Halloween!

Halloween is upon us! Scary decorations & scary movies everywhere you look. Get in the spirit of things! Read Scary Shorts: Flash Fiction.

Message me if you'd like a review copy. :-)

Halloween Flash Fiction, what could be more fun?  Some stories will give you the creep & keep you up at night staring at the ceiling. Others will make you think twice about your bad decisions.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55816307-scary-shorts

Dog Days of Summer :-D

When the temperature rises and the sweat begins to pool, it's that time of year, the “Dog Days” of summer, July 3rd through August 11. But why Dog Days and not, say, Camel Days? The reference is to Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest star in the sky. During the “Dog Days” the sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog.

Because Sirius is so bright, the ancient Romans believed it radiated heat, adding to the Sun’s warmth and causing the sultry weather. They referred to this time as diēs caniculārēs, or “dog days.”

How can we beat the heat? By staying inside and reading a book, of course! Have I got a book for you: Dog Days of Summer: Flash Fiction. Stories of exactly 100 words that evoke childhood memories and make you forget the heat, leaving you with a smile on your face.

All for 99 cents! Such a deal! Sample story below.

Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Dog-Days-Summer-Fiction-Shorts-ebook/dp/B095J998Q9?ref_=ast_author_dp

CHANGE OF SEASONS By Amy Reade

It was the first day of first grade. The teacher asked Gordie and his classmates to go to the front of the classroom one by one and share one thing they had done over summer vacation. When it was Gordie’s turn, he stood up and told his classmates his dad had taken him fishing at the lake in August. He concluded his presentation by saying “But I hate summer.”

That afternoon as the students waited to be picked up from school, a pretty young woman walked up to Mrs. Haines and introduced herself.

“Hi, I’m Gordie’s stepmother. My name is Summer.”
 

Check Out My Fun Interview on YouTube. 😃

Check out my fun interview on YouTube. 😃  

I was the guest today on "Book Chat with Victoria Young Bennison". We discussed flash fiction and cozy mysteries and whether a didgeridoo is a lethal weapon, lol!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOq_xVUOo4g

Halloween and Book of the Month. :-D

Happy October!

If you have 30 seconds today or tomorrow, please vote for my new book as Book of the Month on Long and Short Reviews. :-D Thx! Here's the link:

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/uncategorized/september-book-of-the-month-poll-which-book-do-you-think-is-best-based-on-the-review-4/

It wouldn't be Halloween without spooky videos and books. Check out THE JOKER JOURNAL, a great video based on Heath Ledger preparing to portray The Joker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3saW2-1F7gs&t=505s

Also, if you'd like a review copy of SCARY SHORTS, my flash fiction collaboration, just send me a message.

BLURB:
Halloween Flash Fiction, what could be more fun? Capture a mood, a phobia, a scary experience, using exactly 100 words. Stories like A Drive in the Country, Halloween Stew, Skeleton Crew, Something About Her Shadow, and Candy Corn will give you the creeps, keep you up at night as you stare at the ceiling. Other stories like Careful What You Wish For and Paying the Piper will make you think twice about your bad decisions.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Scary-Shorts-Halloween-Flash-Fiction-ebook/dp/B08M2MFYY7/ref=sr_1_35?crid=2GV3QSKONV79H&keywords=barbara+venkataraman&qid=1664652363&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjM4IiwicXNhIjoiMi40OCIsInFzcCI6IjIuNDEifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=%2Caps%2C277&sr=8-35

Just In Time For Valentine's Day :-)

Do you need a lovely little book that reminds you what Valentine's Day is all about? Then look no further. For only 99 cents you can spread the love and Valentine hearts. 

Check out: Valentine Shorts: Flash Fiction. You won't regret it.

Valentine Flash Fiction, what could be more fun? The challenge: capture a mood, a memory, a romantic encounter, using exactly 100 words. Stories like Unmasked and Never Stop Asking will touch your heart while others like Glory Days, Puppy Love and Swipe Right will make you smile. Enjoy stories by: James J. Cudney, Jeff Homberger, Julie Morrall, Didi Oviatt, Kaitlyn Sutey and Barbara Venkataraman. This short book will lift your spirits and brighten your day, any day of the year.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W9WDR3R/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p2_i8

 

End the Year With a Smile: A Year of Shorts

Are you having trouble focusing? Does your mind wander? Could you use a chuckle or two? There's the cure and it's only $1.99. A Year of Shorts: Flash Fiction is a fun collaboration of authors who were challenged to write a story using exactly 100 words. The book has 4 sections: Scary Shorts, Holiday Shorts, Valentine Shorts, and Dog Days of Summer Shorts. Guaranteed enjoyment for the wandering mind. :-D 

Here's the link: 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B096Y7WBH6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i9 

Description:

A Year of Flash Fiction, what a blast! The challenge: capture a mood, a memory, or an experience, using exactly 100 words. Whether it's Halloween, the Holiday Season, Valentine's Day or the Dog Days of Summer, stories like Ice Cream Hero, Lemonade Stand, and The Prank take you back to your childhood, while others like Fever Pitch, The Panty Liner Incident, and Lemonade Stand evoke summer heat and the search for relief. Other stories like What's the Buzz?, Lazy Lake, and Change of Season leave you with a smile.

Enjoy stories by Goodreads authors Jina Bazzar, James J. Cudney, IV, S.J. Higbee, Sandra J. Jackson, Loretta Marion, Didi Oviatt, Carmen Radtke, Amy Reade, Rosemary Reeve, Kelly Santana-Banks, L.A. Starks, Josh Venkataraman and Barbara Venkataraman as well as authors Bob Beckman, Kathleen Fowler Costa, Eric Homberger, Jeff Homberger, Geoffrey Marion, Jodi Markley, Nico Morales, Julie Morrall, Alison Sullivan, Kaitlyn Sutey, and Vijay Venkataraman.

Holiday Cheer For Only 99 cents! :-)

It's the holiday season and what better way to start your festivities than a good book of holiday stories? You won't want to miss my holiday collection: Holiday Shorts: Flash Fiction. It will brighten your day and make you smile--and it's only 99 cents! :-D 

Description: 

Holiday Flash Fiction, what could be more fun? Capture a mood, a memory, a wonderful experience, using exactly 100 words. Stories like Secret Santa, Brag and Gag, In the Nick of Time, The Roar of the Crowd, and Opposites Attract will give you a chuckle. Other stories like Everyone's a Critic, Spread Joy and Holiday Magic will make your holidays even more enjoyable.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PVWQY55/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p2_i1  

 

IN A FLASH

 Ah, flash fiction, it’s a beautiful thing. Don’t believe me? Try telling a story in just six words and include character, setting, plot, conflict, and theme. Impossible, you say? Hemingway did it like this: “For sale: Baby shoes. Never used.” A tragedy in six words. Impressive, you say, but so what? Hemingway’s books had more than six words in them. You’re right, but did you also notice Hemingway never wasted a word? Every single word counts, no fluff, no puff, no flowery descriptions. Tight writing is the key to everything and that’s where flash fiction comes in.

In his book On Writing Stephen King recounts how, early on, an editor gave him life-changing advice. On a form rejection letter, the editor wrote: “Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%. Good luck.”  To paraphrase Elmore Leonard, just leave the boring stuff out. Great advice, you say, but how do I do that? The answer is flash fiction. Like practicing scales on the piano, great writing takes practice. Take any two hundred words you have written about anything and reduce it to one hundred words. Yes, you must kill your darlings. Punctuation is your friend. Commas and semi-colons can replace words like and. The thesaurus is also your friend and can give you (provide, see how easy that was?) strong replacement words (substitutes).

After you finish reducing your two hundred words to one hundred, try reducing it to fifty words. I know it seems impossible but try anyway. I have faith in you. Even if you can’t get to fifty, eliminate as many words as you can without losing the essence of the writing. Hint, you rarely need the word that. Now compare the three versions and notice what you were able to cut. Amazing, isn’t it? After you perform this exercise another ten times (fifty? A hundred?), you’ll see a marked improvement in your writing.

Here’s another exercise for you. Write a letter to the editor in one hundred and fifty words. You don’t have to send it in, just write it. State your premise, make your argument, and reach a conclusion all in one hundred fifty words. One more thing, be convincing. Use strong verbs and evoke an emotional response. Here’s one I wrote titled House on Fire using one hundred forty words:

If your house were on fire, would you leave your family inside and hope for the best? That’s exactly what Florida Legislators have done by refusing to enact meaningful gun reform. No matter how many Resource Officers or “Guardians” they hire, they have done nothing to stop the next school massacre. When civilians have the fire power to massacre their fellow citizens in less time than it takes to order coffee at Starbucks, nothing will stop them—except taking away high-power guns and high-capacity ammunition, which our legislators refuse to do.

When one person can fire more than 1,100 rounds in ten minutes from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel killing 58 people and injuring another 851, our house is on fire, engulfed in flames. And it is our legislators who have abandoned us inside this burning building.

Whew! It makes me angry to read it and I’m the one who wrote it. Did you like the Starbucks comparison? Using the analogy of a house on fire and abandonment and family I close the piece by returning to the opening, proving the argument I set out to prove. At least I hope I did. Give it a try, convince someone a problem exists that needs solving, you don’t have to present the solution.

Now, with your honed skill of compact wordsmithing, write a story in exactly fifty words. Remember, it’s a story so there must be character, setting, plot, conflict, and theme. Here’s mine:

Fire! She tried not to panic as acrid fumes filled her nostrils, burning the very air. Her only desire, save her loved one, sleeping beside her. Her strength, her willpower, her fierceness, she used them all to rouse him. Awake—finally!—he carried her to safety, exclaiming “Good dog, Rosie!”

If you need a story idea, just read the news and pick something to write about. Or describe your morning routine. Here’s mine. It’s one hundred fifty-six words, titled The Senses Awaken:

Padding bleary-eyed into the kitchen, I grope my way towards sanity, towards my little miracle. Only it can soothe my parched throat and banish the vague nightmares that still skitter through my brain like the deformed creatures they are. A simple routine, but I relish it. Moving like an automaton, I check the water level in the machine and flip the on switch, take out the milk (thank God, there’s milk!) and reach for the coffee, the spoon, the sugar. As I measure the finely ground espresso powder and tamp it into the compartment, I breathe in deeply, the dark complex aromas swirl in my flared nostrils promising me revival and a return to the world of the real. Without the aroma, would I enjoy coffee as much? I wonder, but then dismiss the thought as foolish. It was like imagining a sun with no heat, a sky with no blue, a heart with no love.

I hope you learn to love flash fiction and tight writing as a way to crystallize your thoughts. For clarity and beauty, a story, like a jewel in the rough, needs the right cuts and a fine polish.

New book on free promo thru 2/14 :-D

Just in time for Valentine's Day, our fun new book of Valentine Flash Fiction is free on Kindle through 2/14. Check it out:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W9WDR3R?pf_rd_r=497YF4DEJ2D03KV3KG5Z&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8&pd_rd_r=e759d779-96e6-4e39-a455-ab25756edd58&pd_rd_w=xviAh&pd_rd_wg=CA5I1&ref_=pd_gw_unk

Free Promo 10/29-11/2! New Halloween Flash Fiction :-D

Happy Halloween! To celebrate, I just released a new book: Scary Shorts: Halloween Flash Fiction. It's free from 10/29-11/2. 

Description: Halloween Flash Fiction, what could be more fun? Capture a mood, a phobia, a scary experience, using exactly 100 words. Stories like A Drive in the Country, Halloween Stew, Skeleton Crew, Something About Her Shadow, and Candy Corn will give you the creeps, keep you up at night as you stare at the ceiling. Other stories like Careful What You Wish For and Paying the Piper will make you think twice about your bad decisions.

Here's the link: 

https://www.amazon.com/Scary-Shorts-Halloween-Flash-Fiction-ebook/dp/B08M2MFYY7/ref=pd_ybh_a_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=V3BR29ES9KRRHVEX2KWX

Sample: 

CANDY CORN 

"Yuck!" Sarah spit out her Halloween candy. 

"I don't like candy corn either. Just toss it, honey."

"Can I make stuff with it, Mom?" she asked.

"Sure!"

She made art, jewelry, and a game.

"Can we plant it?" she asked.

"It's not real corn," I said.

"We can pretend."

So we did. A week later, Sarah said "It's growing, Mom!"

The rains had washed away the dirt, exposing the tips. I said "They look like fingernails!"

When I turned around Sarah was gone and a hand was pulling me under. It's impossible to scream with a mouth full of dirt…

 

The 2017 Golden Doughnut Short Story Contest :-)

Have you ever tried writing a story in just 200 words? It's not easy, since you have to introduce at least one character, set the scene, and make something interesting happen. It's a great exercise and better than a crossword puzzle for sharpening your mind! 

"The Golden Doughnut" is a short story contest where each 200 word entry must be based on the photograph provided. This year's contest was judged by Craig Johnson, the bestselling author of the Longmire series and I'm excited to report that my story, "The Monster Within", made it to the top 12. Hooray! All 12 stories are worth the read and, as I said, they are very short. 

Just in time for Halloween, here are the 12 creepy stories:

https://www.leelofland.com/2017-golden-donut-short-story-contest-top-12-stories/

My flash fiction story--"Luck is a Lady" :-)

LUCK IS A LADY

            Sam wasn't sure if it was a wonderful sign or a sign of impending disaster but he knew it was definitely a sign and to ignore it would be foolish indeed. His mother had taught him the importance of paying attention to signs--like the time when he was five and the chickens wouldn't eat, she just knew something terrible was about to happen. Sure enough, her brother Vern wound up in the hospital the next day more dead than alive. The fact that he had started a brawl with a motorcycle gang while blind drunk didn't factor into it as far as Mama was concerned. A sign was a sign and you ignored it at your peril. Another time when the clouds formed a dollar symbol in the clear blue sky, she made Papa buy her a lottery ticket and--praised be to God--didn't she win fifty dollars? She used that money to buy Sam a new suit for church as a thank-you to her sweet lord and savior. It didn't matter that Sam wanted to buy the silver race car in the window at McCrory's, Mama couldn't have cared less. Funny thing about it, now that he was a grown man with a good job he had plenty of money to buy himself a racecar, but he didn't want one any more. Just like he didn't want to stay up all night watching TV while he shoveled candy in his mouth until he felt sick. Times change.

            But this sign was a tough one to figure out and Sam knew everything depended on getting it right. A wrong decision could ruin everything. He wondered why it couldn't be something simple, like finding a penny heads up or walking under a ladder. At least then he'd know what to expect. Of course, not every sign was reliable. One time, a bird flew straight into the window and killed itself and Mama went crazy waiting for the tragic news that someone had died. Weeks went by and nothing happened but she never relaxed her guard until she heard that Earl, their old mailman who was in his 80s and living in a retirement home across town, a man who used to keep stones in his pocket to ward off vicious dogs and who liked to shoot baskets with the boys in the park, had died. That afternoon, Mama threw open the curtains, breathed a sigh of relief and said well, finally that's over with, thank-you, Jesus. Sam thought that one was a bit of a stretch, but he didn't say so.

            Now that Mama was gone, Sam had trouble reading the signs; he couldn't tell good omens from bad and it had left him befuddled. Mama could always explain everything by reading the signs and she made perfect sense. But there were no signs the day she died, no warnings at all, no howling dogs or dead crickets, nothing. In the evening, Mama had sprinkled salt in front of the doors to keep evil spirits away, just like she always did. Then she had baked a chocolate mayonnaise cake for the Church bake sale and put it on the sill to cool--that's what she'd said anyway. Sam knew she did it to stop him from snatching a slice of his favorite cake. Later on, with the aroma of chocolate cake swirling through the air and the sound of his mama humming softly to herself, Sam had been lulled to sleep. But when he got up in the morning, she was already gone. She just went to bed and never woke up. They saved her chocolate cake for the funeral, of course. Sam didn't want any, didn't want to eat at all, but he broke down and ate a piece in honor of his mama. Usually, you don't know when it's the last time you'll ever do a thing. This wasn't one of those times. As Sam savored the cake, taking small forkfuls to make it last, he knew his mama would've been tickled to know she'd catered her own funeral reception.

            In the three months that followed, it was all Sam could do to take care of the house and the chickens by himself and make it to the marina by eight. There was no time to think about signs or anything else. Then, one morning, he found a ladybug on the roof of his truck. He knew good luck was coming his way. Carefully, he moved her to a leaf and made sure she was safe, but before he could get in the truck, a black cat ran out from between the tires, darting right in front of him. Sam shook his head. That meant bad luck for sure--or, if he was lucky, it just canceled out the ladybug. He drove more carefully than usual, unsure as to what fate had in store for him. He barely made it to the marina on time and had to run straight to the dock to prep the boats for the tours scheduled that day. As he stacked the life jackets, he was startled to discover that he wasn't alone. A woman in cutoff shorts with streaked brown hair was stocking the boats with drinks. She turned around and gave him a dazzling smile.

            "Hi, I just started working, today's my first day. Did you see those fish jumping out there--amazing! And the sun sparkling on the water, isn't it just beautiful? Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Samantha, but call me Sam. What's your name?"

            As the fog in his head cleared away, Sam laughed out loud. He knew this was the last sign he would ever need. And it wasn't confusing at all.