Sweet Dreams Story Snippets - Day 2

Day 2 of the story snippets from Sweet Dreams!

Snippet #1 - Leanne Fitzpatrick

Leanne is a twitter buddy of mine, and she volunteered Laid to Rest for the anthology. This is the first time I've seen Leanne's writing, and it blew me away. I can't wait to see more from this series!

Laid to Rest – A Cherry Garcia story

By Leanne Fitzpatrick

Do you know what sort of jobs I get roped into? Shit ones, that what. It's jobs like this that ruin my reputation for a smooth and sophisticated P.I and they are the reason I keep getting landed with the little jobs. The jobs more well established Monster Hunters find too tedious to bother with.

Other Monster Hunters go after demons and reneged wolf-men. Me? I get a haunted nursery teacher.

I don't even know how I ended up with this job.

Oh, wait... yes I do. Sarah. Bloody, bloody Sarah.

She always does this to me. I'll be sitting there, happily waiting for the big client to come through the door and what happens- someone comes in at their wits end because their grandmother refuses to move on and then tells them they're fixing up the grave-site wrong.

I don't know about you, but harpies that stick around once their remains have gone mushy are not my idea of a fun time.

Sarah seems to find it hilarious, which it why I am standing here in the freezing cold, shivering and waiting for the sun to stop sleeping. I do not like night time work. I am an evening person, and by evening I mean that I like to be at a bar having a fun time with my chums and eyeing up possible one night stands. Sarah does not seem to care about this. Have I mentioned recently that I hate Sarah?

   I hate Sarah.

A particularly cold gust of wind threatened to undo all the good work shivering had done me and I moved closer to the church. It stood right in the centre of the village, and would have been picturesque- if there hadn't been a shit-tonne of scaffolding around it.

The graveyard was exposed on the Northern side and there was a thick hedgerow separating it from the rest of the world.

“I thought the unholy burned up when they stepped on Hallowed Ground,” I heard Sarah say behind me. I glanced at her.

“They do,” I grumbled. “I can see the embers in your hair.”

She laughed and shook her head, the thick braid, whipping about behind her.

“Is Priest here yet?”

I shook my head.

“He didn't want to be here for the actual digging part. I believe he'll be here as soon as she is once more exposed to the world. Right before we burn the bones.”

Sarah shrugged. She didn't get on well with Priest for the most part. Something about him put her edge. She wouldn't tell me why.

“You got the salt and shovels?” I asked.

She nodded and unhooked a backpack from her shoulder.

“Bought some lighter fluid too, just in case she was too mushy to light up.”

“Awesome,” I sighed, grabbing the shovels propped against the church wall.  “Let's get this party started, shall we?”

I led the way, trudging down the overgrown pathway to the approximate middle of the graveyard. Ms Emmeline Wickham was located three graves from the end, between an over large tomb and a weeping angel.

When we got to her plot, her stone was a small, weather-worn affair, pitted and rounded by years of rain and wind. Her name was barely legible.

I stood staring at it for a while. We'd cremated my dad- he'd not wanted any chance of coming back to haunt us and sometimes I regretted that decision. There was nowhere for me to go when I needed to talk to him, no place I could focus my grief, just an ambient air of not-rightness.

He'd been so afraid of fire... even with his work, he never lost that fear...

I shook myself, letting the funk slide away. I was here to do a job and the sooner it was done the faster I could crawl into bed and snooze the day away.

I drove the shovel into the ground.

Snippet #2 - Mia Darien

Mia Darien writes both romance and paranormal suspense and her impressive collection of titles can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and Lulu. She lent Descent, a gorgeous tale based on Greek mythology, to the Sweet Dreams anthology.

DESCENT

By Mia Darien

            Demeter.

            The goddess. Not she who is mother to the earth, but she who is earth mother. Her compassion gave the people the knowledge of growing and cultivating, how to survive off the earth’s bounty. Her anguish rent the world and shaded half the year in cold. She who held no fear to confront the god of death, to show her power to Mount Olympus itself, all to have her daughter Persephone back.

            She whose steps nourish the ground, so that people might live from it. A powerful ally, a powerful enemy.

            A powerful ancestor.

            This is what my mother, Cyrana, told me: that she was the issue of a brief coupling between Demeter and a mortal man. It was where, she said, our power came from. I never found reason to question the story, for power we did have. We had power that others did not, or if they did, they hid it very well and more than we cared to.

            The story that I shall tell took place in the twelve hundreds B.C. - twelve centuries before the birth of Christ.

            I lived near the Black Sea at that time, in a region known as Thrace. I was not born there, as far as I know, but my mother had never told me where I had been born. She was dead, my mother, by the time I lived in that place. I chose it because, at that time, I was devoted to Ares, the god of savage war and blood lust. The mountainous areas of Thrace, with its war-like people, were said to be most like him. It was also said that he had been born of that violent land.

            They did not call me witch then. In those days, I was simply Ioena.

That's all for today, folks. Swing by tomorrow for the final day of snippets before publishing.

Sweet Dreams Story Snippets

We're ramping up to publishing the anthology over the next couple of days. As a bit of a treat, keep reading for the first couple of snippets, and some info on the authors.

Snippet # 1 - Joseph Garraty


I stumbled over Joe Garraty's book Voice back in the very first days of my kindle ownership, and his writing simply blew me away. If you like genuine gritty, swaggering rock 'n roll horror, click that link as fast as you can. Since then I've read everything he's brought out - The Q-Bomb is a fun little sci-fi story, The Price is one of the creepiest, darkest urban fantasies I've ever read, and To Rule this Broken Earth takes that gritty, sensual feel of otherness into an epic post-apocalyptic fantasy that never takes the easy route. In that time, we've become friends via email, and Joe is probably one of the main reasons my own writing has improved. In the short tale Everyone Goes To Hell, he also shows a diabolical sense of humour.

Everyone Goes To Hell

Joseph Garraty

Everyone ends up in Hell, you know. Virtually everyone, anyway. Certainly everyone I ever met. I never heard of anyone who went the other way, but I suppose it’s possible, at least in some hypothetical sense.

I tried explaining this to Bill Sanderson right from the beginning, but it didn’t take.

I appeared in his goofy little summoning circle on a whim. Somebody had to do it. We were all getting annoyed by his constant entreaties, and I guess I didn’t have anything better to do that evening than to go try to shut him up. It was a stupid chore. Like going to the dentist, it wasn’t valuable work that needed doing, it was an irritating waste of time one had to endure in order to stave off a bigger irritation.

When I arrived, Bill was prostrate on the floor, chanting madly, nonsense syllables interspersed with phrases like “O Mighty Seraph” and “Hear your humble supplicant” and all that foolishness.

He was so absorbed in it that he didn’t even see me appear. I watched him for a few moments, but he still didn’t so much as glance up. Maybe he was expecting a bang and a flash, a puff of violet smoke, a thundering voice?

I stepped down off the dais, casually stepping over the circle and the inscriptions, and sat on the floor next to him.

“Bill,” I said, patting him affectionately on the back, “you can knock it off. I’m here.”

He scrambled to his feet, tottering as his creaky old knees tried to give out. I reached up a hand to steady him. He stared at me, eyes so wide that the irises seemed lost in rheumy yellow whites. 

Then he threw himself back to the floor.

“Holy One!” he shouted. “I beg thee, O Mighty Seraph—”

I cut him off. “Enough already! I heard you the first time.”

He sat up, blinking in the smoke from the candles. “You…you did?”

“Yeah, sure.” I could see the naked hope in his eyes.

No fool like an old fool, I guess.

“Come on, Bill, get up. Let’s go sit somewhere comfortable, and I’ll explain a few things.”

He nodded, and I helped him to his feet, more slowly this time. He shuffled to the door, casting nervous glances back at me every few feet. I followed him upstairs to the study without a word.

“Nice place,” I remarked as he showed me a chair. It was, too. Deep carpets, high ceilings, teak and mahogany and weirder, more expensive woods all over the place. Ugly light fixtures that cost a fortune. The proles would probably have called this a library, but to Bill it was just the study.

Bill sat in the chair opposite me, wincing as he lowered himself.

“You were supposed to stay in the circle,” he began, his chin thrust out defiantly.

“Oh, good. You got your composure back.”

Snippet # 2 - Naomi Clark

Naomi Clark is one of the writers I'd like to be when I grow up. Now a twitter buddy, I stumbled over her on Amazon, got hooked, then starting reading everything of hers I could get my grubby little paws onto. From the dark humour of the Ethan Banning series, to her dark urban werewolf tales like the Vargulf Trilogy and Silver Kiss, she proves from the first page that female writers can kick ass and take names with the best of them. Her latest release, Night and Chaos went live this week on Amazon, and it's one of the best urban fantasy books I've read, with an interesting take on the Deva mythology, and one of the strongest opening scenes ever. Just to prove she can pull off a slice of dark Gothic elegance as well, her contribution to Sweet Dreams is Here Be Monsters.

Here Be Monsters

Naomi Clark

I hate the sea. I hate the pound and rush of waves on sand, the stench of rotting seaweed and eye-watering brine. I hate the endless shrieks of the gulls. The dark waters chill me, fill my head with nebulous images of great serpents and twisted, alien life forms untouched by sunlight and air. I hate people who romanticise it, talk about pirates and mermaids, adventure and mystery. No. The ocean is not for men. I’ve always believed that. Maybe we came from the sea once, but we left for a reason. And if I had my way, I’d never go back.

            But I rarely get my way. Science and nature reporters for small-time cable TV channels tend not to, so when I was woken up at three am by my producer and told to get my arse down to the Northumberland coast for the ‘story of a life time,’ I didn’t argue. I swallowed my exhaustion and my dread and hatred of the ocean, and did as I was told.

Caraway Beach was cold, wet, and grim. I stood at the water’s edge in green wellies and a battered blue raincoat, watching the camera crew scuttle around trying to set up their cameras and avoid the drizzle and the wind whipping in off the grey-blue ocean. The sky overhead was black with storm clouds. Every now and then, thunder rumbled in the distance, making me shiver and jump. I stared up at those clouds, waiting for lightning. It was much better than staring down at the stone-strewn sand and the thing we were here to film.

“It has to be a whale,” Andrew remarked, joining me. He was the boom operator, new to the team, nice enough guy, but always just...loitering around me. It made me slightly uncomfortable for reasons I couldn’t quite put my finger on. “Every time someone gets excited about krakens, Loch Ness Monsters, or dinosaurs, it turns out to be a mangled whale carcass.”

There you have it folks - the first two snippets from two of the most talented authors I know. Pop back tomorrow for some more from Sweet Dreams, and thanks for reading.

Sweet Dreams Cover sneak peek

Sweet Dreams, the official title for the Lyndsey Roughton anthology is almost ready. Superstars Big J (Jeffrey Poole) and Mia Darien are going to step in for the formatting and all the funky techie bits that would probably result in me blowing up my PC/the interwebz.

A massive thanks to everyone who has tweeted, blogged, and face-booked about this - there really aren't enough words to express how I feel about your support.

We have 17 brilliant little - and not so little - stories, and I can't wait to download my version once it hits the Amazon store.

To whet your appetite, here's a sneak peak of the cover, and the final list of authors in the anthology.

Contributing Authors:


Chris Fraser
Edward Larel
Mia Darien
Joseph Garrety
Jason McKinney
Naomi Clark
Jana Hill
Nicholas Ordinans
Leanne Fitzpatrick
B. Throwsnaill
J.H. Sked
Renee Hall 
Sky Corbelli
Jeffrey Poole
Joe Occhipinti
Richard Shury
Leigh Roughton


As a further treat, I'll post a couple of snippets over the next few days - watch this space!

Lyndsey Roughton Anthology - Contributors so far

We're heading into the final stretch for author submissions for the anthology - if you'd like to submit a piece, details are here.

I'd like to thank the Indie writers who've already submitted pieces for their unflinching generosity, and Scott from Indie Book Blogger for his unwavering support in this. Without all of you, doing something like this would not be possible. I think I can safely say you are all my new personal heroes.

We have stories that cover the range from fantasy to sci-fi, urban paranormal to horror, and every piece is first-class writing. Here are our contributors so far:

Chris Fraser
Edward Larel
Mia Darien
Joseph Garrety
Jason McKinney
Naomi Clark
Jana Hill
Nicholas Ordinans
Leanne Fitzpatrick
B. Throwsnaill
J.H.Sked
Renee Hall
Sky Corbelli
Jeffrey Poole
Joe Occhipinti

Thank you all!

Lyndsey Roughton - anthology and info update

Hi guys

The response to this has been amazing, from the authors giving their stories so generously to bloggers like Scott at Indie Book Blogger supporting the cause. If you'd like to help raise awareness, feel free to post about this on your blog, Facebook, and twitter stream - every little bit helps, and it's all appreciated. If you're an author and you'd like to donate a piece to the anthology, have a look at this previous post regarding FAQ's and drop me an email at jhsked(at)hotmail.com .

I've had a number of queries regarding donating directly to the fund. Although Lyndsey's website is in the process of being stripped and put back together, there is a donate button there. You can also read a few of Lyndsey's posts during her earlier struggle with the tumor. Her optimism and determination have to be read to be believed. Visit  it here.

In addition all fundraising for the next month via the Cobra Group Foundation site will be going to help pay for  Lyndsey's trip. The donation function is by PayPal and the link is here.

The anthology so far...

So far we have authors from the USA, Australia and UK donating their stories. We've got an exciting mix of horror, black humor, sci-fi and dark fantasy by some of the best Indie Authors writing today. From Jason Mckinney, Naomi Clark, Joe Garraty, and Mia Darien, with more authors to be confirmed, this is shaping up to be one of the most exciting collections I've seen in years.

Keep checking back for more updates in the next couple of days!

Authors wanted - FAQ's & rules

Thanks to everyone who has already contacted me regarding the Lyndsey Roughton anthology, it's really appreciated.

I've put together a FAQ/rules list which hopefully covers all the questions - if I've left yours off, please hit me in the comments or email me directly at jhsked (at) hotmail.com.

Do we get paid?
Unfortunately not - this is a donated story anthology for an ebook for a fund-raiser. You will be sent a full PDF of the book as an authors copy.

Can I send you poetry/microfiction/short-shorts?
Yes, yes and yes!

What is the word limit?
We're trying to aim for an upper limit of  3000  5000 words. If you are slightly over, send it though - as long as it doesn't hit the realm of novella we'll look at it.

What genre are you looking for? Is there a theme?
We're concentrating on horror and fantasy as a genre. Think the supernatural with any sort of spin on it you'd like, as long as it isn't animal torture or hard-core porn.
It could be anything from a haunted ashtray to a chain-smoking unicorn - if it's a printable story and you are happy to donate it, we'd like it.

Do I need to be published/self-published already?
No, not at all. You also keep the rights to your story, so you can go out and re-publish it where-ever and when-ever you'd like.

Can I send a story that's already been published?
As long as you have the rights to the work, we'd love it. If you've been published through a magazine/publisher and not self-published, please check to make sure you can re-use it.

What is the time-limit to submit?
Please submit by 2 June 2012.


When will the collection be published?
Due to the time-constraints Lyndsey is under - the current diagnosis is anything from 3 to 24 months left - we  aim to have the book up on Amazon by the end of June.

How do I submit?
Please send submissions through as an attachment on a word document to jhsked (at) hotmail.com. Please also include a short bio about yourself, and any other work you have available - this will go into the book as a bit of a showcase for you.

======================

Thanks again for the wonderful support you've already shown - it means a lot!

Lyndsey Roughton anthology - call for authors

In Manchester, England, a young woman is busy dying. This is her story.

"Lyndsey is a 27 year old professional young woman working for an established PR Marketing Company as a HR Manager in Manchester.

When you meet Lyndsey, you would get the feeling that she was confident but down to earth, strong but fiercely ambitious.  You would not think for a minute that on the 12^th April 2012, she had been told that the brain tumour she has battled with for 3 years has now become inoperable and they cannot find a cure.

She is positive, she is funny, she has an amazing smile, and even the side-effects of the chemotherapy are not getting her down.  Her positivity and her determination to beat this disease are evident: she is a fighter.  

In November 2009, Lindsey had a routine eye check with the opticians.  She was having trouble with headaches, with blurred vision during the day and dizzy spells. She thought this was just a symptom of her hectic social life, but the optician saw something different - they suspected ‘Papilledema’ – ‘pressure, in or around the brain caused by bleed or tumour’.

After an examination CT and MRI scan it was confirmed that there was a tumour on the right frontal lobe of her brain. An operation to remove the tumour was done on Christmas Eve 2009.  After a biopsy of the tumour she was told the tumour was benign, and although scans were scheduled for every 6 months all was fine.

On 24^th December 2010, (Christmas Eve again) she was told the tumour was back, in the same place but more aggressive - it was now a Grade III Oglioastrocytoma. This time, the tumour was malignant.  Another operation was scheduled for the first week in January 2011. Lyndsey took it in stride, positive and determined to get on with whatever treatment was given to beat this disease.  Radiotherapy was the option.

In April 2011, Lyndsey had to endure 10 weeks of intensive Radiotherapy. Despite her positive attitude, she worried about losing her hair, although when the inevitable happened and she did lose it, she decided to focus on the positives again.

Treatment was working.

This time, scans were scheduled for every 3 months; and everything was going great. On the 7^th December 2011 Lyndsey and her family celebrated when they got the wonderful news that the tumour was gone. 

A scan wasn’t scheduled till 17th April 2012, but she didn’t get that far. On Easter weekend - 5^th April 2012 - Lyndsey didn’t feel well at all and had to be rushed to hospital. She knew, deep down inside, from her symptoms, that the tumour was back.

 On Monday 9^th April, 2012 it was confirmed that the tumour was back a Grade IV ‘Glioblastoma’, although not in the same place. It had now moved to the “left frontal lobe”.

The surgeon explained that the tumour was far more aggressive than before, and they would not be able to operate because of the damage that it would do to her life, her memory, her ability to walk, talk and think, so an operation is not an option.

As it is so soon after her previous radiotherapy treatment this too is no longer an option, leaving her with chemotherapy is the only choice she has.  Chemotherapy has started, but has been described as ‘palliative care’ - is given to prolong life, and improve quality of life.   

The diagnosis is not good, but to Lyndsey the future is still bright, just wanting to live everyday as it comes.

In all the time that Lyndsey has been living and dealing with this awful disease, she has never once pitied herself or her situation, she considers that this experience has helped her to grow as an individual. Her ability to remain positive and not be scared has meant that everyone whose life she touches is therefore not scared and always positive about the future.

Throughout this journey, Lyndsey has always planned that once she had recovered she would go travelling, specifically to Asia, Thailand and Vietnam, a spiritual journey, to be able to sit with the Buddhists, and find herself. 

But with the devastating news that she recently received, time is not on her side. There is little time to plan, little time to accept the news - all that is left is time to do!   

So our plan is to raise as much money as we can to give Lyndsey the holiday of her dreams, to travel through Vietnam, and do every thing she has always wanted, packing every day with fun filled days and laughter.  Due to the severity of her illness the cost of insurance and travel is very expensive, so our target is £15,000.

Events are being held all over the place to help raise funds, by the Lyndsey Roughton Purple Heart Brain Tumour Fund, we would really appreciate your support; please find details of some of our up and coming events below:

26^th May, 2012                 Pavo – Sings                                    Location:           Bees Knees, Cirencester

1^st June, 2012                   Golf Fund Raiser                           Location:           TBC

4^th June, 2012                  Duck Race                                         Location:           South Cerney, Cirencester

9^th June, 2012                  Casino Royale Night                   Location:           3D Organisation, Manchester

TBC                                       Electro Night – Music                                Location:           TBC, Manchester

TBC                                       Walk, Aberdeen – Forfar         Location:           55 miles, Scotland

Total raised so far, (within 4 weeks) is  £5664.79"

 =====================================================

Full disclosure - I know Lyndsey's mom and her partner through work connections. The family have a site link which is currently being re-built, and I'll post an update when that happens.

We can't fix this. No matter how much money we raise, the situation is that there is no cure - although I'm not counting Lyndsey out just yet; pure determination and positive thinking do amazing things. What this will do is hopefully help someone achieve their dream before they leave the skin of this world and the light goes out.

That's where the writing thing comes in useful. The plan is to put together a short story anthology to be published as an ebook, all proceeds to go to the family.

If you're a writer, or know anyone who writes, and you'd like to donate a story, please let me know - you can contact me at jhsked(at)hotmail.com. Authors will keep all rights to their stories, but there is no payment or fee for this one.

Thanks for reading.