Category Archives: Short Stories

ABOUT PERSEVERANCE

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While I was scanning through my TBR list on my Kindle for something that would inspire me in my writing I came across Lady By The River – Stories of Perseverance, coedited by Yvette Prior. 

I am a believer in chance and fate so it brought a smile to my heart when one of the essays was about writing and perseverance. Just what I needed to read.

Mabel Kwong’s: How I Found the Confidence to Chase My Passion and Made It A Reality is filled with heart warming advice about the struggles of being a writer.

An Australian Chinese-Malaysian writer Mabel Kwong is fascinated by issues such as multiculturalism, racism, stereotypes and identity issues. Her difficulties with her writing range from rejections and lack of support from a family where

artsy jobs are deemed riskier career choices and so are often frowned upon.

Mabel Kwong fought these obstacles.

When we push on and keep trying, we feel the flame of inspiration within us amidst growing confidence.

When we muster the courage and try our hand at what we are passionate about, we ignite the spark within us to put ourselves and our voice out there.

Following this story I was delighted to discover that it was written by Ana Linden, a fellow blogger whose writing and photography I greatly admire. I have read and enjoyed every one of her books. Her style of writing is raw and she is fearless in exposing her heart. This is especially true in her essay titled Present in the Past.

Ana Linden’s story is why for years she avoided going back to her childhood home and finally having the courage to confront the power of her past.  

 I had felt the effects of her (grandmother’s) manipulative, selfish and cruel nature at a time when I desperately wanted to believe nothing of that was real, because I loved her…You never get over certain things, but you learn to live with them, to control what they do to you.

When at 19 she finally left her home town, (F)uelled not by hopes and dreams of idealistic youth, I left it driven by anger and hatred.

Ana Linden’s writing is honest and bold at its core as she minutely describes her pain and mistreatment. She pushes on to simply survive my family and not become like them.

To quote Yvette Prior in her introduction to Ana Linden:

Ana processed her past with us, showing us how she turned pain and mistreatment into motivation, to then later dispense grace from a place of strength. 

The collection includes ten other moving stories where patience and friendship, determination, learning to embrace challenges, coping strategies and sharing all are part of the fabric of perseverance. In her conclusion of this collection and study on perseverance, Yvette Prior writes:

It takes an effort to endure, but it can pay off with an enriched you, and with an inspiring story to tell later.

Sally Cronin: Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries

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Life is Like A Bowl of Cherries, Sally Cronin’s latest book, displays “the complexities of life, love, and loss.” 

Composed of a series of well written short stories, poems and photos, the book begins on a humorous and ironical note on how a woman’s weight loss is cyber controlled – be careful what you put on the internet, folks.

 In keeping with her technology theme, the author shifts course in a sweet, touching story about Jenny – a lonely divorcee who finds a family across the globe thanks to DNA testing.

Sally Cronin’s characters are ordinary people doing ordinary things but in an exquisite way. Take for example, Molly who is interested in horticulture where “not everything you plan will turn out the way you expect.” Alice, a florist who developed “a flare for elaborate floral displays.”  Spunky Elsie Windsor, 93 out on a date with a teenager. Women who fight for their rights such is the case of a woman in the midst of a marriage filled with abuse, patriarchal control and violence.

Romance has many twist and turns. Romantic love can be tragic as Elaine and Tom learn the truth about how their parents kept them apart.

The characters in Sally Cronin’s stories reflect real people. Kind people. Charitable women. Women with big hearts. Courageous women. Loving husbands. Generous women who help a young homeless young man with his own story to share about hunger.

This is a very positive book where love, courage and charity are the winners.

A book to lighten us as we go through these dark days.

The book is also sprinkled with poetry. Here’s one I chose because it’s shaped as a Christmas tree and well, ‘tis the Season. 

Two Hearts

When

You meet

The someone

Who sparks a flame

In your heart and mind

Passion is ignited.

Even when the years have passed

The rapport that has developed,

Energized with a sense of humour,

Binds your two hearts together forever

Visit Sally Cronin’s Blog Magazine for some Christmas cheer

Janet Gogerty: At The Seaside Nobody Hears You Scream

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janet-gogerty At The Seaside Nobody Hears You Scream

 

Toby Channing, a young psychologist, is on a mission. His girlfriend Anna has gone missing. The problem is that he was the last person to see her alive and so her family (along with others) suspect him of murdering her. Did he or didn’t he?

In an attempt to find her, he uses his camping van and poses as a private investigator specializing in missing persons. As he tours around the many different areas he has gone with Anna, a slew of different characters approach him with their own cases of missing persons (one being even a robot). As Toby solves these cases his search for Anna intensifies.

Janet Gogerty  takes us into Toby’s head – his fears, his loneliness, his unpleasant relationship with Anna’s parents – especially her father who wants nothing to do with Toby as he suspects him of murdering his daughter, his relationship with his parents (rather warm) and his pregnant sister. The novel is a mixture of domestic gambol and a complex solving of finding Anna, the love of his life. It is a mystery full of suspense, romance and a study of ordinary people desiring to live a more satisfying life.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like being a private detective, Janet Gogerty’s Toby Channing the Camper Van Detective, through his various cases, illustrates that the job is not all about solving murder cases. In fact, not all missing cases, as is pointed out in this novel, are about crime. But Anna’s case is.

 

Ana Linden: Frames

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Ana Linden Frames

 

I’ve always liked Ana Linden’s books. She’s very good at getting inside her characters’ heads.

Frames consists of four short character driven stories. These are not ordinary characters and through their flaws Ana Linden gives us insight into relationships and human nature.

The subjects of her stories range from the damaged educational system, the cruelty of abuse, loneliness, losers and guilt.

Sometimes you just need to feel a bad day for what it is. Unpleasant. Unexplicable. Normal.

In the opening story, Choices, two strangers meet on a plane. One is planning a vacation while the other has been hired to follow her. It is a fresh twist to the “strangers on a train” theme, filled with its high dosage of suspense and an intriguing love story in a noir atmosphere.
The second story, titled Frames, is about two retired teachers, married to each other and disillusioned with the educational system and marriage. As the story progresses each character individually and separately finds meaning in his/her life and a closer connection to each other. It is a story filled with empathy, kindness and hope. Life is not all doom and gloom. There are treasures to be recognized.
Drive, the third story in the collection presents the sad, long term effects of abuse and the power of guilt. In this story, Ana Linden makes us see child abuse from the opposite angle where it is the mother who is the abuser and the father who silently stands by. The secret the son shares with his father is both touching and sad and as the young boy becomes adult we see how his abuse affects his relationships with women until he meets a woman who is worse battered than himself.

Read a sample of Drive here.

The last story Trespasser is also about abuse and once again here we have the woman abusing her boyfriend – both need each other in their twisted ways. Ana Linden presents a very in depth description of both characters and their inner workings, the abuser making the argument why they are not right for each other while the abused seems unable to let go. This is a good story for anyone interested in the dynamics between a dysfunctional couple and why someone stays in an abusive relationship.

Linden’s writing is not ordinary. She is unafraid to show the rawness of human nature in a unique literary voice. She is an artist using words as her medium. It is reflective writing.  The stories in Frames are the kind that you want to savor and allow the beauty of the writing sink in. There is no sermonizing in these stories and we understand what is not being said. This makes for quite satisfying reading.

 

 

Sally Cronin: Life’s Rich Tapestry – Woven in words.

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Sally Cronin Tapestry

 

I am the type of person that needs to read something before going to sleep, as many people I know do. I had started reading a bestseller (a real bestseller not one that you get powerful corporations to buy 500 copies of your book) from a well know author whom I will not name. The book bored me and so I reached for my iPad to see what I had on my Kindle. There was Sally Cronin’s book which I had downloaded with the intention of reading it on a long flight I am taking in mid-January.

I started reading it and really got into it. In fact, it is the type of book that I will re-read on the plane because this is writing that is rich in thought with too much to absorb in one reading.

Her book is divided into sections: The Seasons of the Year, All Things human, Fairies and other Folk, The Natural World, Remembrance, Celebrating Pets, Random Thoughts, 99 Words in a Flash, Short Stories, The Superiority of Cats, Speculative Fiction, And Last but not least…

I downloaded the book both on my Kindle and on my iPad. I found the iPad experience much more pleasant because the beautiful illustrations were in color, bringing out the richness of the text. One such striking illustration, by Sally, is of a peacock in its glorious and proud colors. Also,  because the screen is larger, I appreciated much more the visual shapes of her poetry.

These are magical, enchanting and touching stories where the good always win. They are uplifting stories though nonetheless profound and always about love in its many forms.

And I mustn’t forget that there are stories about dogs.  A mutt protecting his master from thugs; an old dog in a residence for the elderly showing how love can make one feel young again and a mistreated dog finds kindness in a half-starved young man.

There’s so much in this book that it is impossible to do it justice in a single post. You have to read it and re-read. Its title suits it perfectly: Life’s Rich Tapestry.

For more on Sally Cronin  

 

Ana Linden: Albatross

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albatross

In her collection of stories Ana Linden refuses to have her characters see through rose colored glasses or have happily ever after futures.

Don’t expect extraordinary individuals, always able to make the world a better place, when they can hardly save themselves. This world is not one of untainted, selfless, righteous spiritual leaders either, just as it is not one devoid of violence, crime, pain or punishment.
https://analindenblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/15/albatross-the-big-day/

In Albatross, the opening story, Linden gives us an honest perspective of husband and wife regarding the staleness of their marriage.

Then there is the single woman’s paranoia and fears that accompany what it’s like to live alone after being robbed.

And the story about the affair. “The moment we met, we knew the week spent together would be one of those times so essentially shallow, that it can have nothing less than a profound effect on both of us.”

Ana Linden has the ability to surprise and at times shock. Her characters are often “running away from someone, something or running to catch them, him, whoever.”

Running away from memories and the past, Ana Linden’s stories challenge us to dig deeper where safety lies. Safety and home are recurring themes in these stories. In Freedom her character builds herself a home with an inheritance: It’s so fulfilling to have an endpoint in sight, after all this time.”

A second layer to these stories has to do with self-awareness. Not the fluffy kind but an honest awareness of the fear of losing one’s identity by getting too close. The kind that brings you to the scary heart of emotions and thoughts, of guilt and doubt. The kind that makes you feel uneasy and provides insightful (sometimes horrific) snippets of what goes on behind closed doors and minds.

Ana Linden writes with a certain innocence, breaks the rules and is at times obscure and experimental. Like her nameless characters she is unconventional in her writing. A writers’ writer, one might say.

Click here for an excerpt of Albatross.

 

Sally Cronin’s What’s In a Name? Vol. 2

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I like to read in bed to get drowsy. Short stories are gratifying in this way because they allow me to hold my eyes open long enough to reach the end of the story. However, in reading Sally’s stories I found her endings reeling me in for just one more story as I fought sleep.

What’s In a Name Vol. 2 contains 16 stories.  Sally Cronin writes honest fiction that reaches the depth of real life, yet her stories are like bubble bath in a warm tub.
It was D.J. Kaye’s post that got me to read Sally’s book:

Cronin’s writing has a way of taking us into the character’s emotions, evoking an emotion in us in return, be it angst, fear, passion or grief. 

The characters in these stories – fortune tellers, con artists, arrogant narcissists, lovers – display courage, revenge, disappointments, romance and sacrifice. Some of the stories are bittersweet, some with surprising endings, many imaginative and all with just enough to satisfy.

Like D.G. Kaye, my favourite story was also about two beloved Xenias -a tender love story among three generations set in a lovely Greek garden.

If you feel like a little luxury treat read this book  – maybe while soaking in a bath.

whats-in-a-name-volume-two-by-sally-cronin

Available:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whats-Name-Volumes-1-2/dp/1905597797

Visit Sally’ blog at https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

 

Annika Perry’s The Storyteller Speaks

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I have been following Annika’s blog for some time now and am always eager to hear what she has to say. Whether she writes about her reflections on the extraordinary-ness of life; providing tips for writers; reviewing books; or writing about journeys taken, Annika writes with a sense of profoundness mixed in with whimsy. 
Such is also the case in her collection The Storyteller Speaks.

 

annika perry

Her descriptions shine. Take as example where, in Biding Her Time a young girl  “…smiled sweetly, shaking her head, her long pigtails waving apologetically, the red bows catching the sunlight.” Or her humorous side in Chillies in My Handbag where she “feel(s) the reassuring caress of soft leather – my red Hermes handbag. Subconsciously I bend over and stroke it, with a final pat on the side. My surrogate pet.”
Then there are her stories of death. In A Bouquet of White: “First when they were young its reality as remote as the planets they gazed upon, with the unflagging belief in their own invincibility.” And her most touching and loving piece in memory of her grandfather in Loss of a Patriarch – “A farewell hug to last a lifetime.”

Perry’s stories are emotional pieces. Moving and honest. Filled with love and beautiful imagination.

The Storyteller Speaks Available at:

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/STORYTELLER-SPEAKS-Powerful-Stories-Heart-ebook/dp/B0789KZVF8/

Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/STORYTELLER-SPEAKS-Powerful-Stories-Heart-ebook/dp/B0789KZVF8/

Judy Penz Sheluk

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I often feel overwhelmed with all the reading that is piling up on my Kindle, especially when I start a new novel and my Kindle reader tells me that the approximate time for reading the novel is 8 hours or more. Therefore, I was happy to download Judy Penz Sheluk’s collection of short stories – stories that can be read before going to bed or while sipping a glass of wine lying on a lounge chair.

Although Penz Sheluk is known for her Glass Dolphin Mysteries  and the Marketville Mysteries this collection of short stories demonstrates her skill as a short story writer.

  The stories are fast paced and unpredictable, filled with twists and turns that kept me swiping the pages of my Kindle and made me feel that, in such short time, I knew the characters.

If you’re pressed for time and looking for something fun to read  consider this collection.

In “Live Free or Die,” naive 21-year-old Emmy falls hard for 31-year-old Jack, an efficiency expert from New Hampshire who is not all that he seems.
In “Murder in the Marsh,” cyclist Carrie Anne Camack discovers more than she bargained for in the fertile farmlands of Ontario’s Holland Marsh.
In the final story, “The Cycopaths,” a triathlon team’s open-water swim training in Collingwood, Ontario, has deadly consequences.

For more on Judy Penz Sheluk visit her author page.

 

 

 

 

Devious Tales

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There’s a saying in writing: make every word count or at the very least have every paragraph/scene be relevant. This can be argued, especially for the novel where there is room for sub-plots and leisure strolls through gardens and having tea with a favorite aunt. Not so for the short story. Short stories are (generally) tight, concentrated and condensed.

John Greco’s latest collection of short stories, Devious Tales has all the technical markings of this form and Greco skillfully merges his skill as writer and photographer in these twelve snapshots of life.

His stories are also highly influenced by his passion for noir film and fiction. His short story Late Night Diner reminded me of the rural diner in James Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice and I immediately associated his story The Organic Garden to one Stephen King could have written because of its macabre and conniving ending.

John Greco’s stories delve into the dark side of human nature. What makes his stories particularly striking is that his characters (devious, at times creepy and horrendous) are also quite ordinary people who remind us that we too have a lot in common with them.  So frightening!

 

The characters in these short stories, although not always directly involved in crime take advantage of one, others seek revenge or lust, money and, at times murder all with unexpected and disturbing twists.

Many of the stories revolve around the relationship between man and woman as in An Almost Perfect Woman which illustrates Greco’s crisp, engaging style of writing:

To be honest I don’t find many women good companions. I am a quiet kind of guy, and women, well they like to talk. Not just talk but express their feelings. They need to tell you how they feel. Expose every emotion, bare their soul! And all I can think about when this kind of tirade starts, there is no other word to describe it, is when is this night going to end!

In his blog Greco recently posted his suggestions for summer reading. I’d add Devious Tales to the list.