One Million Project Magazine - Summer 2017 by One Million Project

“Until death it is all life”

Summer 2017

― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote Victoria Stoyanova

A replica of Picasso's sketch

One Million Project

Sue Baron Sue Hart Victoria Stoyanova Melissa Volker Kate McGinn Jason Greenfield Sharon Rhoads Andrew Nixon Wendy Cole Lora Tabakova Paul Glanville

Darcy Lundeen Soleil Daniels Sarah Wilson D.J.Meyers Christine Larson Elisabeth Rochel Declan Conner Michele Potter Jason Greenfield George McLeond

Who we are .... OMP or ONE MILLION PROJECT (standing for an aspirational idea of raising ÂŁ1,000,000 for charity) has three main areas grounded in creativity and charity. We are currently putting together three themed anthologies featuring 120 different stories (40 apiece) by our talented writers who are generously donating their time, skill and work to contribute, alongside editors, cover designers, musicians, artists and other creatives. OMP is totally non-profit and all sales of our anthologies (less Amazon charges/costs) go to our two main charity areas - Cancer Research and helping the homeless.

Last but not least, OMP is a creative network dedicated to providing support, promotion, and encouragement to our members. As a collective we work together on various initiatives in the creative and charitable worlds with the goal of doing good and creating an opportunity for our writers, artists, musicians and other creative members, to achieve their dreams, whether those are publications, bigger audiences, film, art, music projects etc. Though there are a lot more than four of us. Our motto is very much “One for all and all for one”.

The Prefect Tree by Sarah Wilson Once long ago, when the Ancient Gods still held court atop Mount Olympus, and mankind had not long tamed the field and the beast therein, there once stood a sacred pomegranate grove, honoured to Aphrodite, Goddess of love, sprung from the blood of her slain mortal consort, Adonis. Within this grove dwelled a nymph and a satyr, custodians of the trees. Their names are lost to time but their story was not.

And neither was their love. But their union was barren. The only fruit that flourished within that grove was upon the trees that they tended. Though they prayed to their patron goddess for children, Aphrodite was too busy pursuing her own lustful interests, either mourning the loss of one mortal lover or pursuing a new one, to heed the faithful couple. It fell to the goddess Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, to hear their plea. She promised them that a child would come to them, if they took upon themselves the task she desired. The lovers agreed, but little did they know that Demeterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offer was not an act of charity, but an act of vengeance.

For it was from this same orchard, whence came the fateful fruit, whose ruby seeds the consumption of which, confined the Goddessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beautiful daughter Persephone in the underworld, bringing winter into the world. In bitterness and anger for the loss of her own child, Demeter judged that the couple would never have issue, until they had grown what all the Gods of Olympus had judged to be, the perfect tree.

But the Gods were capricious. Some demanded a tree with silver leaves, some, with golden bark. Some demanded a tree that bore fruit. Others demanded that which bore nuts. Others demanded a tree that had the sweetest blossoms. Some, for a tree with needles as sharp as thorns. Not just amongst themselves were the Gods so changeable. From day to day, each one would change his or her mind on what defined perfection.

The perfect Tree review by Kate McGinn “The Perfect Tree” has all the elements of an excellent story: love, sacrifice, vengeance, misunderstanding, jealousy, and forgiveness. Written in the classic form of Greek mythology, Sarah Wilson’s tale held my attention and reminded me of the best and worst of human behavior. The premise of the story involves two lovers who wish to have a child. Unable to procreate, they are given a chance to prove themselves by producing ‘The Perfect Tree.’ The gods are fickle, and the couple ends up creating a forest of beautiful trees, but none of them are deemed superior.

When the goddess of the harvest, Demeter, wants to brag about the bounteous fields under her care, she is pushed into a rage after Zeus states he prefers the forest to her fields. Her jealous nature turns to anger and retaliation. Like the fairy tales from my youth, many characters are humble animals. There are times when the story reminded me of a political allegory, like an Animal Farm written by a toga-wearing George Orwell. The Earth is ravaged as the vanity and spite of the powerful is unleashed. Demeter releases the Furies from their prison. The result could very well bring an army from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to the scene.

As the soil is poisoned and the forest destroyed, I could only think about the travesties committed across our planet spurred on by corporate greed and the feigned blindness of our leaders to the devastation meted out upon our world by humankind. Even the lovers weren’t allowed to find comfort in each other’s arms. Could this be an allusion to the dissolution of marriage, fidelity, and common decency so prevalent today? Thankfully, the bad is followed by good—another component of the author’s superior storytelling. Wilson provided balance to her morality tale by including the acts of self-sacrifice, determination, and caring for others. These noble attributes help to redeem our faith and provide a template for the type of behavior we can only hope to emulate.

I’m sure everyone will have different interpretations as to the hidden meanings in the story. Like poetry, a morality tale can be molded by the reader to fit their outlook on life and the human condition. “The Perfect Tree” reminded me that perfection is subjective and not absolute. The author fashioned a tale that could have been written thousands of years ago and infused it with the relevance of our challenges in today’s world. The best part of this modern take on the epic stories of old is the hopeful ending with the promise of salvation. “The Perfect Tree” is a story that can be enjoyed by old and young alike.

Q&A

Sarah Wilson 1.What made you want to become a writer? Stephen King, in his book “Misery” says there is the difference between storytellers and story writers. Storytellers are bad story writers and story writer are bad storytellers. I believe I’m one of the former which is why I can walk around talking and having really intense conversations with myself, but when I sit down to write things down there seems to be some kind of paralysis between my head and my hands and I spent hours just staring at a flickering cursor! Also I am an intense reader. I’ve read thousands of books, exploring all sort of genres and writing styles. I want to see if can emulate that, or at least try!

2. Have you written any other books that are not published? I’ve been trying to write my first full novel for the past 10 years! I’ve had a general idea but that idea kept changing. I kept adding characters and then had to think out the back stories for them and then it started to run away with itself, a volume of text that kept getting longer and longer. I really need to trim things out, maybe move some text around, put things in different places. Also I have a very unusual writing style. Instead of beginning, middle, end, I tend to write in chunks at different places in the text, and like a patchwork quilt “sow” these chunks together with dialogue and clever editing, and get some coherent narrative.

3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? I have a tendency to jot ideas down when I get them. Then shove them in a pocket somewhere and the find them when it comes to laundry, or when I’m looking for something else. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m more of a storyteller, so sometimes I use the Dictaphone function on my phone to take notes. I recently found a dictation programme on my computer which is quite helpful. I can just talk directly into my computer and the words just appear on screen. I don’t have to type anything (except of course, when a computer gets it a bit wrong, and I have to do a copious amount of back spacing).

4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? I’d prefer to write alone, in a quiet place, usually my home computer, and usually late at night, when everyone else is asleep and I can concentrate. I sometimes play music while I work, and have dedicated playlists depending on what I’m going to be writing, but I risk getting distracted if a really good tune comes on! So, I tend to listen more ambient instrumental stuff, like Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, Mogwai, Marconi Union. I’ve recently been listening to Bulgarian choral folk music which is spectacular beautiful. The inverse is true as well. Are sometimes be so carried away with writing, but I don’t notice that my playlists have ended and I’m merrily tapping away in silence.

5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? Ooh, tricky one. I don’t know. Maybe not to let jealousy consume you, or use what power you have, to the assuage any personal vendettas, lest you hurt the people around you, and isolate you from members of your family. Also, I think that no matter how small and insignificant people seem to be, (especially to people who think of themselves as high status), they can still accomplish the greatest of acts and surprise everyone. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? I think my favourite part of the story ears when the nightingales sing to each other in the eastern valley. I always imagine what that would sound like, that beautiful choral harmony.

7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? I think I’d like to sit in a meadow on a summer’s day and make flower crowns with Persephone! 8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? Probably Demeter. I have a dislike for jealous, bitchy, domineering mother types and people who use power to act out their sadistic vendettas, for even the most minor or accidental of slights. The sort of people that will break up happy homes and families just to feel better about their own isolation and weak personalities.

9. What do you read for pleasure? I tend to read classic writers such as Austen or Dickens, or fantasy series, such as Harry Potter, Discworld. I also have a weak spot for Stephen King, because who doesn’t like being frightened once in a while? I also take an interest in mythology and seeing the roots of storytelling and its origins in oral tradition. 10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? As I have mentioned above, I like Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, J.K Rowling, Neil Gaiman, the traditional “fairy tale” writers such as The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson (and not forgetting Charles Perrault).

I love the animation of both Disney and Studio Ghibli and the immense sense of fun that they put into their films. I’m a big Doctor Who fan, so I kind of practise my writing skills writing fan fiction, alas none of it strictly canon and some of it definitely unpublishable. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that! 11. What is your favourite book? Why? Oh, so many to choose from, it’s really difficult. I tend to like large books like “Lord of the Rings”, Stephen King’s epics “The Stand” and “It”, and I know it’s a cliché but “War and Peace” (my reading record from to cover is 10 days), but I think my favourite book has to be “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende. What reader hasn’t dreamed of waking up one day and finding themselves part of an epic adventure story.

12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? It’s all Jason Greenfield’s fault, haha! No, in all honesty, I thought by writing these short stories I might be able to gear up and finally finish that novel I’ve had on the back burner for over a decade. And I’m contributing to a good cause so that’s a plus. 13. What do you do for living? I work in a restaurant kitchen, a sort of chef of all works. It’s long hours, so what with coming home at night and being exhausted on my days off, may contribute to my difficulty in writing.

14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? Reading mostly. I run my own Youtube channel (Pseudonymonic) on which I sporadically post painting video or reviews for varieties of tea. I like baking brownies, experimenting with different flavour combinations. I paint (I’ve contributed most the art work that accompanies my story). I play computer games. I catch up on TV or radio programmes I’ve missed, but mostly I just like to sleep! 15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Of course. I need to finish this damn novel!

Children's Story by Jason Greenfield Once upon a time there was a dog who had a shiny red ball. The dog loved the ball but lost it. This is the tale of how we found the lost ball. My name? Well I’m glad you asked. I am Professor Sebastian J Catsworth the third. You may call me Cat. Our tale begins one sunny afternoon as I lounged contentedly on the patio following a most satisfactory repast. Smoked mackerel, omelette du jour and a glass of mineral water, ice – slice of lime. I was just finishing my cup of Mocha, when Mrs Grizzly knocked and entered the terrace.

‘Beggin yer pardon sir,’ she began tentatively ‘There’s two gents ere to see you. Urgent business was what they said.’ I nodded by way of indicating that my housekeep should show them up and entering my study I pulled the belt of my red silk smoking jacket tight. Then with pipe firmly at the side of my mouth I awaited my visitors. ‘Ah hullo Dog … Lamb, please be seated,’ was my greeting ‘Now …’ I lit my pipe ‘I take it this isn’t a social call?’ ‘Hello,’ said Dog ‘I’ve lost my shiny red ball. I am very sad.’ ‘Baaaa,’ elucidated Lamb, placing a supporting woolly paw on his friend’s shoulder. I puffed out a smoke ring ‘Hmm, I see. A ball you say? So, I take it you wish to engage me in a professional capacity?’

‘Yes,’ said Dog ‘My ball is gone and I am very sad. Can you help me find my shiny red ball?’ ‘Baaah, baaaaa, baaaa,’ added Lamb. ‘Gentlemen, please be seated. Mrs Grizzly if you’d be so kind as to bring in refreshments.’ I requested a cappuccino while Dog had water in a bowl. Lamb had breakfasted earlier on fresh green grass and so required nothing. When my guests were comfortable I asked Dog to tell his story, leaving out no detail no matter how small and seemingly trivial; for I have often found that the minutia, the insignificant occurrences … when examined by the trained eye of an expert can yield pieces of information that when grouped together cast light on the overall picture. This then was the tale Dog imparted.

Stop Saying It’s About Feminism by Melissa Volker Fandoms are passionate. Some more than others. It might seem odd to pen a piece about a fandom’s reaction to casting, because, well…it’s a TV show! But I am a fan and the cultural response is worth looking atThe bruhaha over the new choice for Doctor Who has stirred the fandom pot with Traditionalists simply crossing their arms with a firm, simple, “No”, Change-Avoiders having panic attacks, hugging themselves and whimpering, “No no no no”, Haters (who aren’t true members of the fandom, in my opinion) who will hate no matter what, and yes, Sexists who simply state that a woman has no business playing that role..

I’m intrigued by all of these negative reactions. I understand some of them. I agree with none of them. But what is most bothersome to me, to be honest, is the slew of women coming out swinging with a feminist rant. Accusing opposers of the choice of wanting to keep women in the shadows, oppressed, that by their thinking women should still be barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen. I’m sorry, WHAT? No. Just no. Please, ladies, everything is not a feminist dig and making it so diminishes the things that are. Doctor Who has progressed with female characters throughout its run. Rose Tyler was no wallflower or pushover. Donna Noble pushed the Doctor around and saved the world. River Song – excuse me…but if ever there was a character that was most like The Doctor but female…there she is.

That’s not what this casting choice is about. It’s about more. It’s about less. Casting a woman as Doctor Who is on one hand a choice to move the show overall in a different direction, to stir the pot, keep it new, create challenges that will keep the show interesting and save it from growing staid and stale. Cries of ‘mythology foul’ because a child was sired in the past doesn’t make sense on many fronts, not the least of which is that if the show stayed true to original mythology then it would be over, as Matt Smith’s Doctor had run out of regenerations. Mythologies can be creatively tinkered with.

Foul that ‘he’ has “always been a man” rings about as valid to me as “it’s always been done this way”. Both arguments, used alone as a reason, are almost always certain to lead to doom. What’s more The Master had been a man as well, but recently regenerated into Missy but the same uproar wasn’t heard. Why? And if anyone needed proof that a canonically male character could be played by woman, she was it. But back to the feminism thing. Here’s why it’s not about feminism… The entire last season dropped hints and laid seeds on something else: gender. The first openly gay character became The Doctor’s companion. That openly gay character ended up flying off into the sunset with an alien who had kept its human form — a female. The end of the series dropped all sort of hints:

DOCTOR: She was my first friend, always so brilliant, from the first day at the Academy. So fast, so funny. She was my man crush. BILL: I’m sorry?

And near the end: MASTER: Do as she says… Is the future going to be all girls? DOCTOR: We can only hope.

DOCTOR: Yeah, I think she was a man back then. I’m fairly certain I was, too. It was a long time ago, though. BILL: So, the Time Lords, bit flexible on the whole man-woman thing, yeah? DOCTOR: We’re the most civilized civilization in the universe. We’re billions of years beyond your petty human obsession with gender and its associated stereotypes.

This is not about feminism. It’s about gender. About what gender means. The Doctor can be in a female body ( just like Missy), but still must be The Doctor — with the same memories, the same personality traits, the same struggles and approach to her role in the universe. She will move in a female form but Who she is must remain constant. It speaks to what gender really means and how little an impact it could (perhaps should) have. Gender fluid, non-binaries already get this. It’s Who they are. This could very well illustrate it for the rest of us.

It also offers tremendous story opportunities in reconciling a new female body with his/her past. River Song, for instance. Which again, ties back to gender identity/fluidity. And simple humanity. I’m not with the show. I have no idea of intention. But if you look at dialogue, off-hand remarks given by Capaldi’s Doctor this whole last season, I do think the show has chosen to walk the path of gender being unimportant. It is the character that matters. The spirit, the mind, the intention. What body that travels in is irrelevant. Art has always been a mirror for the world. Doctor Who has been around for so long that in order to survive and stay fresh, to speak to each new generation and build on the fanbase, it must evolve.

This is Who we are now. Who we are becoming. This generation is more tolerant, accepting and has more people identifying as gay or, more importantly, in fluid ways than ever before. They are saying that gender is irrelevant. It’s not the focus. If that’s Who we are becoming, why not Doctor Who. I will bet that for every angry, petulant and disappointed “No”, there will be a handful of, “Well…duh.” But beyond all that…it’s just damned cool, it’s a big yay for female cosplayers, and I, for one, cannot wait to see where this Doctor takes us. It’s a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey adventure! Enjoy the ride!

But please, stop saying it’s about feminism.

Q&A

Andrew Nixon 1.What made you want to become a writer? I’ve been a writer and teller of tales since I can remember. I’ve written freelance articles, professional journal articles, grants, short stories, blogs, novels, newspaper columns, and any other printed medium one can imagine. It’s just part of my DNA.

3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? Computer

2. Have you written any other books that are not published? I’m working on the sequel to Three Lives of Peter Novak. The working title is Katie’s Ladies.

5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? I guess you could say so. The protagonist becomes a hero in both books. In the short story Filthy Lucre, college geniuses get their comeuppance.

4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? Alone, often with soft music in the background.

6. What is your favourite part of the story? The final scene. 7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? I’d like to have dinner with Professor Ovum and hear his tales of escaping the Soviet Union. 8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? Any of the three prig geniuses. 9. What do you read for pleasure? Mysteries and bios of strong women.

11. What is your favourite book? There are so many, I’m unable to narrow it down to one. Why? Just too much good literature out there. 12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? It's a good cause. I'm proud to be part of it. 13. What do you do for living? Retired faculty and administrator 14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? Travel and work with an at-risk population. 15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Oh, yes. Once my fingers hit the keyboard, I’m unable to stop them.

Daughter of a playwright/novelist and a poet, Melissa

Volker's debut novel, Delilah of Sunhats Swans received

a Five Star Review from Reader's Favorites and was praised by Alice Fulton, Guggenheim Fellow Poet, who said, "Delilah...is a charmer, a being blessed with a charisma as mysterious as it is luminous. You won't soon forget her." It was followed by a collection of short stories and a novella, a life undone. She is a member of The Straw Dog Writer's Guild and recently won Words and Brushes third Collaborative Competition with her short story, Truths, which can be found on their website. The Thirteenth Moon was her first middle-grade, fantasy adventure novel and garnered her the description of "â&#x20AC;Śa combination of C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling". The Sequel, A Council of Elders is tentatively scheduled for release later in 2017. Volker then delved into the YA genre with a slipstream/soft scifi novel, Anabelle Lost and a magical realism novella, HIDDEN, each due out in April 2017.

Q&A

Melissa Volker 1.What made you want to become a writer? My father was a novelist and playwright, and we are a lot alike. I started out acting and, when I left that, writing seemed to naturally fill the void of imaginary worlds and characters. 2. Have you written any other books that are not published? God, yes! I'm working on a YA magical realism one right now that explores some tough subjects: depression, bullying, harassment, suicide, and peer pressure.

3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? Pen and notebook when ideas come. Computer when I'm writing. Longhand cannot keep up with my speedy brain! 4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? ALONE. For the love of all that is holy, I need to be alone. And quiet. I need to hear the characters voices, their tone, their exact words. I need no distractions.

5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? "Muse" doesn't have a lesson, per se. It simply explores the idea of creativity, inspiration, and the connection a musician has to their instrument. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? The end. 7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? Heh. I only have one real character. She seems pretty awesome, though, and I'd love to hang out with her and listen to her play!

8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? none 9. What do you read for pleasure? These days I'm often so tired I don't read a whole lot anymore. But when I do, I want stuff that challenges meâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;intellectually and creatively. Right now I'm reading Flannery O'Connor and trying to figure out how I didn't know of her before. 10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? Too many to name. Robert Pirsig, Jack Kerouac, Anne Lamott, Ray Bradbury, Raymond Carver, Ralph Ellison...seriously, I could go on forever.

11. What is your favourite book? Why? I have not one favorite. But one I have several copies of, including the original barely held together that I've read upwards of 4 times, is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. 12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? Because it's an amazing cause, and I don't always feel there's a way to use what I'm good at and what I love for a good cause. Now I can.

14. What are your favourite things to do when you arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t writing? Hang out with our teen son who is awesome, watch Marvel movies, garden, make stuff, continue to cultivate my inner geek/nerd 15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Always and forever. I'll keel over on the keyboard or with pen in hand. Not until I'm at least 200, though, because I plan to be here a good, long time.

13. What do you do for living? Write and/or nothing.

Q&A

Elisabeth Rochel 1.What made you want to become a writer? I was inspired to write when I was whining around to the Lord in prayer about not having a job, and He spoke to me and said write a book. 2. Have you written any other books that are not published? Yes. One, so far. 3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? I tried pen first but didn’t like having to transcribe it from my handwriting. I prefer typing on my computer now. I got a new one just for writing.

4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? So far I’m never alone. When I am alone, I have too much other stuff I have to do. Most of the time it’s without music, but I really prefer to have some on. 5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? No. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? It’s when Miranda is on her balcony.

7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? Miranda. We’d go out to eat and I’d pick her brain. 8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? The bad guy. 9. What do you read for pleasure? Sci-fi and mysteries.

11. What is your favourite book? Why? Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness. It was exciting and made sense to me. I could relate to it. 12. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? Eating, practicing the piano and reading. 13. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Yes, if I don’t get laughed out of Dodge.

10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? Frank Peretti, Mary Higgens Clark, and Stephen King.

Wendy Cole 1 .What made you want to become a writer? I've had a passion for books for as far back as I can remember and have always written. 2.Have you written any other books that are not published? I have four completed stories currently available for free on Wattpad. 3.What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? I write using the Google Docs App. 4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? My ritual when writing is always first thing in the morning with an iced coffee.

Q&A

5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? My goal is always about creating an emotional connection for the reader with my characters. My story Cutthroat Ink, however, does contain quite a bit of symbol-ism. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? I love every part of my stories. 7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? There are a couple of characters from stories I've written I would love to spend time with…Can’t really say what we'd do. At least…not and keep it rated PG.

8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? I'd say the dead one. 9. What do you read for pleasure? I generally read romance but will also read dystopian, horror, and biographies. 10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? Karen Marie Moning, Maggie Osborne, Robert Thier, and Melissa Haag 11. What is your favourite book? Why? Hopeless by Melissa Haag. It's so beautifully paced and written. I cried.

12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? I'm excited to be a part of it. I've done a lot of charity work in the past and have personal experience with homelessness, so it resonates with me. 13. What do you do for living? I manage a restaurant. 14. What are your favourite things to do when you arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t writing? When I'm not writing, I like to go to theme parks with my children 15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Of course! I can't not write; it's part of who I am.

Q&A

D. J. Meyers 1.What made you want to become a writer? I wrote my first book at the age of 10, which was put in the school library. I illustrated that as well. Not sure how good it was. After that I spent years writing songs, before I decided to try writing a novelâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;because it was there. Fourteen years later I have more ideas than time. Writing frees my head space.

3.What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? I write most of my novels with pen in notepads or in leather-bound diaries that contain handmade paper. I then type them up, editing as I go. The editing beyond that is mostly completed on computer, but often I will print out the entire book and edit on the paper, before typing in the edits

2.Have you written any other books that are not published? I have four self-published books and about thirty others waiting to be edited.

4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? Both. I’ve even been spotted writing at Bruce Springsteen and Santana concerts between sets. I nearly always have music playing—when I first began I would choose the artist who most inspired me for the tale and wend their song titles into the chapter headings. I rarely do that now as I suspect there might be copyright issues, but my last completed novel was written in that form, just for fun. Coldplay supplied the titles, and part of the novel was written in the mosh pit of their most recent Melbourne concert.

5. Does your story have a lesson? a moral? Yes. My short for the OMP Project fiction is a lesson in futility, how man spends so much time and money developing weapons rather than finding a cure for cancer. It also focusses on the struggle of one with cancer and the will to fight against the odds—a better kind of fight. The second, a thriller entry, under my pseudonym of Oznonymous, is more about mental health and the pressure of family expectations. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? My favourite part of the first story is the link to the statue of a little girl I came across in Hiroshima. Within sight of the A-Dome Building, it was surrounded by glass cases full of multicoloured paper cranes. While I was there a group of school children paid homage to the girl with their paper cranes, while younger students practiced their English skills on unsuspecting tourists—their gift for their time—a paper crane.

7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? It would be Sadako—the paper crane girl. And I would ask her to teach me how to make a paper crane. 8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? Death. While he is one of my favourite characters, I don’t particularly want to meet him any day soon. 9. What do you read for pleasure? Not a lot at the moment, as I spend most of my spare time writing, editing, and editing the works of other budding authors.

10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? Shakespeare, Bronte, Dickens—none of these are typical in what they produced. Their storylines are varied as are their subjects, and they blend drama and comedy and romance—I love blended tales. 11. What is your favourite book? Why? Why not ask who is my favourite child! OK, so Wuthering Heights—at a pinch. I think the passion, the setting. I visited the moors and stayed at Haworth a few years back. The idea that these cloistered young women could create such imaginative tales, such a broad range of characters, have settings as characters, and not fall for clichéd endings or storylines is amazing.

12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? I am a cancer survivor, one of those who fought and got on with life. Yet I feel I should have given something back, so this is a beginning of that path for me.

15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Absofeckinlutely. Both my OMP Project shorts are prequels to longer works—one with 1 and a half novels complete (of three), the other with one complete and two more in planning development stages.

13. What do you do for living? I work in IT—boring, I know 14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? I travel wildly around the world. Each place I visit usually ends up in a novel or two. I also umpire AFL football, and I love photography.

Reviews of D.J. Meyer's Books Tales of Yorr

(A Mediaeval Monk in need of a Chiropractor) Book I of The Renaissance Series 5 out of 5 stars DJ Meyers has created a wonderful character, and takes the reader on an incredible ... ByNJ Morrowon June 15, 2015 Format: Kindle Edition A poignant tale of Yorrick, the bastard son of Richard the Turd. A medieval comedy, in the company of a Jester, Philosopher who is more than just a monk with a hump who attracts the wenches. Only tired eyes and a pain in my back and belly prevented me from reading this in one session. DJ Meyers has created a wonderful character, and takes the reader on an incredible journey that brings tears of sadness washed away by tears of laughter. Highly recommended.

Birth of Venus Book II of The Renaissance Series 5 out of 5 stars A tear for Boticelli. By Phillip on 22 Oct. 2015 Format: Paperback Verified Purchase D J Myers offers us his latest book in the form of vivid imagery, as though he had painted it on canvas. The story begins in the 20th Century, within the Italian city of Florence, with a group of backpackers recounting the history of the certain artists that lived during the time of the Renaissance. From there, he creates pure escapism with his prose, making you believe you had just stepped back in time, carrying you further back to the 15th Century, to the time of the Medici, and Sandro Botticelli, the Italian painter of mythological and religious paintings (1444-1510). With his dreamlike description, we are invited to witness the "golden age" and Botticelliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unrequited love for the beautiful Simonetta Vespucci - a married noblewoman who assisted as his model for 'The Birth of Venus.'

Botticelli was so obsessed by Simonetta that she occured time and time again in his paintings, despite the fact she had died many years before (1476). The artist postulated from the time of her death that he should be buried at her feet in the Church of Ognissanti, in Florence as he felt she possessed divinity through her sheer beauty. At the time of the artists death in 1510, the author's story is concluded in a way that makes you wish it had a happier ending, so emotional was the painters life. A well executed story, historically detailed and described exquisitely, almost colourful to the extent that one will never look at 'The Birth of Venus' in the same light again without shedding a tear for Botticelli.....

The Whispering Mime Book III of The Renaissance Series 4 out of 5 stars Fact and fiction merge to present an alternative life for ... By Portia on 28 Dec. 2015 Format: Paperback Verified Purchase Fact and fiction merge to present an alternative life for Will Shakespeare, Shakspear, Shakespere and every other rendition of the surname prevalent in Elizabethan England. The story charts his progress through dangerous times and displays Will's determination to survive, no matter the cost. DJ Meyers' research into the period is evident as historical figures come and go, and the author draws on a famous play as the story arc morphs into fantasy. A very enjoyable read.

Sentenced to Obscurity 4.0 out of 5 stars Words have power. By Portia on 8 Sept. 2016 Format: Paperback Verified Purchase Indigo Meyer, a talented but unknown author, falls into a trap set by a pretty, much younger woman. Incarcerated and starved, his wife and children under constant threat, he's forced to edit novels he's written or work hard to produce more, while this woman, a former teen film star fallen from grace, takes the credit for his novels and receives world acclaim. Sunk deep into obscurity, Indigo's work is adored by the public. The problem is he will never know how the impact or his words, or the power they contain, together with scenarios that spring from his inventive mind will influence the world in the distant future. Lots of twists and turns, a profound and thought-provoking read.

Q&A

Declan Conner 1.What made you want to become a writer? I was an avaricious reader from an early age. I’ve wanted to be a writer since my school days. My sister went to a Grammar School and couldn’t craft a story to save her life. I had the opposite problem, in that I couldn’t spell. I used to write all her homework stories for her and she edited them. Fast forward to the present day, and we’ve struck up as a team again.

2. Have you written any other books that are not published? Not all stories that are written are worth publishing, especially the early ones, and to start with the effort can be part of a learning curve. I have a few on my hard drive that will never see the light of day. Saying that, I have three current work-in-progress stories and one complete that I will be publishing over the next year to add to the six full-length thrillers and a compilation of short stories I have already published on Amazon.

3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? I write on a computer using Microsoft Word. It’s pretty standard nowadays for agents to ask for your MS as a Word Doc. It also has the benefit of checking grammar and has spellcheck. For those who self-publish, it’s also all you need as its features enable you to prepare your MS as an eBook or as a print book for publication. 4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? I write alone in a small office at home. I close the door and write in silence without any distraction.

5.Does your story have a lesson? A moral? All my stories have some sort of lesson or moral. That’s what gives a story its depth in addition to the plot. It could be anything from anti-drug to an awareness of abuse to, say, an understanding of autism through one of the characters. The main thing is not to do it in a preachy way. I’d rather not spell out what it is in this story, as I prefer to let the reader discover it for themselves. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? I don’t have a favourite part. I enjoyed writing it all, and hopefully the reader will have the same enjoyment. Saying all that, I found it satisfying to come up with the twist ending.

7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? It would have to be with the female detective. I’d sit her down and give her a good talking to about priorities and the importance of family life. 8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? It would have to be the victim’s boyfriend. Oh, boy, would I give him a piece of my mind. 9. What do you read for pleasure? I don’t pick up books these days for fear of copying ideas. I am, however, an avid reader of news from around the world. It’s surprising how many articles can spark ideas for stories.

10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? Lee Child is my favourite. 11. What is your favourite book? Why? Black Ice by Michael Connelly. The first chapter is an excellent example of how to define a character in the narrative with show and not to tell by not spelling it out, as in: single male— five foot two—eyes are blue, etc. 12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? I heard about it from an author friend. As it's a good cause, I knew that I would be proud to be part of it. I didn’t hesitate in writing a story especially for the anthology.

13. What do you do for living? I am fortunate that I am able to write full time. 14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? I love to go for walks in the countryside or play guitar. 15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Definitely. I don’t think I will stop writing while ever I have good health.

Winter's Icy Caress is the second book in the Clare Thibodeaux Series. Clare survived the attempts on her life by the leader of an altright extremist group and is looking forward to her new life in Wisconsin. The future is bright with her fiancé at her side. The holiday season is beginning, and a new threat to the citizens of Bayfield is discovered as young women go missing. Clare assists in the search for the most recent woman and finds she has become a target. The winters are harsh near Lake Superior… And somewhere in Bayfield, there is a person with a soul colder and more brutal than any winter day in Northern Wisconsin. A fact Clare will discover for herself. Winter's Icy Caress was published in June 2017, and it is available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. Copyright © 2017 by OMP Magazine Publishing

Kate McGinn lives along the Mississippi River in a little village in Wisconsin. Over the years Kate has worked as a registered nurse, served as an officer in the Army Reserve, and operated a Bed & Breakfast Inn. Her husband retired from the US Navy after 20 years, and they were stationed in the Azores, Italy, and along the Gulf coast in Texas and Florida during that time. Kateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interests include gardening, golf, travel, and reading. She enjoys reading books from multiple genres including classic literature, fantasy, sci fi, romance, and thrillers. Some of her favorite authors include Jane Austen, Maeve Binchy, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Agatha Christie and Tom Clancy.

Kate published the first book in the Clare Thibodeaux Series, Exodus in August 2016. Winter’s Icy Caress (Clare Thibodeaux Series, Book 2) was published in June 2017. Both books are available on Amazon.com, Amazon.uk, and Kindle Unlimited. K.V. ***** Exodus is an action-packed and heartwarming story about a nurse who finds herself in the midst of a conflict between her late father and the enemies he’d made in his line of work. Clare Thibodeaux is a brave headstrong young heroine with a caring heart. I loved every minute of her story and am looking forward to reading book two. Five stars for sure! M. M. -- Amazon customer ***** This book was riveting for me. The characters were complex, relatable human beings. I was able to empathize with the challenges they faced. The setting descriptions and locations actually took me into the story even more. I highly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys getting lost in the characters and events in their lives. It was challenging to put down! I anxiously await the second in this series! Copyright © 2017 by OMP Magazine Publishing

Christine Larson's website http://www.cdcraftee.com/ ceedee4kids (Christine's website for children's stories) https://ceedeekids.com/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Chr istineLarsenAuthor/

Story: A hacker is targeting Meredith Crismis’s struggling new dessert company. But when the tech firm she depends on sends hunky computer expert Vlad Wiznitsky to fix the problem, things begin improving for Meredith, both personally and professionally. First, her relationship with Vlad heats up to the sizzling point, then Meredith’s given the chance to snag a wealthy customer who could put her company’s bottom line permanently into the black. It seems like a dream come true until the persistent hacker turns her “Divine Desserts” website into an X-rated marketplace, the wealthy customer demands a discontinued decorative item or else no sale, and her relationship with Vlad begins to unravel under the pressure of her obsession with professional success. For a woman who deals with creating intricate wedding cakes and luscious muffins, life has suddenly become the ultimate recipe for disaster.

Reviews *** I adored Adore Me, pun intended. This romantic comedy had a few twists, and a sexy, intelligent hero you’ll fall head over heels with. It kept me laughing and turning the pages until I finished it in one sitting. Independent, hardworking bakery owner, Meredith is focused on getting her new business off the ground. When her problematic computer is constantly on the fritz, her computer repair company sends a new worker. They strike up a banter, and the first date is set. Vlad is not your average IT guy with his cleft chin, lithe body, and laid back approach to life. I couldn’t blame, Meredith for being interested in him. I loved his humor, kindness, and old-fashioned courting. There’s nothing sexier than a man who wines and dines the woman he’s interested in.

*** Strong characters, smooth dialogue, and a sweet plot fill the pages of this short story. Meredith focuses too much on one particular cake order which puts her relationship with Vlad on the line, but thankfully she has the perfect hero who looks past her obsession. A cute Valentine story perfect for reading any time of the year. This one-sitting read will have your sweet-tooth craving for a handful of candy hearts.

Chapter One Meredith Crismis closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled as the myriad odors wafting on the air invaded her nostrils, and her senses. The milky pureness of vanilla. The heady tang of lemon. The decadent smoothness of chocolate. Taking deep breaths in a warm kitchen was the only way to appreciate those luscious smells. And they were all hers. At least until customers came along to claim them. She opened her eyes again and looked around the room at the miracle her diligent study, hard work, and, yes, a dollop of good luck, too, had brought. And like those mouth-watering scents, it was also hers. The entire place. Lock, stock, humongous bank loans, and equally daunting monthly bills.

Divine Desserts. The thing she’d wanted, longed for, dreamed of ever since she was in second grade and stood in the family kitchen with her mother while they sifted flour, rolled out dough, and whipped up bowls of sugary sweet cake or cupcake filling. Then they’d put everything together so they could enjoy a taste of their creations as a reward for the work they’d done. Now Divine Desserts was her reward and had been for the past six months since she first opened the business.

Dana, her assistant and a pretty awesome baker in her own right, stood across the room, putting the finishing touches on Willa Pruitt’s chocolate-mousse filled wedding cake with lemon fondant frosting. After that, they’d work on the four trays of cupcakes that sat on the kitchen counter, fresh from the oven and ready to be filled, frosted, and transformed into nineyear-old Tori Schmidt’s cupcake birthday cake. Then would come the assorted muffins for that office party this afternoon. Meredith smiled. They really had their work cut out for them today, and she wouldn’t want it any other way. The more happy customers they had, the better it was for business. The more business they had, the better it was for the bottom line…and for being able to pay off all the loans she’d taken.

“I’ll be in my office for a while doing paperwork,” she told Dana. “Then I’ll come back and help you fill those cupcakes.” “Great.” Dana glanced over her shoulder. “You know me and chocolate-ganache filling. I have to be constantly watched when I’m around it so I don’t end up eating the whole thing.” Meredith couldn’t help laughing at that, it was so true. “God, we have so much in common. Be back soon.” She left the kitchen and walked down the hallway that led to her office. Leaving the door open, she went to her desk, turned on the computer, and stared at…nothing. The screen was blank. “Okay, come on, stop being a laggard,” she murmured as she brought her finger down on the mouse.

“I know it’s almost the weekend, but—” In answer, the machine barked at her again and She broke off and flinched when the machine flashed those same damn rainbow-colored lights emitted something that sounded like a bark. This before subsiding once more into stubborn silence was immediately followed by a burst of wild colors and unrelieved blankness. that “Work, dammit, work!” pulsed across the screen, almost blinding her. “Merry, what’s the matter? I heard you clear out “What the hell?” she yelped, turning away from the in the kitchen.” computer to protect her vision. Dana’s voice jolted her out of her snit, and A second later, the lights diminished to total Meredith turned to the doorway, where Dana darkness and the barking gave way to deadly silence. stood, wearing an expression that clearly indicated “God, no!” she whispered, staring at the screen. she was certain the “Don’t do this to me. Please, baby, I need you to boss-lady had lost her mind. work. I really do.” Unfortunately, the computer didn’t do requests so, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming, she checked the cable connections, but everything seemed fine. She began tapping keys, then punching keys, then begging keys to please, please, please access her client list, her schedule, her billing information, and everything else she needed to keep her business afloat. Copyright © 2017 by OMP Magazine Publishing

Q&A

Darcy Lundeen 1.What made you want to become a writer? I think what you find with most writers is that the desire is there from a very young age. It was no different for me. When I was still in grade school, I tried writing poems that dealt with serious emotions I had never experienced and knew nothing about. Luckily, those poems have all disappeared over the intervening decades, because if I read one of them today I probably wouldn’t be able to stop laughing. When I was older, one of my short stories finaled in a national contest for high school students, and at that point I thought maybe someday I’d actually be able to write for publication.

2. Have you written any other books that are not published? In addition to a novel and a novella that were published by an e-publisher, The Wild Rose Press, I have four complete manuscripts that are in need of serious editing, as well as several unfinished stories.

3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? Most of my writing is done at the computer or with paper and pen, but like many writers, I always carry a notebook in my bag so I can jot down ideas or sentences while I’m on the go. Depending on the circumstances, sometimes I’ll also type sentences or even whole paragraphs in a draft copy on my phone. In the end, of course, all of these random snippets will eventually have to be put into documents once I’m finally at my computer again.

4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? I prefer to be alone when I write and usually to have either silence or some soft music (but usually nothing with lyrics). My mind tends to jump around a lot, so that I can be working on one section of a manuscript, then suddenly a few sentences perfect for another section suddenly occur to me and I switch to that part. Obviously it’s a very disorganized way to work. Years ago, I read an article about the author Joyce Carol Oates. In it, her late husband said she once wrote a 25-page short story in one afternoon and it was published with no changes. That’s the kind of concentration and perfection that amazes me, and there’s no way I could ever come close to attaining it.

5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? My most recent publication, a contemporary, romantic-comedy novella titled “Adore Me,” was published in January 2016. It was part of the publishing company’s Candy Hearts series of short books that revolve around those colorful candy hearts that are ubiquitous every January and February to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Each novella takes a specific saying found on those candies and uses it to craft a story. My story is mainly meant to be a feel-good romance, but if there is a moral, then I think it would have to be the hero’s philosophy. When he was ten years old and suddenly lost his favorite workaholic uncle to a massive heart attack, that devastating loss taught him that (in his own words) “life’s short and happy’s better than stressed and dead.”

6. What is your favourite part of the story? I particularly enjoy Chapter Eight which begins with the hero and heroine angry at each other on Valentine’s Day and ends with their loving reconciliation as well as a solution to the heroine’s major business problem. 7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? A couple of reviewers mentioned that they loved the hero, so I think it would be fun to recreate with him some of the early dates he had with the heroine—a concert, a movie, dancing. But no sex since he really does belong to the heroine. Of course at one point the heroine’s aunt phones her, and she sounds like a rather irreverent woman who’d be a lot of fun. So it might be interesting to spend time with her and see where her exuberance leads us.

8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? Probably Tippi Turnbull, the owner of a confectionary business called “Tippi’s Treats.” Her company had been in operation for almost a decade, and although she behaves very sweetly toward Meredith (the heroine), Meredith still senses that Tippi considers her new cake-cookie-andmuffin business to be dangerous competition. 9. What do you read for pleasure? My school background was in government, international relations, and Russian studies, so I often enjoy political thrillers. Of course, considering the current political climate, I can’t say concentrating on politics is always that pleasurable. So I relax by turning off everything except my funny bone and happily switching to humorous writers like David Sedaris, Tom Bodett, and Merrill Markoe.

10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? In terms of plotting and characterization, probably Charles Dickens. No, I don’t have his prowess with a plot or his masterly skill at developing diverse characters, and never will. But the wealth of intricate plots and quirky characters he created are fascinating, and even though I’ll never be able to match his ability, it’s still nice being able to try. In terms of writing style, probably Jean Rhys and Daphne du Maurier. Again, I will never have their talent for lyrical language, but I still keep hoping and trying to improve.

11. What is your favourite book? Why? I don’t have a favorite book, but I do love some of Daphne du Maurier’s work because her writing is so vivid and elegant and her insights into human nature can go so deep. However, I also love the work of someone whose writing is the complete opposite of du Maurier’s—Jennifer Crusie. Her books are light and breezy (they’ve been compared to 1930s screwball comedies) and can often (at least in my opinion) be laugh-out-loud funny. 12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? I met Jason Greenfield, the founder and creative force behind One Million Project, several years ago on Facebook.

We exchanged a few messages over the months. Then one day he sent a message saying that one of the OMP writers couldn’t participate because of family difficulties and asking if I had a story I could contribute. When I heard the purpose of OMP, I knew it was a wonderful project, so it was a no-brainer that I’d be proud to be a part of it. Besides the romance stories that I usually write, I also had three nonromance short-short stories with a similar theme that I thought might be acceptable, so I submitted them, and Jay very generously accepted them. Now, just a couple of years later, I can’t believe how much OMP has grown. I sincerely believe that Jay and all those who are contributing their time and talent to perform the all-important jobs of organization, promotion and outreach are good enough to run a successful multinational corporation.

13. What do you do for living? I’m a researcher and writer, so depending on the assignment I can deal with any number of topics. 14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? As is true for virtually all of us, free time is rare and terribly valuable. There's always our work to do. Then family duties have to be taken care of (in my case, I help to look after an older relative). But when I can finally manage to get some time away from everything else, I enjoy doing pretty basic things— meeting friends for dinner, visiting museums (I especially like the Egyptian and Etruscan exhibits), and seeing plays or films. Oh, and grabbing a little more sleep. Definitely grabbing more sleep.

15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? I definitely hope to. I’d love to get those four finished manuscripts into publishable condition, finish the incomplete stories that are gathering dust on my hard drive, and write other kinds of stories that don’t deal primarily with romance. OMP has already given me the opportunity to do the latter, since the three related short-short stories I have in the first OMP anthology and the story that will be published in one of the upcoming OMP anthologies are definitely not romances.

Changes in the Weather Weather frames this Midwest America story; the tale begins as snow turns into a blizzard on a small Iowa farm, forcing an isolated pregnant woman to make a hurried decision. How does her decision affect her and her familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives? Glimpses into her heartbreak, tragedy, and survival, during the latter part of the twentieth century are written in three short sections. This is a novel in short-story form, and interpretation of meaning will be varied. The characters, however, have staying power.

1861 Alabama

The year is 1861. The beginning of a hot, humid summer in the forest of northern Alabama. A man and his son are building a homestead. Alabama has just seceded from the union. A stranger comes to visit. What will happen at this encounter? Copyright ÂŠ 2017 by OMP Magazine Publishing

Born in 1939 just south of Atlanta, Georgia, George A. McLendon waited for his dad and four uncles to return from the war. His dad and three uncles returned. The one lost was the navy fighter pilot. Despite that loss and maybe even partially because of it, since early childhood, McLendon wanted to fly. He enlisted in the navy, attended the United States Naval Academy and became a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force. He retired as an airline captain. The author and his wife have been together over forty eight years and live outside Las Vegas, Nevada. They raised six children and are great-grandparents. Having lived near a battle field from the American Civil War, and having dug for artifacts in High School, and having a great-grandfather who was a solder in that war, he became an historian of that war. His short story Encounter at Turkey Creek is his first of that period. His first novel is titled Papa's Gift.

Q&A George McLendon 1.What made you want to become a writer? That would be my granddaughter. When she was a child, I wrote some stories for her to read when she was older, to give her an understanding of life from the viewpoint of someone who had experienced a lot of it. Just before her wedding she asked about those stories, which had been in a box in the hall closet. She read them and said they should be in a book. I said they are just stories. She said Papa, what do you think a book is!

2. Have you written any other books that are not published? No. Just PAPAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GIFT, and the OMP contribution ENCOUNTER AT TURKEY CREEK, as a short story that may be expanded and published as an Historical novel. American history is interesting to me as my family roots reach back to late fifteenth century America.

3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? Computer, napkins, it all started on an old word processor. 4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? Basically, wherever the story starts showing up. Sometimes a character will not let me sleep without me giving it a voice. 5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? Yes.

6. What is your favourite part of the story? Always, the last scene. 7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? From “Encounter …”, it would be Davy. He is in an Historical novel. I know his future. I would teach him to survive his next four years and become a wise and practical leader. 8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? All those who promote war for their own gain. There were many.

9. What do you read for pleasure? History in all its forms. To me, life through the time line, is cause and effect. Even science fiction uses cause and effect to weave a tale. 10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? I’ve been reading for seventy-five years or so. That list would be long. I can sum it up by saying writers who were there, who experienced something that remains in their consciousness. If I said for example, Rick Newman and Don Shepperd. Would you know of their book – BURY US UPSIDE DOWN?

11. What is your favourite book? Why? many plots and twists reside in my mind. Sometimes the last read is my favourite until the next. There is a precious jewel somewhere in each book that remains, instructing the consciousness to be alert for the next adventure. I still remember the Historical novels of Kenneth Roberts, that I read in the 1950s. So, I must pass on a favourite. 12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? It's a good cause. I'm proud to be part of it.

13. What do you do for living? Retired aviator. 14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? Participating in and living life while it is available to me. 15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Now just where did I leave that muse this time? I’m sure it will show up!

Ian Barrett MacLogan was a fighter pilot and amateur adventurer with insatiable curiosity. He had studied under a Spiritual teacher known as a Spiritual Traveler. Ian gained personal experiences within the subtle universes many call their Heavens. He came to believe life itself to be a gift of love and if, while alive, one could be taught to experience these other dimensions, personal proof of Heaven and proof of one's own eternal consciousness could be realized. To ensure his experiences from being lost to his new grandchild, Ellie Marie, Ian wrote a manuscript portraying a future summer's visit by Ellie as a more mature young person. Ian (Papa) revealed through these stories the spiritual nature of man and man's relation to the cosmos. Fancy a modern novel with no villain to hiss. Now available on Amazon

Papa's Gift Publisher http://www.blackrosewriting.com/literary/papas-gift

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_11?url=searchalias%3Dstripbooks&fieldkeywords=papa%27s+gift+george+mclendon&sprefix=papa%27s+gift%2Caps%2C25 5&crid=1RVB8ZKPIMWC7

Calvin vows to build an army by turning humans on the brink of death, but Daphne doesn't agree that his plan will work. Why else has no other Abominate tried? When things go awry, Daphne has her own plan in place. But, will she have to live an eternity with the consequences? Or does she succumb to the consequences of her own actions? This story has been written for the OMP: Thiller anthology. This story contains violence, blood, and a curse word or two. Though, it's much tamer than some of the stuff I've been known to write.

Q&A

Soleil Daniels 1.What made you want to become a writer? I’d always enjoyed creating and making new worlds, but it wasn’t until I’d basically lost everything that I decided if life was going to be so difficult while doing everything the way others wanted me to do it, I might as well have life be difficult and do what makes me happy. So, I used some spare cash I had and went out to buy several notepads and a couple packs of pens. I’ve been writing ever since.

2. Have you written any other books that are not published? I have my main novel ‘Halfborn’ that I’ve yet to publish. It’s the first book of a series. I’ve been working on and off on editing it and writing the sequel ‘Wraith’ and prequel ‘Becoming’. The series is about vampires—four different subspecies of vampires with a new hybrid or two. Each sub-species has its own planned book: Halfborn, Wraith, Abominate, and Inborn. That’s all that’s planned for the series, at the moment.

I do have another novel that’s nearly completed titled ‘Impractical Encounter’. It’s a bit of a sappy, tragic, LGBT Romance, following a brother (Randy) and sister (Billie) and their journeys for happiness and love. There’s love, loss, a fling, and quite possibly a happy ending. I normally shy away from happy endings because they’re not realistic (says the person who prefers to write about vampires), but I feel the characters go through enough in the story that it’s only befitting for them to receive what they’ve earned.

3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? I love writing with a pen and paper. I feel it gives me a deeper connection to the characters. With that said, the convenience of using a computer sometimes outweighs my love for the feel of a pen in my hand. 4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? I crave peace, quiet, and solitude while writing. Unfortunately, that isn’t always achievable. Okay, it’s downright rarer than rare that it’s ever the case that I get my perfect writing conditions. So, I write where I can, when I can, and if I can concentrate enough to get down a coherent sentence.

As for music, I wish. I truly tried to write while listening to all kinds, but when it has words, I sing. If it’s instrumental or classical, well, I like to pretend to be a conductor, using my pen as a conductor’s baton. So, if I want to procrastinate, I put on music. 5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? Things aren’t always as they seem. So, take everything into account, make sure you look at things from every angle, or else you just may make the biggest mistake of your life. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? Hmmm . . . Either when Terry’s transition is complete and what follows, or when Daphne realizes she’d messed up bringing the Wraiths into the situation.

7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? The red-haired Wraith from the end, Damien. I’d offer him a snack. 8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? Probably, Terry. Before and after his transition to a Newling Abominate. 9. What do you read for pleasure? Depends on my mood, but as long as it’s able to grab my attention, I’ll read just about anything.

10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? Christopher Golden, Piers Anthony, Laurel K Hamilton. Their writing inspires me more so than my work. Maybe that’s one in the same, though. 11. What is your favourite book? Why? I can’t think of the exact one, but it’s from the Shadow Saga by Christopher Golden. There’s a part with fangs and a . . . Well, it’s erotic and awesome. Now, I gotta go dig out my books and read them again. The entire series is great; there’s vampires and magic. Just read them if you get the chance.

12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? Though, I wasn’t exactly taught to do so, if you can do something good or help someone, do it. If you can use your talent and passion to do something good, something worthwhile, you do it. Well, you should, and I try to live by that. When I was given the opportunity to help out, I didn’t even give it a second thought. 13. What do you do for living? Currently, I’m unemployed. There’s not much for work where I live, and I don’t have a car of my own to drive the distance to get work where it’s more abundant. We get by, though. My partner works as a medical supplies delivery driver and gets okay pay.

For the most part, I help take care of my autistic nephew, help around the house, and take my mom to various appointments, and I write when I can. 14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? I love to go to the beach, but that doesn’t happen all that often. I like to garden and fish; those happen less frequently anymore. Going out to a nice quiet spot in the woods, just sitting and soaking in nature is pretty great. Also, I dabble in photography.

15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? I can’t ever see a time when I don’t plan on writing being a part of my life. I have depression, ranging at times from mild to severe, and if it weren’t for writing, I can’t say I’d be here today. Writing, to me, is like breathing. It’s something I have to do to survive. Sometimes, when I feel myself drowning, I use poetry as a life preserver. Yes, I write poetry, too. I like to keep myself wellrounded when it comes to my writing.

A routine day takes a detour when an airliner is hijacked. And there's not enough fuel to get there....

Q&A

Paul Glanville 1.What made you want to become a writer? When I started writing. Scenes pop onto my head and won’t leave until I exorcise them by writing them. 2. Have you written any other books that are not published? Yes. 3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? Computer, for sure.

4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? Yes. And Yes. 5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? This story does not, or, rather, if you sense a moral or a lesson, it’s unintentional. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? So far, it’s how the Captain has a relatively dull job.

7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? The Captain, and we’d fly.

10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? Seriously, Cook Neilson and Gordon Jennings of (the now defunct) Cycle Magazine.

8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? Seriously? The hijackers!

11. What is your favourite book? Why? Hard to pick just one, but, in terms of ‘number of times read,’ I suppose Robert Heinlein’s ‘Friday,’ but his ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,’ and Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ are runners-up. Why? Friday is a bold, strong, intelligent woman, negotiating a world that is increasingly chaotic. Against the backdrop of a war of independence, Moon poses the question whether or not a machine can be genuinely alive (and suggests that it’s possible). And Dune. What an epic tale.

9. What do you read for pleasure? I rarely read for pleasure, but when I do it ranges from history, to Sci-Fi.

12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? I didn’t ‘decide’ to participate in this project in the sense of an overt choice. I decided to do something else that, later, I learned was part of this project’s fundraising. After learning more of what I’d gotten myself into, I decided to stay on. It's a good cause and I'm happy to be part of it.

14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? Flying an A320 in my flight simulator. 15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Specific plans? No, but I know I’m gonna.

13. What do you do for living? I design, program, and debug Embedded Systems. Clear as mud? OK, An embedded system is a device which has a computer in it, but where the device is not a computer. For instance, a microwave oven; it knows how to burn your popcorn with a single press of a button because of the embedded system. Embedded systems are everywhere. Guess how your TV knows how to use the Internet to get (and display) content from Netflix? Copyright © 2017 by OMP Magazine Publishing

Sue Baron isn't a full-time writer but keeps wishing she

could quit her day job. She’s been scribbling down stories since she was a small child, and she’s glad the evidence of those stories no longer exists. After reading Anne Rice’s _Interview With The Vampire_, she found her niche. She’s been obsessed with vampires and other immortals ever since. When she’s not writing about her own Children of the Night, she reads all she can get her hands on about these and other supernatural creatures. Her OMP contribution, "Effing Dave," doesn’t include bloodsuckers but is a humorous take on how immortals would react to one of their own being in the public eye. The One Million Project will be her first time being published. You can check out Sue’s other works on Wattpad at @suebaron.

Q&A

Sue Baron 1.What made you want to become a writer? I have dabbled with writing since I was younger. There were ideas in my head so I decided to write them down. I didn’t really get serious about it until a year or so ago when I learned about Amazon’s WriteOn site. 2. Have you written any other books that are not published? Yes. I have a vampire novella, Vanilla Blood, on Wattpad. I’m seriously considering taking the leap and publishing it though.

3. What is your writing style? Pen, type writer, or computer, etc.? Computer and pen. I find when I can’t get the creative juices flowing while at the computer, putting pen to paper helps. Pen is also more portable—I carry a notebook with me wherever I go in case I get a chance to write. Everything ends up on the computer eventually though. 4. Do you write alone or in public? With or without music? I mainly write alone unless I get an off chance at work. I usually do it without music, but if my boyfriend’s home, the TV is most likely on in the other room.

5.Does your story have a lesson? a moral? There’s no moral or lesson in my story. It’s just a humorous short tale. 6. What is your favourite part of the story? The end is my favorite. I flexed my funny bone writing this one, and the last line gives me a laugh! 7. If you could spend time with one character from your story, who would it be, and what would you do with them? Dave. He’s a character that does his own thing despite the conventions of his people.We’d probably end up at some soiree, trying to make the front page of the newspaper!

8. What character in your story are you least likely to get along with? Ace. He’s a buzzkill and doesn’t come off as a fun, relaxed individual, though he feels what he does is right. 9. What do you read for pleasure? Just about anything! As long as a book’s description catches my attention, I’ll give it a read. 10. Who are the authors/artists who inspire your work? Anne Rice greatly inspired me in my teens. She’s probably the reason I got into writing my vampire stories. I also greatly admire Terry Pratchett, Diana Gabaldon, and J.K. Rowling.

As far as other artists, Nine Inch Nails, Orgy, and Maynard James Keenan (Puscifer, Tool, and A Perfect Circle) have influenced a certain amount of my writing. There’s something about the lyrics of those musicians that gets imagery and ideas going for me.

13. What do you do for living? I’m a homemaker’s aide for the elderly.

11. What is your favourite book? Why? I don’t think I have a single favorite book. There are, however, a lot of books I return to over and over again.

15. Do you have any plans to continue writing in future? Absolutely! I’m hoping to get the courage to submit to publishers or self-publish.

14. What are your favourite things to do when you aren’t writing? I like to read, sew, workout, and hunt.

12. Why did you decide to participate in the One Million Project? It gives me the opportunity to share my writing with others while raising money for good causes. I’m proud to have a story in the fantasy/sci-fi anthology and to be editing the thriller/suspense anthology. Copyright © 2017 by OMP Magazine Publishing

Timeless Tales by Thushara Wijayratna I think of time as a mistress with many moods. At times she is a river that flows by, caressing your dipped toes as you idly watch, procrastinating or lost in a summer reprieve. Then she confronts you with a vicious intensity, wraps you in a red hot wind and carries you amid impotent protest. In a historical context, Leon Trotsky compared time to a harsh schoolteacher, who teaches the oppressed through their bitter experience. And yet… time is not the same from place to place, as I learnt in my sojourns around the world.

Permit me to tell you three tales, spun perhaps when a hyacinth summer stroked my fancy with its languorous humid mist. I hail from Sri Lanka where time is as elastic as a rubber band. We Sri Lankans play with it with the laziness showered on us by the sun that shines daily over a whitehot sky. Invitation to a family gathering at 5 pm, well they’d be lucky if anybody showed up by 7. Or maybe not, as much of the time, the host anticipates the lateness of the guests and only starts cooking around 6. “So much traffic ne meya”, a favourite excuse, which I have often heard uttered by aunts and my mother’s friends. Yes, clearly everyone is late, including the bus drivers, the trains and the politicians who clog the potholed roads with their mile long entourage.

So when I left Sri Lanka for the Caribbean, I’d about had it. I mean here I was, freshly minted graduate, eager to be thrust into the capitalist machine that forgave none of these wayward ways. Down with the laziness! Productivity! Efficiency! – the moneyed winds rasped their tuneless song in my naive ears. But on the idyllic island of Barbados, what was I to find. Behold then, fast forward to me in a battered car (my very first) hauling the laundry to the cleaner. Now picture this. One lane road. Two big men talking. One in a car that is not moving. The other, who minutes (or perhaps hours) before has been trimming a tiny hedge with a pair of enormous cleavers.

These two men are laughing and talking in front of me, and I sit behind the wheel tap dancing that out of tune money song. A minute goes by and I fidget and roll the wheels ever so slightly. The conversation goes on, as amiable as ever. The hedge trimmer slams his free hand on the roof of the car at a particularly ribald joke, if I were to guess, and he turns towards me. That may well be the first time he saw the Suzuki. I can’t be sure. I smile widely and wait. He goes right back to the conversation and this goes on for another minute. My patience is running thin so I gently lean on the horn. “Beep”, the sound is apologetic in the Caribbean, they must fix the mechanics to take out the angry blaring, or when the cars are unloaded in Colombo, the dust and sand must be jamming the sweet music.

The big man stops talking and looks at me for longer than a second. He seems puzzled but as he saunters toward me, with the machete swinging, I must admit some irrational prejudiced fear lays its icy fingers on me… I try to put on my most charming smile. He drops low outside my window and places a knotted hand on the rolled down window. A wrist as big as my bicep. “What’s the hurry, mon?” , that sing-song voice that carries with it all the pleasures that time can buy… Here was a man outside the iron logic of the frenzied world making yet another idiotic appliance to be outdated and trashed in six months. A man who had mastered time, I fear.

All these thoughts race through my brain during my last hour of life, I remember playing for hours on a swing tied to a jackfruit tree at my grand father’s house when I was yet a curious boy… “Oh no hurry, none at all my man.” There’s something so pathetic about my forced laugh, he picks it up and starts laughing with me. “You Injun?” “Where you goin?” Suddenly full of questions. I’m afraid to say where I’m from as a lot of people don’t know that pearl of the Indian ocean. After a while, he waves me on, and his friend passes me with a cursory nod and I race my way out of there, shrieking tires and shuddering pistons.

So in this idle land of timeless joy, the locals seemed to have mastered time in a very non-Sri Lankan style. In the Caribbean,no one would be late for a birthday, only by the languid anticipation of the occasional tyrant sword wielding blocker of roads. Indeed I remember all the Bajans knew what 5:00 was – time to leave work. I used to play football with a bunch of them, and often times they would come around and stand at my cubicle around 5 to remind me that time was indeed of the essence. And their dancing with that ball on the field was another timeless treat. Nowhere have I seen a people with such stamina, that they made such elegant work on the rutted ground overlooking the beach.

As good as it was, there came a time when the moneyed bells of the stock exchange from up north called me – darn near hollered at me. There was a grand panic being whipped up about the imminent collapse of civilisation due to the nuclear codes “00” replacing the benign “99” – yes that was the year 1999 and boy, were we software programmers in demand! So I came to the US, starry-eyed, fearless and a little awed, as must have been many that came before me, and undoubtedly the many that would come after… I had a job working for Microsoft and Danielle from human resources – bless her heart – hooked me up with a Microsoftie from Sri Lanka, let’s call him Anura.

Anura had this artist’s loft for an apartment with a smattering of clay and paint. He took me up to this place by the wharf where the delicacy was oysters. I believe that was my first time sucking down these gentle creatures I later learnt had been fully alive! I wasn’t quite sure what the fuss was, as I can’t say I enjoyed them, but at the least, the horror of my mistake would dawn on me later, gauzed over with the forgiving haze of time.

Well, I met Anura on my last day there and I had to pick up all those photos I had taken of the beautiful Northwest. I didn’t realise the shop was closed on Sunday when I was hoping to pick up the photos. Now, I did not have a credit card and Anura was coordinating over the phone with the lab to have someone leave my photos outside. Now as he was negotiating the deal, he went: “Could you hold please, I have a call on the other line.”’

Remember those days when we didn’t carry smartphones around and actually had devices whose sole purpose in life was to take pictures? And I mean quite literally as in, if you had to see the pictures you took, you dropped off what is known as a “reel” at a lab, and they would develop those negatives into beautiful hard copies.

Anura had a phone with multiple lines… A novel concept. I watched awed as he juggled the two calls. I learnt that his friends were driving down to meet him and Anura was to be outside his apartment building at 4:05.

Again, I was awestruck by the precise nature of this information. Here was an unexpected delay introduced into this perfectly planned day, and my new friend rose to the occasion admirably. He paid, took down a confirmation number, told his friends that he will be down by 4:06, hung up, thanked me for visiting with him and propelled me down the stairs at a gallop. I waved him to the car, and his friends did not quite greet me. They seemed peeved at having to wait. “Sorry mate, we have to pick up two more friends and they don’t let you idle out here.”

What a city! I thought, marvelling at what this tyrannical clockwork machine asked of its citizenry. As the Saturn staggered out to the street with a squeal, I noticed the “No Stopping” the sign outside the arched entrance. Three cultures, and three varying notions of time. Each having the power to shape your relationships and stamp its force over your actions.

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One Million Project Publishing Team ompmagazine@gmail.com