Great News For Luca Veste

Luca Veste, crime writer based out of England, shared some exciting news. He has signed a 2 book deal with Harper Collins imprint Avon.

Details of Luca's good, and well-deserved fortune can be found HERE

Luca is also the publisher / editor of the short story crime collections OFF THE RECORD I and OFF THE RECORD II, which can be found HERE Best of luck and success to Luca!

Killing Pandemic & Off The Record II

Talented author and good guy, Kevin Michaels contacted me a couple weeks ago asking if I would be interested in being "tagged" by him as the next author to follow him on the Killing Pandemic blog. I checked out the site, very cool, and accepted, although I was very apprehensive because I had not written anything in about 6 months since my dad got sick. So, I took a week or so to come up with some ideas and eventually started writing it. It was not easy, but I chipped away at it and just sent it in (760 hard earned words)

The story is called "The Sex Machine" and not sure when it will be on the site, but of course I am very nervous about what readers will think. I will say it was fun to write.

So, you can check out the Killing Pandemic site HERE. It's well worth a look and Kevin M's story The Edge Of The Road is currently featured.

A couple months ago Luca Veste contacted me, asking if Iwanted to be part of the OFF THE RECORD sequel he is putting together. My story "Redemption Song" is in OTR-1. This time the theme is movie titles, rather than song titles.

I chose "Boogie Nights" as my title, a movie I love. Due date for submissions is AUG 31, and I should have it done before that. It has a 2,500 word count limit, so that is the arena I like to write in for short stories, although 3,500 really is ideal.

To find out all the deets about OTR-2 check out Luca's post HERE

OFF THE RECORD

Tough day at work yesterday ( thanks to staying up too late reading The Cold Cold Ground ) followed by a late Board of Directors meeting for the youth lacrosse league I'm invloved with, but when I arrived home, my print copy of OFF THE RECORD was waiting for me. Luca Veste did a great job with this! If you are not familiar with OTR, it is 38 crime stories based on "classic" song titles, written my 38 UK and US writers.  What really mattters though is, every single penny ( or pence ), is going to children's literacy programs in the US & UK.

If you feel so inclined to support this cause, you can take a look, and perhaps get yourself an electronic or print version:

Ebook at Amazon US HERE...Amazon UK HERE or in print at Lulu HERE

A huge thanks to Luca Veste for putting this all together. He hosts a great site HERE and you can check out his Ebook publishing venture, Guilty Conscience Publishing HERE. 

Short Stories: 3 Good Ones

Read three quality short stories today while perusing the blogs I follow. Each one brings something different to the table: subject matter, style, emotion, suspense, and clever plot twists. I love the diversity between these tales and it is a great example of various techniques authors use to build and maintain tension / reader interest. So, have look and if you feel compelled, leave a comment for the authors and \ or blog hosts.

- Luca Veste's "Time" is over at Thrillers,Killers n Chillers HERE.

- Fiona Johnson's "Saying Goodbye" is at the Flash Fiction Offensive HERE

-Surya Sunder Dey's "A Walk on the Golf Course" is over at the "Guilty Conscience" blog HERE