Tag Archives: short story anthology

NEW BOOK RELEASE: “The Wand that Rocks the Cradle: Magical Stories of Family”

09 Monday Sep 2019

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At last, after many long months of work and the fantastic contributions from our authors, The Wand that Rocks the Cradle: Magical Stories of Family is live on Amazon! Available in both Kindle and paperback formats for your reading pleasure. And if you’re enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, it’s included in your subscription!

This anthology celebrates the exhilarating wonders and hidden depths of family, as only fantasy can do. Featuring celebrated and award-winning authors, these stories will make you laugh, cry, and wish for more. Check it out, along with other anthologies from Lagrange Books!

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Only a Few Hours Left for “The Wand that Rocks the Cradle”!

28 Tuesday May 2019

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The Kickstarter campaign for The Wand that Rocks the Cradle is about to end, and we have blown past our goal with room to spare. I can’t wait to get to work publishing these great stories!

If you were thinking of backing this anthology, now is your last chance. See you there…

FIRST LOOK: “Legacy” by Joanna Hoyt

14 Tuesday May 2019

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Thanks again for supporting The Wand that Rocks the Cradle! Today, our excerpt is from the beginning of “Legacy,” by Joanna Hoyt. Enjoy!

Did you know that for only $5 more, you can receive a special, Kickstarter-exclusive bundle of five more excellent short stories? Tomorrow, we’ll start posting First Look excerpts of the bonus stories so you can get a taste of what could be yours…

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May 20, 1954: California

David straightened up carefully. For a moment he let himself feel the pain in his spine and hips, the sweat sliding down his face and his back. Then he let those go and focused on Daniel, one row behind him, bent over the melon plants, his short-handled hoe moving quickly, rhythmically.

Daniel looked over as though he’d felt his father’s glance like a touch; straightened a little too fast, winced, smiled. Not the quick eager way he’d smiled when David said he was old enough to come and work. This was steadier, a little rueful and more than a little proud. David smiled back and bent to work again before Gord the crew boss could come over and shout at either of them.

He would have liked to offer his son some easier way of being a man, work that wouldn’t be hell on his joints, work that would let him marry a sweetheart and go home to her every night instead of leaving for months at a time. But that wasn’t what he had to give. And maybe, after all, there was no easy way.

(Read more…)

FIRST LOOK: “She That Was So Proud and Wild,” by Misha Burnett

12 Sunday May 2019

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Thanks for following The Wand that Rocks the Cradle! Today’s excerpt is from a story by Misha Burnett, in which a family clinging to its old ways and old magic confronts a prodigal son who wants to live his own life. Enjoy!

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At the old fuel station off the highway Jenni went in to get some snacks for the road.

Marc stayed with the truck and had the attendant fill the two jerry cans he kept in the back as well as the truck’s tank.

“Headed up country?” the attendant asked, using an expression Marc hadn’t heard in years.

Marc nodded. “I’ve got folk in Carne Shant.”

“Not as bad as it used to be,” the attendant observed. “There’s stations up in the delves now.”

“I’d rather be prepared,” Marc said. “Better to spend wisdom than earn it.”

The attendant grinned at that. “Old church?” he asked.

Marc shook his head. “Not anymore.”

Jenni came back with warm fudge wrapped in waxed paper and bottles of ginger soda.

Marc paid the attendant as Jenni climbed in, then waved as he drove off.

“Friendly people,” Jenni said.

“They can be,” Marc observed.

“Funny thing…” Jenni began, giving Marc a sidelong glance, “There was a sign at the register about not taking coins unless they’re rolled. The last place we stopped had the same sign. What’s that all about?”

“Old church,” Marc said absently. “They don’t use paper money.”

(Read more…)

FIRST LOOK: “Bellwethers Know Best,” by Marion Deeds

09 Thursday May 2019

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Thanks for supporting The Wand that Rocks the Cradle! For our next exclusive story excerpt, we have the beginning of “Bellwethers Know Best,” which discusses the trials and tribulations of raising a young, powerful daughter when all the rest of the family want to get their two cents in. Enjoy!

 

Eulalie skipped down the hall, an amulet wrapped around her head to hold a cataract of lacy blue silk in place. Bracelets and tripled strands of beads ringed her arms. “Mom, I’m going out to play!”

Eden stood before the front door, one hand outstretched. “The Bracer of Erishkigal, please.”

Eulalie rolled her eyes and slipped a red-and-black cuff off her wrist. As she held it out, a small book slid out from underneath the satiny stretch of lime green scarf she wore as a chiton and plopped onto the floor.

“And the grimoire,” said Eden.

Eulalie handed it to her.

“And the Orb of Chios, while we’re at it.”

Pouting, Eulalie handed them over. “Grandma says she doesn’t know how she raised such a killjoy,” she said.

“Tell your grandmother that she’s not helping.”

(Read more…)

The Wand that Rocks the Cradle: Interview with Elana Gomel

08 Wednesday May 2019

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Thanks for supporting The Wand that Rocks the Cradle! Today’s interview is with author Elana Gomel, who contributed the short story “The Dragon Detector.” Enjoy!

 

What attracted you to writing?

When I was five or six years old, I had an incredibly vivid dream about an infinite house. The house went up and down forever and if you fell off a balcony, you’d fly for an eternity. The dream was so compelling that for a while I was sure I was actually living in this house and my everyday life was a dream. Now the infinite house exists in my award-winning story “In the Moment”. I can share my dream with a multitude of people. This is what writing is for me: creating shared worlds out of private imagination.

If you had to tell someone, “If you like this person’s stories, you would like mine too,” who would you pick?

Before I was a writer, I was a reader; and since I am also an academic, writing about other people’s books, I have quite a long list of personal favorites and role models. I love generic hybrids: sci-fi and horror; mystery and fantasy. I appreciate vivid imagination and unsettling details. So if you like Clive Barker, China Mieville, Tim Lebbon and Tony Ballantyne, you might like my writing. My two recent novels, The Cryptids and The Hungry Ones have been compared to Barker and Mieville respectively.

(Read more…)

FIRST LOOK: “Dead in First Grade,” by P.L. Sundeson

07 Tuesday May 2019

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Thanks for supporting The Wand that Rocks the Cradle! Today you’re in for a treat: the first of our story excerpts! You’ll be happy to know that the stories are nearly finished with the first round of edits, which let’s us raise the curtain just a little bit. As the days go by, we are going to be periodically posting excerpts from the stories in the anthology to give you a little taste of the full package. Our first excerpt is the beginning of the short story “Dead in First Grade,” by P.L. Sundeson. Enjoy!

 

As an only child who did not play with many other children, Emma Peters had no one to tell her what school was or should be like. She was sure, though, that your teacher was not supposed to be dead.

* * *

Emma knew the days of the week, and she knew Thursday was a Work Day.  So she was startled to see Daddy, in his dark gray suit and tie as always, waiting outside their gate that cool September morning.  She threw herself down the steps and hugged him around his waist. “Daddy!  I’m glad you came.  Mommy said you had work.”

Daddy stroked her head.  “I couldn’t let my little girl go to her first day of school without me.”

(Read more…)

FREE Anthology Download Today!

02 Thursday May 2019

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We’re currently in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign for my latest fiction anthology, The Wand that Rocks the Cradle: Magical Stories of Family. If you haven’t checked out our campaign page yet, I strongly recommend it; we have an author interview and an essay from another author posted already, with more to come in the weeks ahead.

But while that’s going on, you can read my first anthology—because for the next three days only, it’s available for free!

My first anthology, The Odds Are Against Us, is a collection of military fiction published by Liberty Island Media. The fine folks at LI told me that The Odds Are Against Us is having a special promotion today through Saturday. For a limited time, the Kindle edition is FREE for download!

So tell all your friends! And all I ask is that if you like the book, please leave a reader review on Amazon to let the world know what you thought of it. As you know, reviews are an important part of a book’s success.

The Wand that Rocks the Cradle—Author Insights from Misha Burnett

01 Wednesday May 2019

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Thanks for visiting the campaign for The Wand that Rocks the Cradle: Magical Stories of Family! Today, we’re presenting author Misha Burnett, who will introduce you to his fantasy setting, Dracoheim. Enjoy!

Forget it, Jake, it’s Dracoheim

The publication of The Wand That Rocks The Cradle will include my third story (and fourth, for those of you pledging at the Bonus Stories level!) set in the city of Dracoheim, and I’d like to take a moment to talk about the city and how it came to be.

One thing that it is easy for modern readers of fantasy classics to overlook is that while the settings seem exotic and strange to readers born in the late 20th Century, the writers of those stories chose those settings because they were mundane and prosaic to the readers of the time.

Tolkien wrote about the Shire because that’s where he grew up. The name of Bilbo’s home, Bag End, was taken from the name of his aunt’s house in Africa. L. Frank Baum put a magical scarecrow in The Wizard Of Oz because scarecrows were such ordinary objects for his readers, something that children of his era would routinely pass by on their walk home from school. C. S. Lewis put Narnia in a wardrobe because he had one in his bedroom growing up…

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The Wand that Rocks the Cradle—Author Interview with Joanna Hoyt

29 Monday Apr 2019

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Thanks for checking out The Wand that Rocks the Cradle! Periodically, we will be publishing author interviews or essays to help you get to know them better. Today, we are joined by author Joanna Hoyt, who contributed the short story “Legacy.'”

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If you had to tell someone, “If you like this person’s stories, you would like mine too,” who would you pick?

That’s a hard question.  I think my short stories share some common features with the writings of Elizabeth Goudge, Edith Pargeter, and Ursula Le Guin…but when I say this, a rather loud voice in the back of my mind says “Well! Giving ourselves airs, aren’t we?” and a quieter voice suggests that Le Guin and Goudge might not have approved of each other, though I am not at all sure they might not have liked each other.  But if someone liked all three of those authors, I think they’d find something to like in my stories as well.

What attracted you to writing?

The same thing that attracted me to breathing, I think.  I craved stories as far back as I can remember—I wanted to hear them, read them, tell them. I wrote my first story when I was three. After illustrating the first page I realized I had completely misunderstood my main character…

(Read more…)