Day 8 of the WordCrafter “Visions” Book Blog Tour
Posted: October 24, 2022 Filed under: Anthology, Blog Tour, Book Promotion, Book Release, Book Review, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Giveaways, Guest Post, Horror, Science Fiction, Short Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Stories, Urban fantasy, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours | Tags: Anthology, Book Review, Fantasy, horror, Joseph Carabis, Science Fiction, Visions, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, WordCrafter Press 12 Comments
Today is Day 8 and we’re wrapping up the WordCrafter Visions Book Blog Tour here on Writing to be Read. We’ve had a fantastic tour for this unique fantasy, science fiction, and horror anthology. For anyone who might have missed a stop along the way, you’ll find links to each stop below. Note that they will not work until each post goes live. We’re running a great digital giveaway and all it takes to enter is a comment, so visit any stops you missed and leave a comment so I know you were there.
Monday – October 17 – Guest Post – Billie Holladay Skelley & Winning Story Interview with Roberta Eaton Cheadle – Writing to be Read
Tuesday – October 18 – Guest Post – Michaele Jordan & Review – Patty’s World
Wednesday – October 19 – Guest Post – D.L. Mullan – The Showers of Blessings
Thursday – October 20 – Guest Post – C.R. Johanssen & Review – Robbie’s Inspiration
Friday – October 21 – Guest Post – Patty L. Fletcher & Review – Zigler’s News
Saturday – October 22 – Guest Post – Jeff Bowles – Writing to be Read & Interview w/ Kaye Lynne Booth on SaraWesleyMcBride
Sunday – October 23 – Guest Post – Stephanie Kraner & Review – Roberta Writes
Monday – October 24 – Guest Post – Joseph Carabis – Writing to be Read & Review – Undawnted
Digital Giveaway
Three digital copies of Visions will go to three lucky winners.
Enter at each stop just by leaving a comment so I know you were there.
Follow the tour, comment at each stop, and learn more about this exceptional anthology.
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Grab your copy today from your favorite book distributor through the Books2Read UBL: https://books2read.com/u/49Lk28
About the Book
An author’s visions are revealed through their stories. Many authors have strange and unusual stories, indeed. Within these pages, you will find the stories of eighteen different authors, each unique and thought provoking. These are the fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, and horror stories that will keep you awake long into the night.
What happens when:
An inexplicable monster plagues a town for generations, taking people… and souvenirs?
A post-apocalyptic band of travelers finds their salvation in an archaic machine?
The prey turns out to be the predator for a band of human traffickers?
Someone chooses to be happy in a world where emotions are regulated and controlled?
A village girl is chosen to be the spider queen?
Grab your copy today and find out. Let authors such as W.T. Paterson, Joseph Carabis, Kaye Lynne Booth, Michaele Jordan, Stephanie Kraner, and others, including the author of the winning story in the WordCrafter 2022 Short Fiction Contest, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, tantalize your thoughts and share their
Visions
From Kaye Lynne Booth, editor of Once Upon an Ever After: Modern Fairy Tales & Folklore, Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception and Gilded Glass: Twisted Myths & Shattered Fairy Tales.
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For today’s tour stop, we have a guest post by contributing author, Joseph Carrabis, here on Writing to be Read, and then over on Undawnted, DL Mullan has a review of his story, “Marianne”.
Guest Post
The Genesis of Marianne
Marianne originally was Mitre and dealt with how grown children deal with a senile parent. It was set at an ocean front home and many of the plot points in Mitre made it through to Marianne, except Mitre presented a dim view of people professing Christianity in order to avoid unpleasant responsibilities, and Mitre – a devout Catholic and an immigrant – is senile throughout the story.
The original Mitre draft – written sometime in the early 1970s. I was a live-in groundsman/driver/bodyguard for a wealthy family who lived in a mansion on the ocean – never worked for me although I appreciated the idea behind it and most of the plot points, so into a drawer it went (we didn’t have computers back then). I rewrote it twice in 1988 (at which point it made it into a computer), twice again in 1998, then again in 2013, 2015, 2017, twice in 2018 and ’19, and remained unsatisfied although I knew each rewrite got closer to the core story. I rewrote it four times in 2020 which is when Mitre became Marianne and I realized what wasn’t working for me. It took me four more rewrites to get the characters’ voices, the fantasy concept, the myth induction, and associated elements to work to my satisfaction.
Here are some specifics:
- What worked
- the low character count. Good short stories are rarely Cecile B. DeMille productions.
- The family dynamic.
- The relationship between Mitre/Marianne and her deceased husband.
- The oceanfront home setting.
- Licorice.
- What didn’t work
- Ragging on Christianity/Christians – too easy a target.
- The introduction of a Catholic, immigrant background – not relevant, red herrings, and weakened the story line.
- Poor storycrafting.
- What I liked originally – The resolution.
- Why I couldn’t let the story go – I don’t think I’ve ever let anything go. I have close to 16G of stories, novels, plot lines, characters, settings, et cetera, on my hard disk waiting for me to finish them. Specific to Mitre/Marianne, I couldn’t let go of the victimization and abuse of the elderly idea (even though it came to me long before it was a recognized cultural concern).
About Joseph Carrabis
Joseph Carrabis told stories to anyone who would listen starting in childhood, wrote his first stories in grade school, and started getting paid for his writing in 1978. He’s been everything from a long-haul trucker to a Chief Research Scientist and holds patents covering mathematics, anthropology, neuroscience, and linguistics. After patenting a technology which he created in his basement and creating an international company, he retired from corporate life and now he spends his time writing fiction based on his experiences. His work appears regularly in several anthologies and his own published novels. You can learn more about him at https://josephcarrabis.com.
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That wraps up up today’s tour stop on Writing to be Read, but be sure to drop over to Undawnted for a review of “Marianne” by DL Mullan.
Also, Joseph ran his own set of blog posts on the anthology, with sixteen contribiuting authors featured. His posts can be found as follows.
Janet Garber & “The Treatment”
Michaele Jordan & “Farewell, My Miko”
Stephanie Kraner & “Here, Now, Wherever”
Jeff Bowles & “Wilding of the Painted World”
Billie Holladay Skelley & “Secret Thoughts”
Sara Wesley McBride & “The Devil’s Bridge” & “The Haunted Palazzo”
Roberta Eaton Cheadle & “The Bite”
Christa Planko & “The Vanishing Tattoo”
Patty L. Fletcher & “The Portal Brings Christmas Love”
Kaye Lynne Booth & If You’re Happy and You Know It”
Zack Ellafy & “At the Mountains, Majesty”
C.R. Johanssen & “Her Beholder”
Thank you all so much for joining us and I hope you all enjoyed this tour as much as I have. There’s still time to get more entries in the giveaway by visiting each stop through the links at the top of the page. I will post the winners for the giveaway tomorrow in a special announcement post.
And don’t forget to grab your copy of Visions.
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/49Lk28
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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!
Writing to be Read 
And what a glorious ride it’s been, both for me and Marianne.
Stay warm, well, and safe, all.
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So pleased to have you aboard, Joseph. 🙂
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Great book tour! I enjoyed every stop along the way. Nice wrap up with the backstory behind the creation of “Marianne.” I love that this story is authentic and explores an important theme around a neglected group.Great storytelling can bring issues to light in meaningful ways and help incite action.
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Great story telling often brings hidden issues in meaningful ways. Sometimes it is easier to look at issues we are too close to with fictitional eyes.
Thanks for your contribution to the anthology and your support of the tour, Christa. So glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
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Hi everyone.
I apologize for the disappearance of my tour stop.
My tech guy has just written to say he found it and is working on putting it back.
My site is under construction and we tossed out a couple thousand files. This one accidentally got lost in the mix.
Give it about 24 hours and https://pattysworlds.com/michaele-jordan-and-farewell-my-miko-in-visions/
will hopefully be back live.
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Great wrap to the tour! Big thanks to everyone for all their hard work.
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Thanks for following and supporting the tour Julie… And thanks for your contribution to the anthology, too. 🙂
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Well now I’m curious when he says “licorice”…! Great guest post on writing and rewriting to get it right. Congrats on what looks to be a successful tour!!
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Thanks Christy! 🙂
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[…] – October 24 – Guest Post – Joseph Carabis – Writing to be Read & Review – […]
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Hi Kaye, my goodness, that is a lot of re-writes. Hats off to Joseph and I’m glad this story found its way into Visions.
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Me too, Robbie. It’s a keeper. 😉
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