric Eclectic Novella Fiction Prize

74 Rika Inami - Tanka & Haiku poet

28 Electric Press Special Feature

79 Lemon Tree House, Creative Residency

34 Miss Smith Commits the Perfect Crime -

81 Dangerous Practise - Article

Book Feature 38 The Pseudoverse - C G Blade 40 Katerina Ventova - A mini bio 42 Uptown on the IRT - a short story from Susi Wolfe 46 Jack Kregas & Sinner Sid - Book

promotion 48 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Our cover story feature

84 Amazon Books - Article 88 Names of the Day - Article 90 Author Assist Radio Show 94 The Secret Door of Bluebell Meadow— Book Promotion 96 Electric Press Submissions 97 Electric Press archives

2018 BRONZE MEDAL WINNER READERS' FAVORITE INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

Whoever thought finding a coin could get you killed?

Pa p e r b a c k - K i n d l e - A u d i o b o o k

Amazon UK Amazon USA

A Note from The Electric Press ’s Editor August brings this, the third issue of Electric Press-Literary Insights magazine of 2020, one of the constants in this most strange of years.

Readership of Electric Press has increased steadily, we reach over fifty-thousand people in around ninety countries each edition, which makes Electric Press a prime promotional tool to have as part of your overall book marketing strategy.

In this edition we have a wonderful selection of articles, two excellent short stories, an author interview, poetry, book promotions, insights and recommendations you will not want to miss.

Electric Eclectic books show us some of their 'Pocketbook Paperbacks', a new size book which is becoming a 'Thing', and they give us an insight into their amazing book 'Victory 75' a book which celebrates the end of WW2 and honours those involved.

This edition's shorts include an award-winning story 'Twenty Minuets', and another from an, as yet, unpublished writer, 'Uptown on the IRT'. Both are excellent reads which I know you will enjoy.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. features on this month's cover and we carry an article about this controversial character between the covers.

As this has been a year of constant surprise, I doubt if anyone knows how the rest of this year will pan out, excepting for Electric Press, we will be publishing out next edition in November, ready to help you select the best books for your Christmas gifts.

Until then, enjoy this edition of Electric Press, keep safe and share the happiness.

Happiness always looks Small while you hold it in your Hands...

But let it Go and you Learn at once

how Big and Precious it is..."

Maxim Gorky

Paul, Editor Electric Press Magazine

This evening he plans a surprise proposal to Carla over a romantic meal.

On his way to work that morning, Rupert is snatched off the street and bundled into the back of a white van.

This story follows Rupert during his abduction where we learn about his dysfunctional parents, his fears, his dreams for the future and his love for Carla.

Carla starts a frantic search, enlisting the help of Rupert's employer, George, who is about to retire.

Carla's life is revealed, her Fathers sudden death, her Mothers depression and her own wayward past.

The ABDUCTION of RUPERT DeVILLE is a thrilling suspense story written with a touch of wit and humour. It is a book which will genuinely keep you turning page after page.

Paul White has the rare ability to bring characters to life, making them real people, with feelings, worries and inner doubts like you and I. He has masterly crafted The ABDUCTION of RUPERT DeVILLE into a work that leads the reader astray, down the dark alleyways of the past, before bringing them back into the glaring light of the present.

Paul manages to do all this while weaving a mixture of laugh-out-loud humour and offbeat wit into the story.If you only read one book this year make sure it is this one.

CQ Magazine rates this a “Must Read book.

Electric Press said, "This book is so engaging, finishing it was like losing an old friend"

https://amzn.to/2ZqDJ3g

The Origin of Novel An article from

Steven Moore “I was misled by my advisers,” as Bertie Wooster would say.

At university in the early 1970s, I was led to believe the novel originated in England in the 18th century, and no professor told me otherwise as I pursued my PhD in the 1980s.

Sometimes Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was mentioned as a prototype, but according to literary dogma, the novel experienced a kind of virgin birth with Pamela, Samuel Richardson’s epistolary novel of 1740.

But outside the walls of academe, in those alternative classrooms called used bookshops, I kept coming across books that certainly looked like novels but predated Pamela. There was not only Lady Murasaki’s Tale of Genji, a huge novel written around 1010, but the shorter Tale of the Lady Ochikubo, written a few decades earlier.

I picked up the Everyman’s edition of The Story of Burnt Njal, a 13th-century Icelandic fiction that was labelled a “saga” but looked very much like a realistic novel. I came across multivolume Chinese novels from the Ming Dynasty like The Golden Lotus, a sordidly realistic novel from Shakespeare’s time. I read Robert Graves’s White Goddess and was puzzled by his reference to “a novel called The Recognitions” that dated from the 4th century. There were novels in the 4th century?

I also came across works of fiction that didn’t resemble conventional novels but reminded me of the unconventional, experimental ones I was reading at the time.

Apuleius’s Golden Ass (written around 160 AD) read like something John Barth might have written, while Petronius’s Satyricon (written a century earlier) looked like a Thomas Pynchon novel. Rabelais’s 16thcentury Gargantua and Pantagruel resembled any number of gargantuan, Rabelaisian 20th-century novels from James Joyce’s Ulysses to Gilbert Sorrentino’s Mulligan Stew.

It dawned on me there was a problem with nomenclature.

What most people mean by a novel is the “conventional” novel, or “modern,” or “realistic” novel.

But I’m more interested in the noun than its qualifying adjectives. While I regard a novel as any book-length work of fiction – a definition endorsed by Webster’s dictionary and EM Forster’s Aspects of the Novel – most literature professors want to limit the term to realistic fictions set in identifiable socio-cultural contexts, especially ones that make psychological probes into human nature.

While that definition might exclude a few of the titles above, it describes most of the

others to a T. (The Tale of Genji is a realistic

Shandy – and his minions were simply doing

novel that displays more psychological insight

what the most interesting novelists have

than almost any European novel before the

always done: keeping the novel “novel”.

20th century.)

The narrow definition preferred by some critics Unfortunately, the first editors of many of these early novels labelled them “romances” or “sagas” or satires, folk epics, tales, pastorals,

legends, picaresques, and other terms, which allowed literature professors to ignore them.

applies only to the most recent segment of fiction’s long arc, which began with Egyptian and Sumerian tales in the 20th century BC, and

which will continue to metamorphose into novel forms for as long as there are writers.

Or I should say, those professors who are To identify recent, conventional fictions as the

aware of them.

only ones deserving the term “novel” is I suspect most professors have never even

myopic, provincial, and historically uninformed.

heard of The Tale of Lady Ochikubo or The Golden Lotus, so their status as novels is a non-

Even though I specialise in contemporary fiction, I was intrigued enough by ancient

issue for them.

novels, and angry enough at contemporary I continued to pick up other examples of premodern novels, but it wasn’t until recently I decided to write about them.

critics, to attempt a complete history of the novel, with special attention to the innovative ones.

In the early years of the Bush administration of evil memory, there was a conservative backlash against the innovative, unconventional novels I

love, as though their creators were trying to

There turned out to be many more of those than I expected, for they are familiar only to specialists who rarely communicate with the public.

sabotage the great tradition of the novel that began with Pamela. They identified Joyce as the architect of this anarchy and attacked later saboteurs

like

Barth,

Pynchon,

Gaddis,

Barthelme, and DeLillo.

I figured, if I could spread the word of these early novels to professors and general readers alike, more leniency toward our avant-gardists might result, along with a greater appreciation of the infinite variety of literature’s most

This struck me as a view that could only be held

popular, and misunderstood genre.

by someone woefully ignorant of literary history.

Joyce was hardly the first to depart from the great tradition of the novel – hello Tristam

It probably won’t happen, but I thought I’d give it a shot.

St e v e n M o o r e Encyclopaedic in scope and heroically audacious, The Novel: An Alternative History is the first attempt in over a century to tell the complete story of our most popular literary form.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the novel did not originate in 18th-century England, nor even with Don Quixote, but is coeval with civilization itself.

After a pugnacious introduction, in which Moore defends innovative, demanding novelists against their conservative critics, the book relaxes into a world tour of the premodern novel, beginning in ancient Egypt and ending in 16th-century China, with many exotic ports-of-call: Greek romances; Roman

satires; medieval Sanskrit novels narrated by parrots; Byzantine erotic thrillers; 5000-page Arabian adventure novels; Icelandic sagas; delicate Persian novels in verse; Japanese war stories; even Mayan graphic novels.

Throughout, Moore celebrates the innovators in fiction, tracing a continuum between these premodern experimentalists and their postmodern progeny. Irreverent, iconoclastic, informative, entertaining-The Novel: An Alternative History is a landmark in literary criticism that will encourage readers to rethink the novel.

Beginning to 1600 https://amzn.to/2Zyh2u6

Winner of the 2014 Christian Gauss Award for excellence in literary scholarship from the Phi Beta Kappa Society having excavated the worlds earliest novels in his previous book, literary historian Steven

Moore explores in this sequel the remarkable flowering of the novel between the years 1600 and 1800 from Don Quixote to Americas first big novel, a homage to Cervantes entitled Modern Chivalry.

This is the period of such classic novels as Tom Jones, Candide, and Dangerous Liaisons, but beyond the dozen or so recognized classics hundreds of other interesting novels appeared, then known only to specialists: Spanish picaresques, French heroic romances, massive Chinese novels, Japanese graphic novels, eccentric English novels, and the earliest American novels.

These minor novels are not only worthy of attention but also provide the context needed to appreciate

why the major novels were major breakthroughs.

The novel experienced an explosive growth spurt during these centuries as novelists experimented with different forms and genres: epistolary novels, romances, Gothic thrillers, novels in verse, parodies, science fiction, episodic road trips, and family sagas, along with quirky, unclassifiable experiments in fiction that resemble contemporary, avant-garde works.

As in his previous volume, Moore privileges the innovators and outriders, those who kept the novel novel. This sequel, like its predecessor, is a zestfully encyclopaedic, avidly opinionated, and dazzlingly fresh history of the most elastic of literary forms (Booklist)

1600 to 1800 h tt p s : / / a m z n . t o / 2 Z G r y Q 3

街を歩く 一歩毎に瞑想しながら 反省の経路。

ポールホワイト

秋田ワールド俳句 シリーズ2020 ひるたひでのり訳

Pocketbooks A New Trend Let me introduce to you to Pocketbooks from Electric

Eclectic.

Pocketbooks are paperback books, but printed in a much smaller size, 4x6 inches; that’s 10 x 15 cm in metrication. Which is way smaller than a regular book from, say Amazon which is often 6x9, (15.24cm x 22.86 mm) Why you may ask, would we want to publish books at this size?

Simply, because it makes a lot of scenes.

First, as the name suggests these neat little books fit into your pocket, even the back pocket of your denim jeans, hence their name.

They slip right into a purse or handbag taking up far less room than a standard size book, which make them perfect to carry with you when commuting, flying, or lugging your 'gear' down to the beach or the pool.

Reading a pocketbook is easier than using a cell phone or an eReader, as you have no issues with screen glare, you have no charging to worry about and you saving battery life for staying connected, taking those important calls and messages, let alone taking instant photos of what's happening around you.

Oh, and you can share and pass on a pocketbook to your besties or family whenever you wish.

Here are some of Electric Eclectic's pocketbooks.

To see them all type ‘Electric Eclectic books’ into your Amazon search bar

Miriam's Hex is fun. It is a dark comedy about greed, selfishness and latent curses told in a delightfully light-hearted way.

CQ magazine calls it "A divine tale of

witchery and mischief." https://amzn.to/2Vwz6TZ

Chattanooga Choo Choo.

On a short train ride from Knoxville to Chattanooga a young girl's life is changed forever. Murder, love, and a lifelong mystery are set into motion as the passengers listen to the clickety-clack of the wheels on the track.

Father Ted says, "I can always rely on this writer to keep me glued to the pages of her books."

https://amzn.to/3gblcPe

The Chaconne.

The dead don't rest easy when injustice exists. When the restless spirit of his world-famous soprano mother

struggles to expose the truth of her murder, Ted must open himself to her message. Someone still living knows the answer. Can Ted find the killer and bring peace to his mother's spirit?

https://amzn.to/2Zo5o4y

Toxic.

Lexi craves adventure and freedom from the mundane life forced upon her. One hundred years ago the first drop of acid rain fell. The people fled to the mountains, building a new way of life, a life she knows too well, and now she craves adventure. “A powerful dystopian thriller that captures the heart and imagination.�

https://amzn.to/3iiadFA Adult erotic version, https://amzn.to/2BQ2ygV

Driven.

Christmas break in a small college town can be dreary, especially when you're a broke student.

Running out of funds and unable to pay the rent on his room, a young man is desperate for a way to make money. Seeing an ad for "Drivers Needed" he signs up to be a "Transporter". Late one night he gets a fare courtesy of a group of drunk party goers. Some passengers don't know when the ride is over.

https://amzn.to/3iduJXA

New Summer Garden tells the story of Sam, who was a down and almost out, with little prospect for the future, when he meets Rachelle, the beautiful wife of the philandering Peter, the kingpin of an international underworld empire.

When Peter catches Sam 'in flagrante' with Rachelle, he ensures Sam's simple life becomes... 'complicated'.

From then Sam's life takes on a surreal path, where the only plausible outcome is for Sam to end up in prison or dead... most probably both.

Electric Press magazine says, "Intrigue, manipulation and outright lies abound throughout this story, making it a genuine 'unputdownable' book. This is a 'Must Read'.

https://amzn.to/2VuMVlW

Mechanical Mike is a fun story, a modern retro pulp fiction tale set in Nazi-occupied France during WW2.

A 'gum-shoe' style private eye is on a search and rescue mission of a beautiful blond 'pin-up' of a girl, whose mad scientist father is being coerced to work for the evil Nazi regime.

Rambling Away periodical askes, "Mechanical Mike has it all; what more could you possibly want in a single story?"

https://amzn.to/2YKbeys

Old Habits.

Gaunt Thibideaux is a man of habits. You know what they say; old habits die hard. Some habits are good, some are bad, and some dark habits are hidden beneath the surface. "...a backwoods tale I found akin to the terror master Stephen King."

https://amzn.to/2Zjz9DP

Craig Woods Craig is a direct disciple of Mahashakti Anandini Ma; Yogic Master from New Delhi, India. After a divine experience which radically transformed him in which nearly a decade long drug addiction fell off him overnight, he's been dedicated to assisting others in their own transformations.

Guided by the ancient yogic wisdom from his own master and others, such as Paramahansa Yogananda and Jesus Christ; he feels that he's now ready to share his

findings with the world. Craig is passionate and dedicated to assisting others throughout their awakening process and assisting the collective in creating a more coherent and cohesive society through consciousness.

The following is an interview authorised for Electric Press magazine by Austin Macauley, Craig’s publishers.

Why did you feel this was the right time to share your experience and advice with the world?

during that period.

It was a eureka moment for me when I conceived the idea for this book. I was out jogging late at night, in that meditative flow. The title of the book and the front cover was shown to me in a vision. Instead of continuing the rest of my jog, I turned around and ran back home to note down what I'd just received. When I got out of my own way, so to speak, the idea struck me like a bolt of lightning. Intuitively, I felt it was the right time as my life had been transformed dramatically

Of course. I'm looking to improve and expand my perception, every day. There is much more I could have put in the book, but I wanted to keep things simple in The Labyrinth. My next books will be much more detailed and infused with some of my new realisations and discoveries.

Has the writing of your book led to any further self-reflection or discovery?

What made you seek out the teachings of Mahashakti Anandini Ma? I

read

Paramhansa

Yogananda's

book,

Autobiography of a Yogi. This book inspired me to find a living master who could help me during my initial years on the path. I have been her disciple since 2011 and still am to this day.

What do you think of the relationship between spirituality and psychology? Do they have a place alongside one another?

Psychology is a useful tool for self-awareness, if you don't allow yourself to be defined by what you're perceiving within your mind. The physical mind is a tool, an instrument we use to navigate this space-time reality; it isn't who we truly are.

But yes, there is much psychology in my book and mainly to help people make their unconscious, conscious. Self-awareness is the beginning of freedom; we can't change what we don't see. I believe that some forms of psychology have a role to play in the awakening process as most of our challenges arise out of the conditioned mind.

Do you believe your work may be able to help those suffering from poor mental health?

Yes, without question. I'll go on record by saying that I suffered from severe hypochondria for years. I had surgery to repair my aortic valve on my heart when I was just eight weeks old. The valve was crushed, and they had no idea why.

Mother rushed me to the hospital as she noticed I wasn't breathing properly. The doctors told her that if she would have gotten to the hospital ten minutes later than I would have died on that day.

Now, I'm almost thirty-three and feel so blessed to be alive.

My mother, however, drilled the notion that I have a heart condition into my head ever since I was a kid. I'm not blaming her but the belief I have something wrong with my heart was the cause of so much anxiety for me. Everyone gets palpitations when their fight or flight response is triggered, but when I got them my mind would automatically assume that something was wrong

with my heart. The anxiety got so bad that I, myself, went to CBT therapy for six weeks but the therapist told me that I already know everything he's told me and more. He even said that I could be doing what he's doing. He was impressed with my self-awareness.

For years I worked from untangling my subconscious from this mental block. The answer was the present moment, as always. So, I have suffered from mental illness myself and understand how complex the mind can be. I prefer simplicity and getting straight to the 'heart' of matters, however; if you keep believing in your fear-based thoughts, you'll suffer. This is where meditation comes in, as the meditative state enables one to have thoughts without allowing themselves to be defined by them. Once they no longer define you; you're discovering true What does being a conscious creator mean to you?

Instead of creating your reality on autopilot and controlled by the subconscious, you create awareness and precision. You know what you want and use your God-given creative power to bring it into manifestation, but you're also nonattached to the outcome of things. If your joy is dependent on what happens to you then you'll suffer.

You talk about being the change you want to see in the world. What has that meant for you personally?

So many in spiritual community’s desire to change others and not themselves. How challenging it can be to make changes within oneself, however, should give them an indication of just how challenging it is to change others; in fact, it's impossible. People only change when they want to change and it is ultimately, they, themselves who do it.

As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink it. The best way to create ripples in the ocean of society is to be your true self.

That is all you're required to do in this life; express your integrity. Through your example alone, you'll subtly transform hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions. Look at Rafa Nadal, for example. He's not known to be spiritual at all, but he has such a Zen-like

philosophy, on and off the tennis court which is helping millions of his followers worldwide. Through his

Mahashakti Anandini Ma

example, people find inspiration to keep going in their own lives. He is simply radiating his light, and people love it as they can see their true self in him; myself included.

You discuss using meditation, is this something you strongly recommend for others? What advice do you have for those who find meditation difficult?

Well, there are thousands of ways to meditate. I encourage people to find what works best for them. Maybe sitting down with your eyes closed isn't for you, and that's perfectly fine. Walking, Writing, Drawing, Running, Washing the dishes, are other ways I get into the meditative flow. Consistently perform actions which automatically thrust you into the here and now. Eventually, the state absorbs more and more of your day.

You'll effortlessly be the witness to your inner world as you reach the depths of your being.

At first, however, it's wise to keep doing something that gets you in the state to build momentum and create space between you and what you always believed defines you.

Today there is so much division in society.

What would change, in your opinion, for our society to become more coherent and compassionate?

To drop the collective, cognitive dissonance that creates the separation. Many believe that it's our skin colour, language, sexuality, a religion that separates us, but it isn't true; it is our beliefs. Societal, cultural and collective beliefs must be shattered if we're to merge into one consciousness on a conscious level. I answer this question in much more detail in the religion chapter of my book which I encourage the readers to read.

You discuss the idea of the ‘labyrinth of conditioning’. Is this something only adults have? If yes, could these ideas be addressed at younger ages to prevent the onset of this limited wat of thinking?

The labyrinth is formed mainly during the first seven years of our lives as the brain is in Theta during these years. Theta brainwaves are hypnotic; this means children are conditioned merely by observing the world around them.

So, it wholly depends on what environment you grow up in. The people who surround you during the first seven years of your lives shape you as a persona, this a scientific fact. So,

what can we do? Is the answer better parenting or education?

Conscious parenting is important, and I believe the educational system needs to be revamped majorly if we're truly going to create a generation of enlightened beings.

Meditation is now being taught to children in

some schools here in the United Kingdom which excites me. When I was in school, they taught me so much stuff that I have never used in this life. What a waste of time and energy. Education should be suited to a child's interests, not a bunch of random facts that don't do anything for them.

''Do you believe the workings of your mind influence the world around you? If you genuinely believe so, then what are you going to do about it?

Knowing this truth on the level of the intellect may satisfy your thirst for knowledge for a little while but the practical application of such knowledge is what's profoundly important.

Enter The Labyrinth: Rewiring the Nodes in the Maze of your Mind.

If you're someone who struggles to put the information you read into practice then this work will assist you in doing so. The simple method of picking up the book and opening it at the section relevant to what the present moment contains whenever your state of being wavers will turn you into a conscious creator of your physical reality experience.

Take my hand as I guide you through the Labrinyth of your mind, into the transcended bliss of your natural state, where everything you need is synchronistically waiting to find to you, in perfect timing.

Let's transform the darkness of lies and illusion within ourselves, let's be the change we wish to see in the world and transform our society, together.''

Paperback

h t t p s : / / a m z n . t o / 2 V f w 1 Ya

Hardcover https://amzn.to/31brM3S Ebook https://amzn.to/2VwqHQH The Labyrinth: Rewiring the Nodes in the Maze of your Mind is Craig Woods first book He is currently in the process of developing a Sci-fi series of novels titled Blue Orca.

When persistence paid Darcie Chan wrote her best-seller, The Mill River Recluse, during a time when her husband was working crazy hours and she had a lot of alone time. She tried to submit it to publishers and agents, but it was rejected time and again, so she eventually just put it in the drawer and went on with her life. However, when she heard about eBooks, she decided to self-publish the book in electronic form and it became a word-of-mouth sensation. The book sold more than 650,000 copies and remained on the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists for over 28 weeks. https://amzn.to/3icfYEz

Hugh Howey was offered a small press contract but decided to rather self-publish while earning money from his day job. He only wrote in his off hours and simply wanted to share his stories online. When his Wool book suddenly started selling like hotcakes, he decided it may be time to continue the series, and most of them became best sellers. He only sold print rights to these books in January 2013. https://amzn.to/3dE0BBb Busy mom and entrepreneur, Victorine E. Lieske was forced to bed rest after a back injury. Her business was put on hold and with nothing else to do, Lieske decided to write a book. At the end of her week in bed, the first draft of Not What She Seems was done. She continued to tweak the book for the next four years before she finally was ready to share it with the world and published it through Amazon. her book hit the New York times bestseller list and stayed at the top of the charts for six weeks. The book ended up selling over 150,000 copies https://amzn.to/38dtjaV

While working in a group home,

Amanda Hocking

wrote 17 books. After being rejected by

publishing houses and agents for 9 years she decided to self-published all of them as e-books. Her thoughts were that she could at least sell some of them to family and friends and raise the $300 she wanted for a trip to Chicago. The books became insanely popular and she sold over a million copies.

Reportedly, she managed to sell the rights to her first trilogy and a new four-book series for 2 million dollars to St. Martin's Press. Quite impressive for someone who used to write part time. https://amzn.to/3g7qs69 For ten years, Heather

Killough-Walden

sent in query letters to publishing houses and every single manuscript was rejected. She says that she has over 300 rejection letters in her

closet. Heather finally managed to share her work with the world through Amazon Kindle.

Her first uploaded vampire romance novel: The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream shot to the first place on Amazon's best-seller list for vampire romance. Not long after that, a prominent agent from Trident Media Group called her up

and quickly secured a couple of publishing deals for her. Heather says that she felt like giving up writing a hundred times, but she is very glad that she hung in there. https://amzn.to/2VtwLJH

It is with much joy Electric Press is carrying this exciting short story from Lauren Hester called

Twenty Minuets Twenty Minutes was the winning entry in CQI magazine's short story challenge, May 2016.

CQI magazine is the predecessor to Electric Press, which is itself published by CQ International.

The calling was to write a short, word restricted story, using an image prompt only. The prompt given is the ‘Lady in the Bath’ picture shown on the facing page. No other prompt was given.

Read the May edition of CQ Magazine by clicking on the cover image below.

Lauren Hester was born and raised in Iowa, among cornfields, Friday night football, wide-open spaces and night skies full of stars.

Lauren read voraciously since she was a kid. She is now “dabbling in the writing game” while being employed full-time at a public library in the Washington, DC area and working towards her MSLIS in Library Science.

Lauren has other stories published on The Write Practice http://thewritepractice.com/laura

Twenty byMinutes Lauren Hester

12:41 am

The way my life ended was incredibly simple and quick.

embarrassed, but instead, I felt... lighter.

Free.

My smile was now on my neck, a perverted lover's kiss that opened me up and made me one with the water; my life's blood creating a watercolour of deep crimson, maroon and rose pink, swirling in the eddies and waves created by my futilely splashing legs, until their energy was spent.

My head flopped back and jerked slightly with each remaining beat of my heart.

The water was in me now, bubbles turning red and popping wetly inside my throat-mouth. My toes floated just above the shitty piss blood water, ten little reminders that I knew this whole thing was going to come to a head at some point.

I felt my nether regions shudder as my bladder and bowels evacuated. If I had the wherewithal I would have been

I just thought that it would be a lot more...fun.

12:40 am I had to stop struggling after a while, it hurt too much.

My mouth tasted sickeningly sweet from the amount of bubble bath I had swallowed. I grasped at the arm around my neck, grinding my chin into his arm, digging in with all the force I could muster.

My thrashing legs tossed water and bubbles and candles everywhere. Somewhere deep in my brain, there was a part that was cool and rational, thinking someone was going to have to clean up and it was not going to be me.

He used his other hand, the one holding one of our nicest butcher knives, to force my chin up. He held the knife over my face. I dimly realized he was taunting me, but I was mesmerized by my reflection.

Mascara drew deep black tears down my face, contrasting starkly with the whites of my eyes.

I dimly noticed his tobacco-stained teeth and bushy nose hairs before the knife traced a hot line across my flesh.

12:39 am It only took two strides for him to cross from the bedroom into the bathroom.

I felt the Derringer slip from where it hung carelessly on my index finger. As I struggled to rise, the water fell heavy across my chest and I had a sudden vision of an elephant lumbering through a tidal wave.

I lost my footing and came crashing back down in the water, snuffing out at least half of the candles.

His meaty fingers buried themselves in my hair; when he yanked me back against the

porcelain rim, I felt a pin I had missed. What a thing to think of at a time like this.

I reached up to claw at his hand, which alternated between smashing my head on the edge of the tub and shoving it underwater.

His voice sounded guttural and primitive as I submerged and resurfaced. I couldn't make out any specific words, but I could imagine what they were.

12:38 am I resumed my rehearsed position in the tub, pulling back on the hammer with my thumb.

The clicking sound was satisfying and felt delightfully dangerous. "Eddie? Come on, hurry your ass up. Just take off the bottom half. No, scratch that. Leave the socks on. I like to see your garters strain over your muscular thighs."

I casually flicked the hammer to the rhythm of the hi-hat in ‘n the Mood.’ CLICK cli-cli CLICK cli-cli CLICK cli-cli CLICK. Bah-BAH. "Eddie, on second thought, keep the nightstick too. It could be fun. No funny business though."

An unnatural sounding thud resonated through the steam and smoke-filled air. I felt very, very cold, despite being up to my neck in hot water.

After a harrowing, heavy silence, in which the wafting vapours were the only movement, I called out. "Eddie honey?"

My only answer was the nightstick, which rolled from the bedroom across the hall and into the bathroom of its own volition, leaving an oblong-shaped smear of blood at even intervals along the tiles until it hit the tub's clawfoot.

"Oh God. Ohgodohgodohgod."

armed and dangerous."

"Murphy?"

He obliged, holding his hands above his head, scampering into the bedroom. "And don't come back until you have half as many clothes on."

12:30 am The banging continued longer than it should have. "Goddamnit Eddie, it's open." I heard the apartment door give, I sincerely hoped it wasn't because he busted the thing down.

"I know you do that for a living, darling, but I'm not a criminal."

Eddie's halting baritone drifted in from the living room. "Sorry doll, just muscle memory, I guess. Where the hell are you?"

"I'm in the bathroom." I grinned from ear to ear.

"I have a little surprise for you."

He poked his head in. Eddie was a big man, the kind of big that meant muscle underneath, not fat. But on the surface, he just looked like a very large moustachioed teddy bear.

He grinned as he took in the scene, exposing the delightfully endearing gap between his front teeth.

"Niiiiiiiice!"

I rose halfway up out of the water and pointed the Derringer at his barrel chest. Eddie's jaw dropped as he raised his hands. "Aw, you caught me, I swear, I'll do anything to get out of this, anything. What's it gonna take?"

"Get in the bedroom and take it all off, you dirty bastard." Between Eddie's eager chuckle and the whoosh of smoke out of the corner of my mouth, there was a thump in the living room.

A chill ran down my back. "Eddie, did you shut that door?"

"Yes, yes of course I did," he said, still staring at my chest.

"Then get out you fool." I said, reassured. "I'm

12:21 am I pulled out the last pin from my hair, yanking it a little too hard, taking some of my brassy blonde with it. I swore a little and rubbed the offending spot. The pin curls bounced attractively against my face, which I had made up for the occasion.

It was the perfect sultry look, smoky eyes, long, dark batting lashes and dangerously red lips.

Satisfied, I gave my ringlets one last pat before letting my chemise fall to the floor and easing myself into the steaming water. Bubbles lay over the surface like iridescent marshmallow fluff.

I reached for the pack of Pall Malls on the back of the toilet and tapped one out, placing it carefully between my teeth to light it on one of the many candles I'd scattered on the lip of the bathtub.

Clearing away some bubbles, I exhaled into my reflection in the water, baring my teeth to carefully rub away traces of Ravishing Rose #12.

Replacing the pack, I took up the snub-nosed Derringer pistol and flipped open the chamber to make sure it wasn't loaded. I arranged myself carefully, with my hair falling over the back of the tub, the right hand raised slightly, the cigarette casually nestled between index and middle finger, and the left hanging over the front. I rubbed my thumb on the hammer.

Now it was time to have some fun.

END

THE ELECTRIC ECLECTIC NOVELLA FICTION PRIZE 2020 is a worldwide competition for emerging writers and indie authors.

The competition is open for submissions from the 1st February 2020 until the 30th October 2020 Details can be found on the Electric Eclectic's WordPress, HERE

We encourage submissions from all literary fictional genres with no restrictions on theme or subject.

The emphasis of the judging will be on ambitious, imaginative and innovative approaches which explore and expand creative writing.

A fee of ÂŁ10.00 (GDP) is required to obtain the official entry form, the only acceptable method of entry.

Email EEbookbranding@mail.com to request an official entry form.

PRIZES INCLUDE Paperback publishing package from Crimson Cloak Publishing, USA Marketing campaign from K Kantas Author Assist, to support the winning title.

Electric Eclectic branded ebook publishing, and marketing support products from K Mossman for 2nd & 3rd places.

Peejay Design Studio eBook covers for 2nd & 3rd places Featured article in Electric Press Literary Insights magazine for first three winners Book listed on @Open24, the Amazon store for readers & writers, for top three placed books

寒気と氷の雨 湿った舗装が光を屈折させている 初歩的なシティアー

ポールホワイト 秋田ワールド俳句シリーズ2020 ひるたひでのり訳

The end of WAR An Electric Press Special Feature This year, 2020, marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War 2.

Probably the most momentous historical occasion in living memory.

Audrina Lane say’s...

“When I first thought of the idea for doing an anthology to commemorate VE Day’s 75th Anniversary in 2020, it was the end of 2019.

I was with Karen Mossman at the Christmas book and Craft fair I organised in November and you know what it’s like when two writers get together… ideas burst into life!”

The Story behind 99th Squadron

by Audrina Lane.

At the time, my Grandad (I always called

he got out his battered photo album and

him Gramps) was still alive, still healthy

started to show me black and white photos of

and I guess me and my whole family thought

his time in India and then onto the Cocos

we would have him in our lives for longer.

Islands (also known as the Keeling Islands). It

Secretly willing him to be able to get his

almost looked like they were having a great

telegram from the Queen. Time transpired

holiday, sitting on the beach under palm trees

against us and he went peacefully in his

or swimming in the Indian Ocean.

sleep, at home in his 100th year. He was aged

The full horror was never talked about,

99 and 12 days. I was lucky enough to share

especially as he fought on after VE day until

46 years of my life with him and during the

VJ Day on August 13th, even then he never

time we only had a few conversations about

returned home for nearly a year, as transport

the war.

was so sporadic and disrupted. It was only

When I was at secondary school we had to

recently

write about what our grandparents did during

Spielberg series ‘The Pacific’ I discovered the

the war and my Gramps, being quite a quiet,

hardships the men endured when left fighting

modest man told me to talk to my Nan.

the Japanese on these small islands in the

Between these conversations, I learnt they

while

watching

the

Stephen

middle of the Indian Ocean.

met in the RAF, my Gramps a mechanic and

Later in life, I learnt more through talking

my Nan helped to taxi the planes onto the

with him and my Dad as he said he was quite

runway or back into the hangers. She

often chosen to accompany the RAF Officers

confessed that she really wanted to be

to meetings in Great Britain, which they

working on the parachutes as they got to

would fly to in a small plane. A mechanic

keep the spare scraps of silk to turn into

would go with them in case there were any

underwear.

difficulties.

I vividly remember sitting on the sofa when

He recalled an occasion when

they were flying in thick fog and the pilot asked if he would help to guide them down

by peering through the window. He said he’d

story. I found little online but with what I

been scared that if he made a mistake the

could I was able to add to the few parts of his

plane would crash.

life that I did know about.

On the other hand, he would need to wait

In my own words it was a story of true

while the meeting took place and spent many

emotion as I let him fly free for the final time,

hours sitting in the Officer’s mess, even though it was above his rank. I wish now I asked him more about this period, what it was

like, what it felt like, but I always thought I would have more time for that.

I was and still am fascinated by the photo of the falling bomb over fields, so powerful an image as I have only ever lived through peace.

Writing the tribute story in this anthology was my acknowledgement of his sacrifice for our country today, one I knew too little about but which I am so proud. This story was hard to write as I wanted to keep certain things based on fact’s, but I never knew my Gramps’ full

The story behind the story called

The Dome of St Paul’s

by Karen J Mossman

I was seven when Grandpa died, far too

one of them.

young to remember him. I was told it was partly due to the problems in his back, caused by being in the water for so long during the war.

There was The Battle for Monte Cassino, and how Grandpa earned the honour of wearing the Canadian emblem his uniform. He and his comrades came to the rescue of Canadians being blocked in by German soldiers. He also talked of the miles and miles the armies walked during the war years.

I didn’t know what they meant at the time.

Years later learned it was when he was on the beaches of Salerno and the length of time he and his comrades were in the sea, waiting to join the fight.

I looked it up and according to Wikipedia, the Salerno landings took place on 3 September 1943 during the early stages of the Italian Campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group (comprising General Mark W. Clark's Fifth Army and General Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army). The main invasion landed around Salerno on the western coast at the ‘toe’ of Italy.

I admit to not knowing anything about the regiments but as soon as I read the above, Montgomery’s Eighth Army stood out. Dad often talked about the eighth. It was Grandpa’s regiment. He also talked about the toe of Italy and again at the time, I didn’t know what that was. Now seeing it in black and white reminds me of Dad who was fascinated with our war history. Over the years he told me lots of stories about his father’s war. Being dropped off in the water at Salerno was just

In December 2019, author Audrina Lane invited me to a Christmas Craft and Bookfair which she organised. That evening, as we sat on her settee reflecting on the day, she spoke about her Gramps and what he did during the war and how VE Day was on the 8th May. I said how nice it would be to capture some of those stories in a book. We talked some more, both liking the idea, and the beginning of Victory75 was born.

We took the idea to Paul White, the founder of Electric Eclectic books and he rounded up some more authors to write stories to try and capture what it must have been like when the war finally ended. Several of us incorporated real war stories into our fiction and wrote dedications to those people who gave up so much so we can now live the life we do.

Before I came up with a premise for my story, I was privileged enough to see the books covers first concept design. The Dome of St Paul’s, which played an iconic part in London’s War history by simply remaining there and not being bombed. It gave me the inspiration I

needed. Because I’d heard the stories through my dad, this was to be the starting point.

Thinking I was being clever, I based it on the celebrations planned for the 8th May in London, where people flocked when the announcement about the war ending came.

The anthology was to be launched on that date and we would have our celebration with the book.

My main character Jack was bang in the middle of what was to take place on the 8th May 2020. So, people who read the story would probably have seen the Queen meeting old soldiers and the parades and wreathlaying. It would make it even more real as the nation came together to remember the end of the war.

However, there was no way to predict the events which would unfold during 2020, and, along with so many things, the celebrations to mark the occasion were cancelled.

The world was reeling from Corona Virus, specifically COVID19. Over half a million people died, just like they did in the war, except this time from an invisible enemy.

You can still enjoy the stories of this special book, including mine, called The Dome of St Paul’s dedicated to my Grandpa, Cyril Parry from Chester. The other stories, all with a common theme will keep you entertained until the very last page.

Look out for Audrina’s Lane’s poignant story, where she holds her Gramps' hand in his last hours, his war stories coming to life through a photograph album.

My Grandpa loved music and was a dedicated follower of The Salvation Army. I don’t have any photos of him in his war uniform but do have this one in his ‘Sally Army’ along with his beloved trumpet.

This is Electric Eclectic’s Story book celebrating the 75th VE-Day anniversary, 8th May 2020.

These tales are dedicated to the all the brave and the unsung heroes who made victory possible by their sacrifice.

While each story carries a personal dedication, each is written with respect and gratitude to all those who gave their lives for our liberty and freedoms.

Paperback, https://amzn.to/2NCdGk0 eBook, https://books2read.com/u/bWd9RD Your support will aid the SSAFA—the armed forces charity, thank you

Miss Smith Commits A Difficult Gestation

Miss Smith Commits the Perfect Crime had an exceedingly difficult gestation.

It all started in April of last year when I

broke

my

foot

and

was

virtually

immobile for a couple of months. My eldest

daughter

(the

author

Jules

Wake) said to me, ‘If you’ve nothing better to do Dad, why not write a book?’

After couple of days thought I tried to come up with some characters and a plot. The books of Stieg Larsson with his unlikely heroine Lisabeth Salander

woman.

had been favourites of mine, and so I

Nancy Wake was also a charmer, but in a totally

decided

different way. Dropped into a chaotic situation in

agent

to

with

hopefully

create a

more

bit

a

British

more

appealing

female

style

and

wartime France, she took control through stealth,

than

her

cunning and diplomacy, to unite disparate

grungy Swedish inspiration.

resistance groups into a well-organized fighting

Before I started writing, I needed a picture in my

force which eventually numbered over five

mind’s eye of my heroine. I settled on a

thousand men. She led her troops in guerrilla

combination of a beautiful young dancer I worked

warfare against the Nazis, unleashing surprise

with when I was producing the British Fashion

attacks against the enemy, killing some with her

Awards and the WW2 resistance fighter Nancy

bare hands.

Wake.

Having worked all over the world during my career

The dancer, who was barely twenty, had a flawless

as a television producer and director, and met a

complexion, naturally golden hair, a figure to die

vast variety of interesting characters, I decided

for and a naive sexual allure. The men on the crew

that I would base the places and people in my

couldn’t do enough for her. Even our gay

work on my personal experiences. I believe that if

choreographer was drooling all over the young

you want people to enjoy your writing, no matter

the Perfect Crime how far-fetched the plot or outlandish the

approaches were acceptable. In desperation, I

characters, there must be some factual basis.

abandoned this section altogether and wrote an

With a clear picture of my heroine, I started

entirely new opening scenario and thankfully,

writing with a vague idea of where the plot was

according to my female critics, this worked. I

going and to my surprise, the characters I created

hope you agree with me.

took over. They dictated my story for me. I would

By the time my foot had healed, the book was

wake up every morning with the outline of the

complete. I’d produced a quirky adventure story

next chapter clear in my mind. As I went along I

and in doing so, established a new branch of the

re-read sections and ruthlessly edited out

Secret Service. A couple of people other people

anything that didn’t work. I stuck to the

read it and gave me some positive feedback.

guidelines of the radio programme “Just a

It seemed to me, that I could self-publish my

Minute”: no hesitation, deviation or repetition.

novel on Kindle. The daughter that urged me to

The first version of my book was finished, but I

write in the first place, then dropped the

was most concerned: my heroine was raped in

bombshell. ‘Dad if you are self-publishing, one

the opening chapter which motivated her to

book is no good, you have to write a series!’ I’m

change her life dramatically. As a man, I found

not sure that is true but being a dutiful dad, I

this difficult to write from a female perspective

went along with her. The result is the Sam Smith

and I asked a couple of women to review the new

adventure series and the first is Miss Smith

work. Both hated it. I rewrote the first section a

Commits the Perfect Crime.

further three times and none of the new

Miss Smith Commits the Perfect Crime? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083M79QWB Agent Smith and the Desert Execution https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083M7PK6K Agent Smith and the Accident -prone Assassin https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0867Y24F2

Guy Caplin Aka Guy Rolands Guy Caplin worked in television broadcasting for over 40 years and is one of the few people to have achieved success in both the technical and artistic branches of the medium. He has worked with many celebrities including, the Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Hope and Maria Callas.

He moved to ITV’s Yorkshire Television in 1969 as a Producer and Director of Sport, Outside

Broadcasts and special events. Among the many programmes he devised was the quiz programme “Winner Takes All” fronted by Jimmy Tarbuck and Geoffrey Wheeler, which under his tenure was regularly amongst the Top Ten TV programmes and twice reached the coveted Number One Spot.

When the final series of the hit American programme Dallas ran into technical problems in Hollywood in 1989, Guy left YTV and joined a UK broadcast engineering company to try to come up with a solution. The solution proposed resulted in the creation of the DEFT process, which although too late to be used on Dallas, was used initially on the Simpsons and subsequently on Friends, Frasier,

Superman and many others America series. DEFT was awarded an Emmy for outstanding technical achievement.

Back in the UK Guy owned and ran a company creating video productions for both broadcast and industry, was a freelance trainer at the BBC and a visiting tutor at the National School of Film and Television For the past thirteen years Guy has also been regular lecturer for P&O cruises and Cunard and has effectively travelled twice around the world.

Now, having closed his video company, he spends his time writing under the name of Guy Rolands and has now completed four novels in the Sam Smith Adventure series. Having worked all over the world and encountered hundreds of remarkable characters, his experiences provide colour and intrigue to his work.

Miss Smith Commits the Perfect Crime? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083M79QWB

The Pseudoverse G C Blade Welcome to the inside of a dark mind filled with political conspiracies, synthetic lookalikes, and A.I. run amok.

CG Blade - Kitchen Sink Conspiracy, Historical Science Fiction, Genetic Engineering, Horror, Sci-Fi, Terror, and Automata Suspense Author.

"The Pseudoverse Series has everything you love in one set of fantastic novels! These are the most gripping, twisting, turning, and wellwritten series of futuristic historical fiction novels you will ever lay your hands on. You will be asking yourself, "why didn't I come across these sooner?" The cliffhangers from novel to novel suck you in like no other series you have read in a long time. Kudos to CG, and his extensive research into all things scary, including "politics by mind-control."" Karen S. - Amazon Review Welcome to the Pseudoverse where engineers and scientists bring artificial intelligence and robotic programming to life with the occult and other codices as predicted. The main characters such as wounded warriors, police officers, detectives, reporters, aliens, witches, genetic scientists, and mad geniuses become Artificial Intelligence and Robotic badasses saving humanity from external threats and its own

bad decisions. Do you love a grand conspiracy within our own "Deep State" of government?

Come along and take a wild ride with all of the experiments that go "bump-in-the-night."

You will be glad you dove into this continuing saga!

On the following colorful pages, you will find the exciting genres, and sub-genres of Conspiracy Kitchen Sink, Pulp Fiction, Historical Science Fiction, Genetic Engineering, A.I., Pop Culture, Music, Magic, Fantasy, Witchcraft, Robotics, Horror, Sex, Romance, Mystery, and Noir Crime.

A little bit about CG Blade and his backstory…

"Great novels comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable."

Soaking up every English class in two colleges, he remained steadfast to writing the Pseudoverse Series for the past twenty years.

Readers are very familiar with the "jawdropping, neck-snapping plot twists" in the Pseudoverse Series of novels. Lightning strikes CG Blade's powerful creative side regularly, as he never stops writing between novels. The Pseudoverse novels are a “mashup” of historical fiction, science fiction, horror, and plenty of dark humor and sarcasm. A love of the series "Fringe," "Universal and Hammer Sci-Fi/Horror" films,

and the great minds of authors such as Huxley, Orwell, Dick, Lovecraft, Nelson, Bradbury, Heinlein, Wells, and many others, are the foundation for CG’s writing. CG Blade’s style and technique is a derivative all his own turned upside-down as he takes you through a world of New Order using technology as the ultimate master race.

Author, creative writer, Transhumanist, Pseudosynth, and former robotic engineer and programmer, CG is an avid science fiction reader and lover of twisting, ever-turning plots. Taking the reader down many thrilling cyber roads and mysterious paths, his narratives rely heavily on past and present scientific, historical research, and the human condition. Melding the past, present, and future, these stories are carefully mixed and stirred with music lyrics, real people, historical fiction, and the potential of artificial intelligence run amok. Fused with satirical commentary and the first musical “Grindhouse” intermissions in novels (Including poetry), he continues his fiction writing with Fire, Hellfire,

Scarlet, Aureolin, Amaranth, Gold, Amber, Copper, Radium, Turquoise, and Granite. He currently lives in Ohio with his wife Jackie, and their rambunctious but lovable cat, Bullet.

"Science fiction's message should be subtle. Like a robotic finger pushing through your skull, poking around, waking you up." CG Blade

https://amzn.to/2NMyGon

Katerina Ventova Graphic Artist I always loved to draw as a child and a teenager, but at that time, it seemed to be something unattainable. Therefore, as a student, I tried to become a graphic and advertising designer. I worked in this area for about five years, but I felt that I did not want to do this type of work quite yet. I was losing interest in designing.

I decided to try photography instead and worked as a photographer in various fields. However, I was still not satisfied, so in the end, I decided to take a chance and return to painting.

Now here I am, a self-taught artist drawing illustrations and concept art for others and working on several projects for myself, CG Blade, the gaming industry, as well as many other

exceptional authors and artists.

I still have a long way to go, I have a lot to learn, and I am very excited about where the future will take me.

The graphic design up next for CG Blade is the cover art for his twenty-fifth novel, Hellfire. He tells me this is about a “superspy� who is recruited by the U.S. Government to the jobs no one else will do.

This story sounds fascinating, and I am happy to be doing more artwork for the Pseudoverse Series novels.

Hopefully, CG does not stop writing anytime soon!

https://amzn.to/2NMyGon

All the stories in Within the

Invisible Pentacle have a feminine association, as does

each story's individual focus, whether direct or implicit.

Each story explores the depths of human character, the quintessence disposition of living and of life itself. Many ask questions we often shy from, the ones we are afraid to ask ourselves are unearthed, revealed and brought screaming into the daylight of recognition.

The prevailing factor is, they are written with consideration for our fragile human disposition, the fears, the dreams and wishes, the uncertainties and self-doubts we all carry inside ourselves, the human element of love, of life, of hope and survival.

This is a collection of poignant, emotive, yet entertaining stories, stories which will remain with you forever.

https://amzn.to/2D3vfYi ( Amazon UK)

https://www.amazon.com/Within-Invisible-Pentacle-Paul-White/dp/1720987653/ (Amazon.com)

Uptown on the IRT A Short Story

by

Susi Wolfe The uptown IRT was unusually empty for the time of day, so I had no difficulty finding a seat. Two other passengers boarded at the same time, but they quickly disappeared into the corner seats for the handicapped. I chose a seat in the middle of the car close to the exit. Directly in front of me, the only other passenger, sat with his head buried behind a newspaper. I was lowering myself onto the slippery fibreglass seats as the train pulled off, gravity pushing me down with little finesse.

The new intrusions into the once empty space and my whispered, "damn," caused the man opposite to briefly look up. In that glance, I sensed a smile behind his eyes, though he hadn’t shown so outwardly. Once settled, I pulled out a John Grisham romance novel and started to read from my dog-eared page. The man across from me was partially hidden by The Wall Street Journal, I felt sure

he was assessing me. Self-consciously, I crossed and uncrossed my legs before settling on the exaggerated pose celebrities often use. My charcoal grey pencil skirt rode up high on my lap and accentuated my flat stomach and rounded thighs. Like a juicy cherry, one red toenail peeked out from my peekaboo pumps.

Inwardly, I now smiled: I looked good.

New York City trains are noisy and bumpy and this IRT was no exception. Occasionally, the train jolted sending me bearing down to my left or right. The last abrupt stop almost threw me out of my seat, and the man opposite instinctively reached out to protect the potential fall. I gave him an appreciative half-smile, and for the first time, our eyes locked. His attention and the sappy love story I was reading, set off electrical impulses throughout my body. Quickly, my breast began to swell beneath my white silk shirt,

and I arched my back… ever so slightly, so the top of my décolletage was more pronounced.

Though he kept his gaze averted, I was aware when he sneakily ran laser beams up and down my legs before probing the dark triangle between my skirt and thighs Between Grand Central Station and 79th street, the clanking and jolting subsided, I was able to return to my book. On page 53, Grisham was narrating a love scene. For a moment, I closed my eyes and imagined it was me and the stranger in the same heated love affair. From time to time, I stole veiled looks over my book at him. I admired how immaculately dressed he was. I figured he was a Wall Street executive; a broker of some sort. Was it stocks? Bonds?

Logistics? I didn't know, yet I felt I knew him.

His square fingernails were clipped and buffed to a pleasing shine. He was indeed a metrosexual.

He had blue eyes, short-cropped white hair, and a wickedly handsome face that reminded me of CNN’s Anderson Cooper. I wondered if he was gay, but then I looked down at his left hand and saw his wedding band. A simple gold band.

The wedding ring threw me, I hadn’t expected it.

I silently chastised myself for flirting with a married man, yet I felt powerless as his furtive glances energized me. Twice we made direct eye contact; neither smiling. Twice we both hid behind our reading material. Twice, I found myself rereading the same love scene. Again, my eyes drooped, and without much thought, my tongue slowly traced my upper lip. I only became aware of it when I opened my eyes to find him squarely looking at me. Quickly, he shook his newspaper and pulled it closer to his face. I couldn’t help but notice; where the newspaper rested on his lap it buckled steeply at the crotch.

Out of curiosity, I tried to make out the words in the newspaper. I scanned it from bottom to top; right to left as if I was reading Hebrew or Sanskrit. Like a grand jeté in classical ballet, our

eyes choreographed a dance. In magnetic unison, both sets quickly shimmied up opposite sides of the paper and then abruptly were suspended somewhere close to the top, only then to painstakingly creep their way over the edge of the editorial. This time when our eyes met, he found lodging in mine. We both held on to this gaze for interminable minutes, until he nervously coughed and looked away. I too lowered my eyes. His flushed face said it all, and my wide-opened eyes confirmed it. This time, the bottom of his newspaper not only buckled, but it also ballooned outward, moving as if of its own volition.

All too soon, the loudspeaker interrupted our silent dance. The conductor announcing the upcoming station. I watched surreptitiously as he started to gather his things; a briefcase I hadn't noticed and a small shopping bag. In a minute of pure impulsive desire, I mused about disembarking with him. I wanted to ask him his

The fantasy must stop here.

I knew I’d never see him again. name. I wanted to invite him for a drink. I wanted to have dinner and go back to his apartment. I wanted to kiss him and smell him. I wanted to do what the girl in the Grisham story did with the young lawyer. Yet I knew, this was only a passing fantasy with a stranger on a train.

I knew I could never approach him. He was married. I didn't cross that line. I hoped neither did he.

As the train approached the station, he slowly stood, grasping one of the middle poles to steady himself. He stood near enough I could smell the tantalizing scent of his cologne. The mirror shine on his shoes; the sharp crease in his pants. The way he smelled gave me a clear picture of his lifestyle. Silently, I chided myself for getting carried away in an impossible fantasy.

Who was I kidding? I was going to my apartment in East Harlem. This was his stop-96th street: wealthy upper Eastside.

The fantasy must stop here. I knew I’d never see him again.

The train finally halted; the hydraulic lock disengaged. I held my head down, fixing my attention back to page 53. I was so very aware when he reached for the pole next to my seat.

His thick wedding band clanked against the cold steel of the smooth pole. Against my better judgment, I looked up. Up close, I could see he was far younger than his white hair suggested; maybe not yet forty, but his manner was one of confidence and success. His blue eyes were looking down on me, searching earnestly for my brown eyes. When they met, he bore his into me. For the first time, he smiled broadly before slipping something into my hand. Oh, how I wanted to let his touch linger. How I wanted to intertwine my fingers with his. I fantasized, even

in the moment, how I’d let my fingers trace the length of his arms, shoulders, and beyond. He'd passed me his business card, and I guessed too he imagined a tryst. I surmised he was confident and assumed I would call him. I eagerly took the card from his hand and now it was too late to give it back. I felt guilty and slightly disappointed. I wanted him to be perfect. I wanted to believe he had morals and values and he wouldn’t cheat.

Regardless of the attraction, I was determined I’d never call him.

All too soon, the doors closed and he was gone. I was no longer interested in reading, so I slipped the business card between pages 53 and 54. I was closing the book when I saw something handwritten on the back of the card.

In bold letters, it read: "God, you're lovely." I flipped it over. On the front he had crossed out everything except his name, Rob, under which was written, "but I'm married."

Editors Note...

S us i Wo lfe

is an old friend of mine, one who I have been 'nagging' for an age to allow me to

publish one of her stories in Electric Press magazine.

Eventually, Susi gave me this answer… “I PROMISE, PROMISE, PROMISE to edit and submit” Now, not only has she agreed, by permitting this alluring and teasing tale, 'Uptown on the

IRT, '

but she is to review and edit some of her many other tales in readiness for publishing a short story collection.

Watch this space… remember, you heard it heard first.

N YC S u B wa Y Stylised artwork by Paul White

https :/ / paul z newpostbox .wi xs i te. com/ artworks/publictransport

Jack Kregas Jack Kregas was born in New England in the north east of the United States.

After a stint in the US Army, he was discharged in Europe and the next forty years were spent skiing and living life to the max as well as creating several successful businesses.

Winters in the Alps and summers windsurfing on Maui, Jack departed Switzerland for Maui full time with his Australian wife and small daughter. After five years he moved the family to Australia and became an Australian Citizen.

Jack now lives in Brisbane and is retired, writing full-time after his very successful autobiography, It’s All About Me and a few others.

He plays golf and travels to participate in poker tournaments or promote his books. After three books of short stories, his first novel in two years, CLUB

CARGO, is out in late June 2020.

www.jackkregasbooks.com https://www.facebook.com/jackkregasbooks/?ref=bookmarks

Sinner Sid In 1982 I was in Maui for a summer of windsurfing.

One evening while looking for something to do, my friend and I went to a revival meeting in a tent in Kihei. It was a family affair from Kansas or Arkansas.

The father, the preacher, the mother singing, with the children backing up as the band created so much enthusiasm and fun that we went back the next night, even leaving a tenner in the basket.

I left thinking that I wanted to become an evangelist. I said I would become Sinner Sid. My friend Charlie laughed and said it was a dumb idea.

It did not happen but in 2017, Sid came to life in my book, Tall Tales, a collection of short stories.

I have two other novelettes with Electric Eclectic books and thought this would be perfect considering today’s political climate.

Enjoy. JK

In the 1960s, the neighborhoods of Boston were in the grip of Irish and Italian gangs. Willie Shine was a young gambler with an ambitious proposal to open a nightclub. Permission from mobster boss Jack Ross was needed.

Club Cargo became the in-place to be in Boston until it was attacked in a drive-by shooting. Who was to blame? Who would benefit? Willie was left without knowing who or why as he followed a trail of deception to an unexpected showdown.

Club Cargo is an insight into the world of gangsters, gambling, trust, deception, and revenge, written with the slang, the music, and the values of the era.

Order your copy now from all online outlets or from:

www.jackkregasbooks.com

Our August Cover Story Kurt

Vonnegut

Jr. was born on

November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, a city he would later use in his novels as a symbol of American values.

The fortunes of the family changed dramatically during the Depression. This radical change in economic circumstances caused Kurt Sr. virtually to give up on life and his wife, Edith, to become addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs. Kurt Jr.’s lifelong pessimism clearly had its roots in his parents’ despairing response to being blindsided by the Depression.

survived by accident only because they were housed some 60 feet underground in a former meat locker and slaughterhouse.

Vonnegut’s job for weeks after the bombing was to gather up and burn the remains of the dead. His experience at Dresden marked him for life and eventually resulted in his literary masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five.

Yet another sorrow of the war years was his mother’s suicide by drug overdose in 1944.

After the war, Vonnegut married Jane Cox. Kurt had met Jane at the Orchard School kindergarten. They had their first child, Mark.

At Shortridge High, Vonnegut wrote for the student paper. He continued his interest in journalism at Cornell, becoming managing editor of the student paper, The Sun. Vonnegut would be influenced all his writing life by the simple rules of journalism: Get the facts right, compose straightforward declarative sentences, know the audience.

When World War II broke out, Vonnegut was 16; at 20, he entered the army and was shipped off to Europe, where he almost immediately was captured by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge.

He was sent as a POW to Dresden. On February 13, 1945, British and American bombers destroyed the city by dropping high explosives followed by incendiary bombs. The resulting firestorm turned the non-militarized city into an inferno that killed up to 60,000 civilians. Vonnegut and his fellow POWs

Vonnegut took an advertising job at General Electric to support his family and began writing short fiction on the side. Kurt and Jane had two more children, Edith and Nanette,

and Vonnegut redoubled his efforts to publish his stories.

In 1952, his dystopian apprentice novel Player Piano was published. Vonnegut’s beloved sister Alice Adams died of cancer in 1957, just two days after her husband had been killed in a freak commuter train crash. Kurt and Jane took in three of Alice’s children, doubling the size of their family overnight. It became more imperative for Vonnegut to bring in more money.

version of the novel that soon followed. By the early 1970s, Vonnegut was one of the most famous living writers on earth.

Within 10 years following the arrival of the Adams boys, the short-story market was drying up and Vonnegut turned his attention to novels He published the whimsical sci-fi epic The Sirens of Titan, the spy novel Mother Night, the fanciful anthropological satire of religion Cat’s Cradle, a critique of economic injustice, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and, in 1969, his Dresden novel, Slaughterhouse-Five.

In these books, Vonnegut mastered his trademark black comic voice, making his audience laugh despite the horrors he described. He had already developed a cult following of college students, but he broke through to a mass audience with Slaughterhouse-Five and the excellent film

The 1970s proved a difficult time for Vonnegut. His children grew up and left home, his long marriage to Jane fell apart. He moved alone from Cape Cod to New York City, became withdrawn and depressed and suffered from writer’s block. His son, Mark, suffered a bipolar disorder breakdown early in the decade, but recovered to write a book about it called The Eden Express.

Not surprisingly, the disintegration of families became a major theme in Vonnegut’s two

novels in the middle 1970s, Breakfast of Champions and Slapstick. While not altogether successful as fiction, these books helped Vonnegut work through the emotional problems that had plagued him since childhood.

In the 1980s, Vonnegut entered a second major phase of his career. His 1979 marriage to photographer Jill Krementz formalized their relationship of several years, and the social realist novels Jailbird, Deadeye Dick and Bluebeard showed a remarkable resurgence of Vonnegut’s career after the critical backlash he had suffered in the 1970s.

In his last novel, Timequake, and his last collection of essays, A Man without a Country, Vonnegut powerfully expressed his sense that corporate greed, overpopulation and war would win out in the end over simple humanity. As he ruefully apologized to those who would come after him, “We could have saved the world, but we were just too damned lazy.”

Kurt Vonnegut died on April 11, 2007, after a fall on the steps of his New York brownstone. He was mourned the world over as one of the great American writers of the second half of the 20th century.

Renowned author Kurt Vonnegut took an unflinching look at the world, tempered with a satirical eye and sardonic sense of humour.

In honor of his wit and wisdom, the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library champions the literary, artistic, and cultural contributions of the late writer, artist, teacher, and Indianapolis native Kurt Vonnegut.

The library and museum serve as a cultural and educational resource unique to the nation.

Thanks to generous and kind donors and volunteers, the library continues Kurt Vonnegut’s fight against censorship and supports language and visual arts education through programs and outreach activities

We also honour Kurt Vonnegut’s military career and his honest portrayal of war in novels by reaching out to veterans through writing workshops, Reclaim Armistice Day panels, a veterans’ book discussion group, exhibits by soldier-artists, and more.

https://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/

THIS IS NOT A ‘WAR’ STORY. Life in the War Zone, is a collection of poignant, eye-opening stories and articles, written primarily as fictional accounts, yet based on true experiences from major war zones around the globe. Each story and article is formed from interviews, discussions, reports and dialogues from those affected by conflict.

Life in the War Zone brings you the emotional truth about the effects and the long-lasting legacy of pain and suffering, to both combat troops and innocent civilian lives, devastated by war and armed conflict. Revealed, the cold hard facts; tales from the front line you probably do not want to consider. Situations you do not want to believe are true. Yet these things have happened, are still happening now.

For many, the fight continues long after the last shots of the battle have been fired. Physical trauma, disability and PTSD linger for years, even entire lifetimes, following conflict and struggle. These are the sad facts of modern warfare. “In war, there are no unwounded”

https://amzn.to/38fnEl0

Neptune and the Pollywogs

is an in-depth study of the most traditional of seafaring

initiation ceremonies, Crossing of the Line, which is performed when one of Her Majesty’s Ships crosses the equator.

Neptune and the Pollywogs examine the rites historical roots, follows its chronological evolution, formalities and observances, the parts and origin of the characters used in the ceremonies historic and modern-day practice.

Furthermore, this book reveals the Admiralties pamphlet, issued in September 1946, which outline the ceremonies procedure and its conduct following H.M.S. Renown's crossing, when the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, was a willing Pollywog.

The crossings of HMS Deer Sound and HMS Perseus are recorded using original documentation.

Included, primarily for entertainment, is the anecdotal story of the SS Warrimoo.

Published in conjunction with the Royal Navy Research Archives.com

https://amzn.to/3eKwN7l

Vega House W r i t e r s R e t r e at “I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.”

Anne Elliot, protagonist of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, knows what she’s talking about.

Initially a ‘woman only’ retreat, Vega house now accepts mixed gender bookings later in the year.

Read on to find out more.

For all female creatives looking to brave the unknown waters of the imagination, to share skills and learn from others in a supportive women-only oasis, there’s no better place than the Creative Women’s Retreat in Málaga, on southern Spain’s sunny Costa del Sol. Book a stay for a week or for the entire month of June each year, join daily writing classes and meditation sessions… maybe adding your own personal experience to our list of inspiring stories from solo women travellers.

Not a woman, or prefer a mixed-gender experience?

The same Andalusian destination is offering a retreat with writing coach Sarah Bullen and bestselling author Kate Emmerson at the beginning of November.

Vega House is 3 storey house from the late 1800’s with a courtyard and pool.

It's located in an historic area of Malaga where Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Saint-Exupery and other artists spent their (sometimes) yearlong vacations.

The house is 420 square meters and can fit up to 12 residents.

The ground floor has all the common areas with a big open space living room and dining area and kitchen that overlook the patio and the pool.

Lost in Plain Sight by

Stevie Strang

Doug Clement is a very happy man; his life is great.

Doug awakes from a two-month coma and is soon

His wife, Julie, is due to give birth to their first baby

in conflict with his family.

in a few weeks' time.

He cannot remember his wife, new baby, brother

They have recently moved into a new home; Doug

or his parents. He's convinced someone is trying to

has done most of the work himself.

con him. Surely, he would remember if he had a

He's driving home in the rain after a workout at his

baby?

gym and looking forward to seeing Julie when a car

He disappears and is soon roped into an

comes speeding out of a side street and smashes

underworld of illegal fighting and gambling. Due to

into him, hurtling him onto the path of an

a devastatingly heart-breaking family tragedy, it's

oncoming bus .

imperative the family he ran out on finds him in

The collision changes his life forever.

time for the funeral he really should not miss.

Lost in Plain Sight is Stevie's first book. Unfortunately, their youngest son, Craig, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and looking after him consumed most of their time. He has now managed, with Craig's encouragement, to find the time to finally get it published.

Hopefully, the reader will find it a gripping tale with an enjoyable storyline.

Pa p e r b a c k

Hardcover

Ebook

H ER S KIN

by Yecheilyah (e-see-li-yah) aka EC

She has heard for too long now that her pores bleed the colour of slave ships that chains have been seen in her smile that her skin shines like a beacon of shame sprinkled amidst Mississippi cotton fields sometimes her beauty sticks out like a diamond in the ruff they notice her and still she is only pretty for a dark skin girl Who does she think she is? being darker than a brown paper bag?

The truth is that she is the colour of the Goddesses a dark chocolate kiss neatly wrapped in silk want to touch her face just to see if it’s real just to see if it’ll melt underneath my fingertips Instead I’ll keep my hands to myself don’t want to be the stone responsible for the wrinkles in her skin this delicate rose petal of a woman reborn in the spring don’t want my touch to taint her gorgeous where not even the bite of Winter dares to diminish her light

https://www.yecheilyahysrayl.com/

Douglas R. Cobb Douglas R. Cobb

was born in Illinois and attended the

University of Illinois, earning a BA in Rhetoric.

He now lives in the small town of Barling, Arkansas, adjoining Fort Smith, which features prominently in his latest novel, Showdown, formerly known as Crossing the Dead Line (about the life and adventures of US Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves).

Bass Reeves: Blazing Fury, Charles LeFlore: The Dangerous Plains, The Guns of Heck Thomas and Gunshots On Hell's Border, each one available NOW for just 99 cents, and Lily and PAWS: The Ghosts of Summer, Book Two of his The Case Files of Lily and PAWS series. Book One is titled Lily, Unleashed. Douglas published his third YA novel, My Brother the Zombie (The Zombie Revolution: Book One).

Among Cobb's other Westerns are Lawmen of Iron Will, set in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Nebraska, and the adventure-filled, shoot'em up historical Western, The Guns of the Long Riders.

It's about the Doolin-Dalton Gang, a notorious gang of outlaws who were also known as the Oklahombres and the Wild Bunch. It is also a Three Guardsmen Adventure. The Three Guardsmen, as they came to be called, were Deputy Marshals Bill Tilghman, Chris Madsen, and Heck Thomas, who were among the many lawmen who eventually succeeded in bringing the Oklahoma Long Riders to justice.

Check out Douglas R. Cobb's Westerns, today, like Gunshots On Hell's Border. It's a re-release

of Gunshots On Hell's Border, and is an actionpacked, page-turning read which anyone who loves Westerns will enjoy reading, Then, there's his latest action-packed collection of Western novels, Killer Injustice, and an anthology of short stories and novellas, called Guns of the Gringo. The tales feature many of the true-life and some fictional lawmen and bounty hunters that Cobb has previously written about.

Before that was Cobb's best-selling exciting Western, Timber: Bounty Hunter On the Border, loosely based on Robert Hanlon's character, Marshal Jake Timber, which is currently out-of-print. The novel also features some of the most famous lawmen to have ever ridden out of Hell's Border to bring outlaws to justice in Indian Territory, like Deputy Marshals Bass Reeves, Heck Thomas, and Charles LeFlore.

Then, before that collection of short stories, there was the historical novel/Western, Bass Reeves Outwits the Devil, based on the reallife adventures and exploits of U.S. Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves.

His third-most recent Western was The Guns of Charles LeFlore (Dusty Saddle Publishing), based on the life and adventures of Deputy Marshal Charles LeFlore. Cobb's fourth-most previous Western, The Guns of Heck Thomas (Dusty Saddles Publishing), is another exciting, page-turning read, loosely based on the life and adventures of U.S. Deputy Marshal Heck Thomas. Another one of this prolific author's Westerns, released in 2018, was the exciting and and adventure-filled novel, mentioned above, Gunshots On Hell's Border (Dusty Saddles Pub.), about the fictional bounty hunter, Matt "The Boot Collector" Hardy!

Cobb's Western, Lawmen of Iron Will (Dusty Saddles Pub.), is a page-turning, adventurefilled novel about Big John Kellerman, who returns to Lawrence, Kansas, to find his entire family murdered. He seeks revenge,

learning to kill in the Civil War, and he becomes a Pinkerton agent, headed to Nebraska with fellow Pinkerton agent, Pauline Dougherty. In his quest for revenge, Big John Kellerman also finds love.

Lawmen of Iron Will, previously released as Men of Iron Will, featuring Big John Kellerman and fellow Pinkerton agent, Pauline Dougherty, is based on true events, battles, people and places. In it, Big John Kellerman seeks out revenge against William Quantrill and his Raiders, including Frank and Jesse James, for the death of his parents and two younger siblings in Lawrence, Kansas. Allan Pinkerton tasks Kellerman and Dougherty with stopping a murderous madman from his scheme of taking over the First Transcontinental Railroad in this actionpacked historical Western.

Showdown

is about the life, times, and

adventures of Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves, one of the first African American lawmen West of the Mississippi. During his long and illustrious career, Reeves arrested over 3,000 men and killed 14 in the line of duty. He served the court of Judge Isaac C. Parker, the "Hanging Judge," and also rode out hot on the trail of outlaws throughout Texas and the Indian Territory in Oklahoma.

The book and movie True Grit are both very awesome, but many people who know about Bass Reeves say that he displayed "truer grit" throughout his career as a lawman than even the great Rooster Cogburn. This novel is at the low price of just .99 cents, and is a fantastic gift for the holidays or for any time of the year.

USA https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ B089KWJNSS UK https://amzn.to/2ZAujC8

Besides Douglas Cobb desiring his readers to have fun reading his novels (that's the most important thing about reading any book), he also hopes with his YA series of books, based on the adventures of

Here's a Blurb from Bestselling Author Jon Land About Douglas Cobb's Book, Lily, Unleashed:

Lily, a talking, crime-fighting dog (or make that, pterodactyl), he has created a heart-warming series readers will fall in love with, as well as, LOL. at.

Enjoy life, enjoy reading, write yourself, and believe in yourself: these are some of the things that Douglas believes are important for everyone!

To learn more about the books Lily, Unleashed and Lily and PAWS: The Ghosts of Summer, and his latest Horror/SF novel My Brother the Zombie, please visit Douglas Cobb's blog, "What's New In Book Reviews," at: http:// douglascobb.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/whatsnew-in-book-reviews/ You can also visit at Lily's very own Facebook page, where you can leave questions about the adventures detailed in her books that the world's favourite terrier/pterodactyl will answer, or leave Comments that she will respond to personally.

The address for Lily's site is: www.facebook.com/LilyUnleashed

https://

Lily, Unleashed presents a bold and stunning vision of an alternative world where animals run the show. Though aimed at kids, Douglas Cobb's groundbreaking debut effort is sure to resonate with adults as well, telling its tale through the eyes of our furry friends who seem more human than most people.

Cobb picks up where Richard Adams left off in his brilliant Watership Down, and the result is nothing short of a stellar storytelling with heart and soul.

Jon Land, bestselling author of Strong at the Break

UK https://amzn.to/2VFjvkZ USA https://www.amazon.com/ gp/product/B006H9FQUW

An Excerpt from

Showdown A Novel of the American West by

Douglas R. Cobb Bass Reeves, the man on the large red stallion named Blaze after the white blaze on its forehead, nudged his horse gently and they trotted up to meet a very familiar figure riding on horseback towards Bass’ farm, U.S. Marshal James F. Fagan. It was still early in the morning, and wisps of fog clung tenaciously to the lower parts of Reeves’ farm.

“What’s got you to come all the way out here from Fort Smith this foggy mornin’, Jim?” Bass asked. “Is it my Jennie’s delicious cookin’?

She’s a mighty fine cook, but I daresay you can find a fillin’ enough breakfast without travelin’ this far to get it.”

“Yeah, I suppose so, Bass,” Jim Fagan replied, “but not one that’s any grander or that’d stick to my ribs any better.”

Smoke coming from the chimney of the eightroom house Bass Reeves had built by hand for his wife and ten children, five boys and five girls, wafted the enticing scents of breakfast to the two men. His wife’s name was Nellie Jennie, but she usually went by just Jennie. Reeves and Fagan could smell bacon frying, and eggs, and the aroma of biscuits was like a Siren call to their rumbling stomachs.

“Well, come on in, then; what’s one more mouth to feed—the more the merrier. But, still,

I don’t think that the prospect of breakfast is the only thing that brought you to Van Buren today.

Fess up; tell me the real reason for your visit. Is it that you have another job scoutin’ for me to do, is that it? The extra money sure would be appreciated.”

“After breakfast, Bass, if you don’t mind. I do have some business to discuss with you, but I’d rather tell you with some grub in me first, if it’s all the same to you.”

The two men went into Reeves’ house and stood awkwardly around the kitchen table.

They removed their hats, and Bass said to his wife: “You remember Marshal Jim Fagan, don’t you, Jennie? He dropped by to talk about some business, and I invited him to breakfast with us.”

“Talk?” Nellie said. She wore a blue-and-white gingham dress. “It looks more like he’s here to eat. No offense, Marshal. The good Lord’s blessed us with an overabundance, so pull up a chair and dig in! There’s plenty to go around.”

“Thanks, Ma’am.

Sorry to barge unannounced on you,” Fagan apologized.

in

The two men then took seats at the already crowded breakfast table. Jane asked one of her sons, Bennie, to say the Grace before the meal, which he did, despite seeming a little embarrassed to be doing it in front of company.

“God is great, God is good, thank you God for this food. Amen,” he concluded, with everyone then saying “amen,” after him.

Reeves and Fagan were a study in contrasts.

Bass Reeves had been a slave, but had been made free by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. He’d lived for a time in the Indian Territory, learning the languages of several tribes there, after high-tailing it out of Texas. He had used his massive fists to pummel his owner following a dispute over a card game.

The Indian Territory, one of the last refuges for people trying to escape the law, seemed the best place to hole up for a while. Other than his fleeing his past owner to escape to a new life and freedom, Reeves was known to be a very honorable and trustworthy man, and he was fluent in several Indian tongues he’d picked up while living in the Indian Territory.

Physically imposing, Bass stood six foot two inches tall. He was a crack shot with both pistols and his Winchester carbine rifle, and liked to carry his Colt .45s butt-first in his holsters. This made is easier for Reeves to cross-draw his Colts, and he considered this method to be the fastest way for someone to draw on an opponent. Besides his imposing height (he was a good three inches taller than Fagan) and his frame of 180 pounds of lean muscle, perhaps Bass’s most noticeable feature was his large, bushy black mustache.

U.S. Marshal James F. Fagan was a tough but kind man, unless you got on his wrong side.

Shorter and weighing less than Reeves, at around 165 pounds, he was nevertheless an excellent fighter and a very good shot, as well.

He had a full beard and mustache, much like President Ulysses S. Grant.

Grant had appointed him, Judge Isaac C. Parker, and the judge’s Prosecuting Attorney W.H.H. Clayton to help bring justice to the Wild West and make it a bit less wild and more civilized.

After the meal, punctuated by lively banter between Reeves’ children, curiosity got the better of Bass and he asked Jim once again what the business was that had sent him riding out to his farm.

“I was going to tell you alone, but this concerns you, too, Ma’am,” Fagan said, addressing Bass’ wife, “and really your entire family. You see, I’m on a mission to hire two hundred new Deputy U.S. Marshals, Bass, and I and Judge Isaac C. Parker want you to be one of the two hundred. You know the Indian and Oklahoma Territory as well as a cook knows her kitchen, and you can communicate with the Indians in their own languages. What I’m sayin’, Bass, is if you want it, you can have one of the new jobs.”

“Oh, c’mon, Jim,” Bass replied, “You really want

U.S. Marshal James F. Fagan was a tough but kind man, unless you got on his wrong side. me? I’d be likely the first black lawman ever in this area. You think people would show me the respect of the office, or just take one look at the color of my skin and either laugh in my face or cuss me when they see me?”

“There’re a lot of changes in the air, Bass, and people, in general, in this state have already gone through more changes than they ever thought they would in their entire lives,” Fagan said. “They’ll accept you, especially when they see that you’re helpin’ get rid of the outlaws that descend down on us from the Indian and Oklahoma Territories.”

“Maybe so, Jim, but the goin’ won’t be smooth, at least not ‘til folks get used to the idea of a black man bein’ a lawman. But, aside from that, I think you’re holdin’ back on me, Jim. What else does the job entail, and what’s the

pay like?”

“Well, I’m not gonna lie to you, Bass, you bein’ what I consider to be a friend, and not after I’ve sat down to such a great breakfast, for sure.

There are plenty of dangers, like the possibility of bein’ ambushed by the very outlaws you’re searching for, and shot, or getting’ strung up by them. They’ve done it to lawmen before, and with you, and the other black men we’re intendin’ on hiring, some of the outlaws will want to get you just because you ain’t…’cause you ain’t got the same color of skin as they do.”

“I would show them the same treatment as anyone else who I’d catch breakin’ the law.

The Civil War’s over, whether some want to live in the past or not. They’d either get arrested and cuffed, or if they tried to go for their guns, they’d get dead.,” Reeves said.

“You’ve got a decent idea of what it’d be like, bein’ a U.S. Deputy Marshal, already, of course, ’cause of your years spent scouting for us and translating the Indians’ languages. You’ve helped save lives and reduce misunderstandings considerably.

But, you know, the saying’s true: ‘No Sunday West of St. Louis, No God West of Ft. Smith.’’

“Travel eighty miles away from Ft. Smith, headed West or towards the Oklahoma and Indian Territories,” U.S. Marshal James F. Fagan continued, “and you hit an invisible line, one you can’t see but that the outlaws are very well aware of. It’s got a name, the ‘dead line,’ and if you cross over it, you become fair game.”

“You tryin’ to scare me away from acceptin’ the job now, Jim? You think I’m not up to doin’ it?

Is that what you’re sayin’?”

“No. I just want you to know what you’re in for. You’ve got definite skills with guns, and that will be one factor that might keep you alive long enough to become successful. How many Turkey Shoots is it that you’ve been

banned from enterin’ now, Bass? Six, or is it seven, maybe?”

“I lost count, and I don’t bother tryin’ to keep a record of such things,” Bass answered. “It’s been more ’en five, and I guess less than a dozen, not that it really matters.”

“That’s mighty fine shootin’, but the turkeys don’t shoot back at you, of course. I’ve seen you draw, though, when you’ve acted as a scout, and you are one of the fastest I ever did see, Bass.

“You asked me about the pay,” Fagan went on.

“You ain’t gonna become a rich man actin’ as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, but the pay’s not that bad, neither. And, though you have to ride a round-trip circuit of over eight hundred miles, and you’d be away from your family for months—that’s why I felt it was important to include your wife in on this, so all of you will know both the pros and cons of takin’ on this duty and also wearin’ the badge of a lawman— you do a good job, and bring in the outlaws you get sent out after, then you can earn several hundred dollars when you return.”

“What’s it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul?” Jane interjected to her husband.

“What’s a few hundred dollars if it costs you your soul, or your life? And, what’re we supposed to do, with you gone for months at a time? It’s a chore and a half to keep the farm goin’ even when you’re here every day.”

“My wife’s right, Jim,” Bass said, “as usual. But our children are getting’ older, and bigger, Jane, and they’re pullin’ their weight and doin’ chores and, well, what’s a few months when the money I’d earn is more than I’d be able to make in over a year if I stayed? Raising and selling horses like we do earns us more money than our crops and livestock do, but still, all of it together wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans compared to what I could earn as a Deputy U.S.

“What’s it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul?” Jane interjected to her husband.

“What’s a few hundred dollars if it costs you your soul, or your life? And, what’re we supposed to do, with you gone for months at a time? It’s a chore and a half to keep the farm goin’ even when you’re here every day.”

“My wife’s right, Jim,” Bass said, “as usual. But our children are getting’ older, and bigger, Jane, and they’re pullin’ their weight and doin’ chores and, well, what’s a few months when the money I’d earn is more than I’d be able to make in over a year if I stayed? Raising and selling horses like we do earns us more money than our crops and livestock do, but still, all of it together wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans compared to what I could earn as a Deputy U.S. Marshal. When you need my decision, Jim?” “I hate to be pushy,” Fagan said, “but, now. If you’d like the job, I’d want you to ride back with me to Ft. Smith, so’s you can get sworn in as soon as possible and get your first arrest warrants from Judge Parker. I’ve got a lot more people to visit, and minds to convince, so I really need your answer now.”

“It’s an opportunity I can’t let slide by. It’s risky, and I appreciate that you told us about the risks; but, then again, what in life ain’t risky? I’ll take the job.”

Just like that, with one momentous decision, the lives of Bass Reeves and his family changed forever. He’d agreed to become one of the two hundred new U.S. Deputy Marshals. “What have I gotten myself into?” he thought to himself more than once on the ride back to Ft. Smith. He’d have many other occasions in the coming years throughout his career of over thirty years as a lawman to think the same thing.

This is the entire first chapter of Showdown.

I truly hope you and your readers enjoy it.

Showdown

is about the life, times, and

adventures of Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves, one of the first African American lawmen West of the Mississippi.

During his long and illustrious career, Reeves arrested over 3,000 men and killed 14 in the line of duty. He served the court of Judge Isaac C. Parker, the "Hanging Judge," and also rode out hot on the trail of outlaws throughout Texas and the Indian Territory in Oklahoma.

The book and movie True Grit are both very awesome, but many people who know about Bass Reeves say that he displayed "truer grit" throughout his career as a lawman than even the great Rooster Cogburn. This novel is at the low price of just .99 cents, and is a fantastic gift for the holidays or for any time of the year.

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U n to In tribute to Christ Jesus

You wrote no words except those traced in sand, Though four loyal scribes have set your speeches down, Nor did you need to, being the Word made flesh, Incarnate role, wearing thy unseen crown.

That Word, as seed, sown in a faithful heart, May grow to yield the harvest you would reap, Receiving sunlight, rain, thy love unearned, 'Til touching Heaven were an easy leap.

Enthroned there, you saw Satan fall like lightning; The angels, saints, and elders bow to thee.

That you would call me brother, friend, and ally,

And more, that you would intercede for me,

Is wonder that surpasseth understanding; Nothing demanded, I only believe, Wherein you hold my empty-handed hand; My only gift to thee is to receive!

A. LeRoy PoetProphet.com

Abdiel LeRoy

is a poet, author, and narrator who draws inspiration from the

Bible, Shakespeare, and mythology. His works include the epic poems Elijah and Obama's Dream, along with novellas, nonfiction, memoir, and several poetry collections.

Abdiel has worked as an actor, and draws on this background for his audiobook narrations.

His passions include Argentine Tango, yoga, and competitive swimming.

Website: https://poetprophet.com/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/A-LeRoy/e/B083HDL916

Inspiration for the Poem,

Unto I wrote the poem Unto, part of my Well Versed https://buy.bookfunnel.com/bq65orucxi

collection, after hearing a discussion about the unparalleled influence of Jesus and Socrates on Western thought, even though we have no direct writings from either.

Hear my narration at geni.us/Unto. https://soundcloud.com/poetprophet/ unto?in=poetprophet%2fsets%2fwell-versed-by-abdiel-leroy

Shakespeare Awakes.

Romeo gazes at Juliet, as Juliet sighs to the stars, but poor Paris is left to play with himself!

Meanwhile, Hamlet has fouled his stockings, Puck has got his lovers crossed, and where are my yellow tights?

Here arises a poet out of Shakespeare's dream, with quatrains to herald his plays, and sonnets to celebrate his sonnets! Join this thespian author as the curtain rises on his Hamlet, soar on the wings of his Oberon, mourn with his Malvolio.

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All this and more awaits you in verses worthy of the Bard himself.

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Set in the exotic French Riviera, The Coin is a story of hatred, betrayal, love and duty—of terrible and painful choices that, nonetheless, bring about personal triumph.

A DANGEROUS FIND For artist Gabriela Martinez, life has become complicated: she suspects her mentor and friend wants her as his mistress, her husband is neglecting her, and her latest illustration is ruined. Seeking peace, she visits her favourite thinking spot in La Marbriére, the mountain overlooking her home in the Côte d’Azur, but winds up in an unfamiliar clearing. There, she discovers a 1945 French coin half-buried in the ground. Delighted with its beauty, she has it set on her favourite bracelet.

TREACHEROUS KNOWLEDGE Richard Harrison, an American intelligence officer, is livid. A simple favor for his boss has turned his vacation in the French Riviera into a hellish assignment. Now, not only does he learn the truth about the coin, but he must also protect Gabriela from a cunning killer who will stop at nothing to keep his secret safe.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT Together with Maurice Nôret, from French intelligence, Richard attempts to discover the madman’s identity, except his budding love for the beautiful artist is turning into a dangerous handicap. Every one of his moves is thwarted with brutal countermoves. Soon, the psychological games to terrorize Gabriela escalate beyond his control. If Richard doesn’t find a solution, it may be too late for them both.

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Some uplifting books Electric Press Magazine Recommends for your Reading Pleasure

When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other.

He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone. All he knows is that he must keep walking. To save someone else's life.

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Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Award The story of young Willie Beech, evacuated to the country as Britain stands on the brink of the Second World War. A sad, deprived child, he slowly begins to flourish under the care of old Tom Oakley - but his newfound happiness is shattered by a summons from his mother back in London.

As time goes by Tom begins to worry when Willie doesn't answer his letters, so he goes to London to find him, and there makes a terrible discovery.

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A global phenomenon, The Alchemist has been read and loved by over 62 million readers, topping bestseller lists in 74 countries worldwide. Now this magical fable is beautifully repackaged in an edition that lovers of Paulo Coelho will want to treasure forever.

Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. This is such a book – a beautiful parable about learning to listen to your heart, read the omens strewn along life’s path and, above all, follow your dreams.

Santiago, a young shepherd living in the hills of Andalucía, feels that there is more to life than his humble home and his flock. One day he finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant lands, each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is following the right path: his own. The people he meets along the way, the things he sees and the wisdom he learns are life changing.

With Paulo Coelho’s visionary blend of spirituality, magical realism and folklore, The Alchemist is a story with the power to inspire nations and change people’s lives.

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This semi-autobiographical and unforgettable story, of a Jewish family fleeing from Germany before the start of the Second World War, now reissued with its original cover illustration in this very special edition.

Michael Morpurgo called When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit: “The most life-enhancing book you could ever wish to read.”

This internationally acclaimed story of one Jewish family’s flight from Hitler’s Germany has become a much-loved classic and has been in print since its debut 45 years ago.

Suppose your country began to change. Suppose that without your noticing, it became dangerous for some people to live in Germany any longer. Suppose you found, to your complete surprise, that your own father was one of those people.

That is what happened to Anna in 1933. She was nine years old when it began, too busy to take much notice of political posters, but out of them glared the face of Adolf Hitler, the man who would soon change the whole of Europe – starting with her own small life.

One day, Anna’s father was missing. Then she herself and her brother Max were being rushed by their mother, in alarming secrecy, away from everything they knew – home and schoolmates and well-loved toys – right out of Germany…

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To give them hope she must tell their story It's 1946. The war is over, and Juliet Ashton has writer's block.

But when she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - a total stranger living halfway across the Channel, who has come across her name written in a second hand book - she enters into a correspondence with him, and in time with all the members of the extraordinary Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Through their letters, the society tell Juliet about life on the island, their love of books - and the long shadow cast by their time living under German occupation. Drawn into their irresistible world, Juliet sets sail for the island, changing her life forever.

h t t p s : / / a m z n . t o / 2 Z 1 G Lv I

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Writers Journey Creative Adventures

Moroccan Caravan 2021

“I abhor the image of the writer as a solitary figure. That romantic stereotype, associated with loneliness and struggle, has alienated many aspiring writers and blown a cloud over one of the craft’s shining truths: that writing is a social activity.”

If author and renowned writing teacher Roy Peter Clark were to embark on a collective adventure across the Sahara, it would probably look something like this.

Australia-based travel and workshop organiser Writer’s Journey is offering a magical Moroccan Caravan experience, taking in Tangier, Chefchaouen, Fes and the Saharan village of Tissardmine (complete with stays in traditional Berber tents).

For writers and artists. 2 nights Tangier, 2 nights Chefchaouen, 2 nights Fes, 8 nights Tissardmine.

Our creative adventure in the Moroccan desert will take you deep into the heart of Moroccan culture.

From ancient cities to sleeping in Berber tents on a camel trek into the Saharan dunes.

Daily creativity workshops and readings.

Our Moroccan Journey

We begin our creative adventure with two nights in Tangier (morning workshops and evening readings/showings and a guided tour) taking our inspiration from the famous authors and artists who have come before us. Onto the charming town of Chefchaouen, we have two days/nights to write/sketch/paint while roaming its blue washed streets and souks. On our fifth day we travel on to the ancient city of Fes. There is never enough time (two nights, 1 and 1/2 days) to explore its fascinating markets and medinas but this is just the teaser before we cross the low Atlas Mountains and head out to the desert.

Our destination is an artist’s retreat in the Saharan village of Tissardine owned and run by Australian artist Karen Hadfield.

‘Situated in an oasis, this tiny traditional Berber village comprising of 15 houses, is perched on the edge of one of the Sahara’s most extraordinary natural wonders, Erg Chebbi, a large dune stretching 22 kms long and 5 kms wide and peaking up to 150 metres high.

Formed by windblown sand, Erg Chebbi is celebrated for its unique golden-orange sand formations that start at the most northern tip of the Sahara and undulate across Morocco to Tomboctou.

Located 30km from the more well-trodden towns of Erfoud and Rissani, Tissardmine is a place of tranquillity, where the loudest sound you will hear is the birdsong.’

After a couple of days at our Tissardmine base we ride out on camels into the vast Erg Chebbi dune for our 3 day camel trek, sleeping in Berber tents, feasting on tagine delights, drumming with our Berber cameleers by night and working on our creative projects.

Back at Tissardmine we add the final touches to our creative works before a celebratory campfire soiree.

Our 15-day journey ends at Tissardmine with transfers provided onto your next destination either Marrakech, back to Fes or Casablanca or Erfoud airport.

In Tangier, Chefchaouen and Fes we will stay in traditional Riads or guesthouses. On our Tissardmine retreat and trek we sleep in traditional Berber tents.

Jan Cornall of

Writer’s Journey Jan Cornall of Writer’s Journey supports writers of all genres to realise their writing goals, through international writing workshops, journeys and mentoring services.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Jan has been awarded a number of grants and fellowships for her writing and performance work and has written plays, musicals, screenplays, a novel, a collection of stories and poems, and three CDs of songs.

Browse Jan’s work portfolio here.

With a Master of Arts in Cultural and Creative

Practice Jan has taught creative writing for two decades at writer’s centres, community colleges, universities (UTS, WSU) and writer’s festivals in Australia and the Asia Pacific.

Using a technique she has developed called Meditative Writing, Jan takes writers deep into their creative source.

Dedicated to nurturing the unique attributes of each writer, her writing workshops produce startling results. Numerous writers working with Jan have gone on to publication with major publishing houses.

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Rika Inami Tanka & Haiku poet Rika Inami lives in Akita, Japan.

She is a member of ‘Tanka Association Mirai,’ ‘Muro Saisei Learned Society,’ and ‘Akita International Haiku Network.

She is one of Electric Press's favourite poets and with good reason.

Her works are regularly featured in international literature and tanka magazines. Rika won prizes of EU-Japan NewSpace 2016, International Illustrated Haiku Competition 2019, whose works were tanka. She posts her tanka works to Akita International Haiku Network monthly.

Rika first composes her original Japanese tanka in the archaic Japanese, then translates it into English. Her tanka theme is mainly nature. Not only does she praise nature, but expresses herself in it.

Now we are facing pain we have never experienced before. Living in this era, Rika observes the circulation of nature, and the flow of this problem. Regarding COVID-19, Rika has written a haiku in English.

You can read Rika Imani's works in her three collections of poetry, Tanka Harako Volumes 1,2 & 3

TANKA HARAKO I https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B700SOE UK https://amzn.to/2Di2hUG TANKA HARAKO II https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JVWXG9Y UK https://amzn.to/3e90Cxn TANKA HARAKO III https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071VH2LR6 UK https://amzn.to/2Z5FyDL TANKA HARAKO COLLECTION 1 Paperback https://www.amazon.co.jp/TANKA-HARAKO-COLLECTION1-%E5%8E%9F%E7%8B%90%E9%9B%86MyISBN/dp/4815001952

Akita International Haiku Network https://akitahaiku.com/ Tanka Page https://akitahaiku.com/category/tanka/ Blog: Poet of the Fifth Dimension https://poet-rikainami.blogspot.com/ ©Rika Inami 稲美 里佳

The

LEMON TREE HOUSE C r e at i v e R e s i d e n c y

L e m o n T r e e H o u s e – C e t o n a , I ta ly If you need to withdraw from the city hubbub and escape to a place of total quiet in order to focus,

The Lemon Tree House Residency is the ideal place. Squeeze out the stress and make space for new ideas, with complete peace of mind.

Located in a tranquil hamlet in the foothills between Tuscany and Umbria, the retreat in this verdant, medieval haven offers attendees two weeks to unplug and fully convert to writing mode. On top of peaceful writing time, participants will benefit from one-on-one sessions with in-house instructors and international authors, while also exchanging ideas and perspectives with fellow attendees over cocktail hours and three-course dinners prepared by the estate’s resident chef.

If that’s not enough, add in massages by the in-house masseuse, plus yoga classes, meditation sessions, forest-bathing and pasta-making lessons.

The Lemon Tree House is an artist residency program designed to encourage the creative, intellectual and personal growth of emerging and established artists, musicians and writers in beautiful Tuscany. Its aim is to support creative process in a unique and historically rich environment, allowing devoted time, dialogue and space for creative work, as well as providing interesting opportunities for cultural exchange and development. Writers and artists have the best of both worlds- the freedom to work in peace during the day, with the option to meet up with the group for cocktails, dinner and artist talks with featured Artists and Writers-in-Residence in the evening. Located in a tranquil hamlet in the Cetona foothills, residents have access to the full grounds, as well as a workspace in their private rooms.

Whether you need that quiet time to complete a project, hope to launch a new idea, or simply a quiet, beautiful space to get away and focus, The Lemon Tree House Residency is a perfect way to explore the creative process. Two full weeks of isolated artistic time with the benefit of one-on-one sessions with in-house instructors and international authors & artists, conversational exchange with fellow attendees, nightly cocktail hour and three course dinners prepared by a personal chef. At The Lemon

Tree House there is plenty of solitude in which to work, with the benefits of like-minded company in what we know can often be a rather isolating pursuit. Past guest lecturers include Giller-nominated Sarah Selecky, Italian author Pietro Grossi, Canadian painters Sarah Cale, Ryley O'Byrne and French visual artist Christian Gosselin, Michael Salu: creative director and writer from the U.K., New York Times bestseller Ibi Kaslik, winner of the Paris Literary Prize for her first novel: Rosa RankinGee, American writer and comic artist Nadja Spiegelman, award-winning authors Pasha Malla, Craig Francis Power and Greg Brownderville, journalist/novelist Cheryl Tan and the 2018 winner of the Dayton Peace Prize, author Hala Alyan.

The Lemon Tree House supports the following disciplines:

Writing- Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry, Playwriting, Screenwriting and Journalism.

Visual Arts- Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Photography, Books Arts, Conceptual Art, Digital Art, Film and Video, Illustration, Mixed Media.

Performing Arts- Song writing, Composition, Performance, Performance Art, Choreography.

THE LEMON TREE HOUSE RESIDENCY NEXT DATES OCTOBER 3 - 17, 2020 MAY 15 - 29, 2021

contact us directly at lemontreeresidency@gmail.com.

The Dangerous Practice of Reading in Bed Do you like to read in bed? I do. Most of the time, I only read a few pages before nodding off. Usually my wife comes to bed after I do and turns out the light, and I usually wake up just enough to mark my place and put the book aside. Pretty harmless, huh? It wouldn’t have been thought so at one time.

I recently came across a blog on the evils of reading in bed, by Kristen Wardowski, who posts some great stuff about books, reading and writing. She, in turn points to an article in The Atlantic by Nika Mavrody. The gist of both posts is that there were two dangers, one very real and one feared.

The very real danger had to do with how people were able to read in bed. They did so by candlelight. Readers falling asleep could be the cause of fires as candles burned down or set fire to flammables like curtains in the vicinity. This was the equivalent of smoking in bed and was considered a form of negligence.

The other danger reflects a shift in the nature of reading from communal to solitary. Sleeping arrangements also shifted in the same way from a time when a family shared a bed or slept in a common room to greater privacy in sleeping arrangements.

Reading at one time was something done aloud, in the family circle, and of course

needed to be suitable for the various members of the family. Often, it was the Bible that was read (although sex and violence are hardly absent from its pages).

Private, silent reading was feared to lead to private fantasies that distracted one from household duties, particularly those of women. It sounds obsessive that there was societal concern over what someone thought about in solitude. Yet is this so far from concern over what can be viewed on screens which may be obliterated with a swipe or a mouse click, but not erased from our minds?

These days we don’t condemn reading in bed with a broad brush, and that’s an advance. But does what we read in our last waking moments matter? I think of a somewhat humorous incident from early in our married life.

But the horrors of the Nazi occupation of France were profoundly disturbing, and not the best things to consider right before I wanted to sleep.

This was good reading–for another time of day–at least for me. I would not dictate for anyone else, but I’m coming to realize that some types of reading in bed aren’t helpful.

One type of reading that has been helpful are to read some of the prayers that have

been helpful are to read some of the prayers that have been prayed by many others as they close their days. I love these words from the Wednesday compline of the Northumbria Community:

Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm.

I love to think of being enfolded in the peace of God before slipping into the oblivion and helplessness of sleep. To read, and pray, and turn these words over in my mind is good reading. Sometimes it is all the reading I have energy left to do. If that is dangerous, then bring it on. That’s reading I can live with‌and sleep with.

Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm.

Let all the tumult within me cease.

Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace.

The prayer concludes with these words:

The peace of God be over me to shelter me, under me to uphold me, about me to protect me,

Shared from https://brilliantblogshare.blogspot.com/

behind me to direct me,

Re-posted from https://bobonbooks.com/2017/06/29/ the-dangerous-practice-of-reading-in-bed/

ever with me to save me.

The Bed-Time Book, written by Helen Hay and illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.

Photo by Plum Leaves, CC BY 2.0 via Flickr (unedited)

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A Day is more than just a Name Monday is the Moon’s Day Tuesday is Týr’s Day Wednesday is Wōden’s Day Thursday is Thor’s Day Friday is Freyja’s Day Saturday is Saturn’s Day Sunday is the Sun’s Day

(Don’t ask me why it’s Norse gods up to Saturday and then we throw in a Roman one.)

Monday – Monandæg, Moon’s day – the day of the moon, in Old Norse Máni, Mani “Moon”, (see more below.)

Tuesday – Tiwesdæg, Tiw’s-day – the day of the god of war and combat. Tiw, Tiu or the Norse Tyr, was also known as the sky god and was recognised as the most skilled in swordplay… despite having only one hand! He was also famed for his honour, justice and courage.

Wednesday – Wodnesdæg, Woden’s day – the day of the chief Anglo-Saxon god Woden (Norse Odin). Also associated with war, Anglo-Saxon warriors would look to him to protect them on the battlefield. In particular they believed he could guide their spear arms, as the spear was Woden’s sacred weapon.

Thursday – Ðunresdæg, Thor’s Day – the day of the god Ðunor or Thunor. One of the most famous gods in Norse mythology, Thor is widely recognised as the hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning and fertility. His hammer shaped amulets have been found in many an Anglo-Saxon grave.

Friday – Frigedæg, Frige’s day – the day of the goddess Frige (Norse Frigg), wife to Woden.

Woden’s wife was the goddess of love and was associated with all things to do with home, marriage and children. Recognised as the mother of the earth, the Anglo-Saxons would look to her to provide a good harvest.

Saturday – Sæternesdæg, Saturn’s day – the day of the Roman god Saturn, whose festival “Saturnalia,” with its exchange of gifts, has been incorporated into our celebration of Christmas. Unlike other English day names, no god substitution seems to have been attempted her.

Sunday – Sunnandæg, Sun’s day – the day of the sun, in Old Norse Sól, Sol “Sun”…

In Norse mythology Sol and Mani were sister and brother, who first emerged when the world was forming.

After the gods had created the sky, Sol drove her Sun chariot through the sky to light up the earth. Mani’s chariot guided the course of the Moon, controlling its waxing and waning.

Both chariots are depicted travelling at great speed through the skies pursued by wolves.

It was believed that if the wolves caught up with the Sun and Moon, the stars would all disappear from the sky and it would signal the final battle between good and evil that could see the end of the world.

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One of the more intriguing aspects of this book is how expectations are subverted on who joins these gangs.

The Kittnz are not high school dropouts, drug addicts, wayward girls in their teens and twenties from broken homes. These are women in their late 20's-30's in successful careers and day jobs, everything from doctor, lawyer, psychotherapist, photographer, mechanic, and journalist. By day they work and act as pillars of the community, but by night they vent out their frustrations and commit acts of violence.

They have real names and identities, but are known primarily by their gang names: Raven (the leader), Scarlet, Jade, Eve, Storm, and Cass' new name, Ice. In fact, once Ice gets her new moniker, the third person narration refers to her with that name even when she is with family members and acquaintances outside the gang.

It is a subtle reminder the old abused victim, Cass, is dead and in her place is Ice, a woman who seeks action with the cold detachment that her name suggests.

Read full review here.

Lawless Justice is on Kindle Unlimited

NEW from C.A. Keith , The Secret Door of Bluebell Meadow Illustrated by Michael J Elliott

Marcus, Rebecca, and Sam visit an old castle with their parents. Rebecca, mesmerized by a swarm of fairies, follows them through a secret door.

This all ages story, becomes a race against time to find Rebecca before the portal door closes forever. Dragons, gnomes, an old witch, and other creatures, will draw you into this magical tale.

Available from AMAZON UK Canada USA

C A Keith is a Mom of two adult kids, 28

C A Keith says 'thank you' to the wonderful

and 23, who spend her time between

people she has met in the Electric Eclectic

Ontario and Florida.

book team. Paul White, Kazz Mossman, and

When she is not writing she teaches at a

Mike Elliott to name a few.

community college and practising Massage

"When I first started writing the story I

therapy treatments for severely and

asked Mike to draw the cover for me. He is

catastrophic injuries.

a jolly fellow from down under. Claire

Keith says, "really enjoy all that I do, but do wish I had a wee bit more time to devote to writing."

She began writing “The Secret Door of

Bluebell Meadow,” on her last visit to

Plaisted helped with the formatting.

Anytime I have any questions she is always there to help.

I joined the Electric Eclectic book team because all those talented writers work with and support each other. Paul and Kazz

Cheshire, England, which was about five

have helped me immensely throughout the

years ago. Previously, C A Keith spent some

years. There’s no other team I’d rather be a

years living in a little town called Sandbach

part of."

and still has family in the Manchester area.

One day, while she was visiting Mow Cop

Life is short and time should be filled living one's life with the best life has to offer.

Castle with her friends, Keith envisioned a magical castle with secret doors and began writing this tale.

However, she says, as with most stories, "I get so far and the rest has to wait as life comes along and you have to do other stuff.

I then came across The Secret Door of Bluebell Meadow last fall and recalled how very fond of this story I was. It became more special when I got to read it with a

beautiful little girl called 'Ali', long before it made it to press.

Ali and I will be working together on at least two more books for this series."

C A Keith.

Electric Press â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Literary Insights Magazine Open to non-solicited submissions

Articles relating to writing, books, publishing and all things associated; written for/directed toward the 'reader'.

Suggestions for content include: 'A day in the life of 'â&#x20AC;Ś.'?

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Author Profiles.

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Poetry.

Short Stories.

Book reviews.

Life Stories.

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Market trends/movements Effects of Coronavirus on indie authors.

Reports.

Upcoming/Cancelled Events/Shows.

Forthcoming Online Events/Broadcasts.

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Read our back editions Select & click on cover image

M ay 2 0 1 9

November 2019

August 2019

February 2020

M ay 2 0 2 0

We’ll meet Again… this

NOVEMBER

Get your copy of

Vic tory 75 HERE