Day 2 of the WordCrafter “Lingering Spirit Whispers” Book Blog Tour: Interview with author Kaye Lynne Booth

Lingering Spirit Whispers Book Blog Tour

Welcome to Day #2 of the WordCrafter Lingering Spirit Whispers Book Blog Tour, where we are celebrating the December 1st release of the Lingering Spirit Whispers paranormal anthology set. This unique collection of ghosties galore is a must read for all lovers of paranormal fiction. Available for pre-order now.

Lingering Spirit Whispers

We’re hanging out over at Un dawnted, where D.L. Mullen is interviewing contributing authors from the anthologies included in this set, and today’s author guest is… um… me! Kaye Lynne Booth. I have one story featured in each anthology. Un dawnted has no commenting capabilities, so please leave any comments you might have about the interview here, on Writing to be Read.

Kaye Lynne Booth lives, works, and plays in the mountains of Colorado. With a dual emphasis M.F.A. in Creative Writing, writing is more than a passion. It’s a way of life. She’s a multi-genre author, who finds inspiration from the nature around her, and her love of the old west, and other odd and quirky things which might surprise you.

She has short stories featured in the following anthologies: The Collapsar Directive (“If You’re Happy and You Know It”); Relationship Add Vice (“The Devil Made Her Do It”); Nightmareland (“The Haunting in Carol’s Woods”); Whispers of the Past (“The Woman in the Water”); Spirits of the West (“Don’t Eat the Pickled Eggs”) and Where Spirits Linger (“The People Upstairs”). Her western, Delilah, her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets, and her short story collection, Last Call, are all available in both digital and print editions.

In her spare time, she keeps up her author’s blog, Writing to be Read, where she posts reflections on her own writing, author interviews and book reviews, along with writing tips and inspirational posts from fellow writers. She’s also the founder of WordCrafter Enterprises. In addition to creating her own imprint in WordCrafter Press, she offers quality author services, such as editing, social media & book promotion.

In Whispers of the Past, my story is “The Woman in the Water”.

In Spirits of the West, my story is “Don’t Eat the Pickled Eggs”.

In Where Spirits Linger, my story is “The People Upstairs”.

You can pop over and join us for my interview with D.L. Mullen here: http://www.undawnted.com/2021/11/wordcrafter-lingering-spirit-whispers_30.html

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Welcome to the WordCrafter “Lingering Spirit Whispers” Book Blog Tour: Interview with author Stevie Turner

Lingering Spirits Whisper Book Blog Tour

Thank you for joining us for Day #1 of the WordCrafter Lingering Spirit Whispers Book Blog Tour. This tour celebrates not one, but three different anthologies offered together in one anthology set. This unique paranormal set combines three paranormal anthologies into a single set for ghosties galore. A must have for lovers of paranormal fiction.

Whispers of the Past

As you may know, every year WordCrafter Press runs a short fiction contest, and each year there is a resulting anthology. For 2019, it was Whispers of the Past, with paranormal stories from contributing authors including myself, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Stevie Turner, Laurel McHargue, Julie Goodswen and author of the winning story, Jeff Bowles.

Spirits of the West

For 2020, it was Spirits of the West, with western paranormal stories from contributing authors including myself, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Jeff Bowles, Arthur Rosch, Tom Johnson, and author of the winning story, Enid Holden.

Where Spirits Linger

For 2021, it was Where Spirits Linger, with paranormal tales from contributing authors including myself, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Stevie Turner, Enid Holden, S.L. Kretschmer, and author of the winning story, Christa Planko.

You can get all three in one anthology set, Linger Spirit Whispers, to be released on December 1 and available for pre-order now.

Lingering Spirit Whispers

And join us for the tour to learn more about the stories contained within these three paranormal anthologies and their authors. D.L. Mullen will be doing interviews on her Un dawnted blog site Monday through Thursday and we will finish up her with a guest post from 2021 contest winner, Christa Planko discussing the inspiration behind her winning story, “Olde-Tyme Village”, featured in Where Spirits Linger. Un dawnted does not have comments enabled, but feel free to post any comments you have on the interviews here. Interviews with authors Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Kaye Lynne Booth, Stevie Turner and Jeff Bowles will be featured. I hope you will join us today and follow us through the rest of the tour.

Today’s author guest is contributing author Stevie Turner, who has stories in two out of three anthologies included in this set.

Stevie Turner is a British author of suspense, paranormal, women’s fiction family dramas and darkly humorous novels, and likes to find subjects to write about that are not often covered. Stevie is married and lives in the wilds of East Anglia, England, and enjoys cycling about the countryside when she is not busy writing. 

Her story “Partners in Time” is featured in Whispers of the Past – a paranormal romance where past and present cross.

And her story “David’s Revenge” is featured in Where Spirits Linger – a tale of revenge from the grave.

You can join in on Stevie’s interview with D.L. Mullen here: http://www.undawnted.com/2021/11/wordcrafter-lingering-spirit-whispers.html

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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!


Review: Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage

I grew up believing that John F. Kennedy was an upstanding and respectable man, a positive role model for America’s youth. He was assassinated before I was born, but I was the unseen listener to the conversations of the adults in my life, which often made no sense to me at the time. Between the opinions of my mother and my grandparents, and the way in which J.F.K. has always been portrayed in the media, I always thought that the Kennedys were part of the good guys. But after reading Collateral Damage, by Mark Shaw, my view of American history has changed. The evidence laid out by Shaw in this book, laid out through diligent research, paints a picture of a different story.

Not that John F. Kennedy didn’t do good in the office of President of the United States of America. Shaw makes no such claim, but he does tell a very different tale about J.F.K. the man and the rest of the Kennedy family. John F. Kennedy isn’t the main villain in this story, but one of the victims, an inadvertent casualty of one man’s drive for power. His investigative reporting skills have long been hard at work t bring this true life tale into the public eye. It’s a tale of connections and conspiracies, a true life drama of power and greed and the story of those who inadvertently got in the way.

Shaw presents compelling evidence to connect the assassination of John F. Kennedy, with the death of actress Marilyn Monroe and that of journalist and media icon Dorothy Kilgallen in an attempt to give them all the justice they were denied at the time of their deaths and ever after. His research is well-documented and much of the evidence is available for visual examination on his site for those who want to decide for themselves. The connections which Shaw reveals have always been there had anyone cared to seek out the facts, but no one did until Mark Shaw delved into the facts, presenting them a book at a time with each volume presenting more pieces of a puzzle, filling in the whole story gradually, in stages.

The edges of the puzzle were presented in The Reporter Who Knew Too Much, giving us the mysterious facts surrounding Dorothy Kilgallen’s life and death and some of the inside pieces connecting it with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In Denial of Justice, Shaw presents more of the facts tying Kilgallen and J.F.K. together, filling in more inner areas of the puzzle, but Collateral Damage presents new evidence delving into the death of Marilyn Monroe, filling in the gaps to complete the picture.

Collateral Damage is a well researched investigation into events which occurred in an era of mob rule and power politics, where corruption ran deep, deeper than I had ever realized. Shaw reveals a tale of intrigue, deceit and murder as he delves into three of the greatest mysteries in history. I give it five quills.

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Halloween Special: 3 Days Only

Covid 19 brought changes to the way we do many things, including how we celebrate Halloween. Many folks may not be comfortable being exposed to children in costume coming to their door. Many parents may not be comfortable letting their children go door-to-door this year. I know of neighborhood residents who have gotten together to allow trick-or-treating only within a close-knit group, where everyone knows everyone else and they are all vacinated, and I’ve seen more haunted houses this year than ever before.

One thing that hasn’t changed though, is the love of a good ghost story or two on Halloween night. That’s why this weekend only, you can get a digital copy of Where Spirits Linger, this year’s WordCrafter paranormal anthology, to draw your ghost stories from. You’ll be captivated with the lingering spirits in these short stories, including the winning story from the 2021 WordCrafter Paranormal Short Fiction Contest, “Olde-Tyme Village”, by Christa Planko. Work from other authors which is also included in this short fiction collection: Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s ghost with an agenda in “Listen to Instructions”, my own ghosts who want to care and be cared for in “The People Upstairs”, S.L. Kretsmer’s ghost who wants to be remembered in a positive light in “The Final Portrait”, Stevie Turner’s ghost who wants revenge in “David’s Revenge”, and you’re sure to get a chuckle from Enid Holden’s ghosts in “The Chosen Few”.

Don’t miss out on these great ghost stories this Halloween. Only .99 cents starting today through Halloween. Celebrate your Halloween Where Spirits Linger. Click the link below to have your digital copy delivered right to your reading device of choice.

Where Spirits Linger

https://books2read.com/u/mYGyNG

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Review in Practice – Slushpile Memories: How Not to Get Rejected

Slush Pile Memories: How Not to Get Rejected

Introducing a new blog series

For those of you that don’t know, I am currently embarked on a journey to earn my masters degree in publishing at Western State Colorado University. Some of you may know this because I mentioned it when I posted the submission guidelines for the Mirror, Mirror anthology that we are putting together for our class thesis project. I was really excited about sharing this paid writing opportunity with all of you and I hope many of you will craft out a story that fits the guidelines and submit it. I was recently reminded that the submission deadline is just two weeks away, so get those stories in.

With work and school and trying to write, I’ve been struggling just to get my Monday blog post out. I’ve been blogging here on Writing to be Read since 2010 and it is important to me and hopefully to my readers, so I can justify feeling a need not to drop the ball here even though I’m extremely busy. My solution, which I thought was rather smart, was to create a new blog series, “Review in Practice”, where you can join me through book reviews that reflect lessons taken from books I read as I work to improve my craft and learn the publishing industry. In this way, the books I need to read in order to learn and improve will do double duty as I share them with you here. These reviews will offer my opinion of the book, and also tell you about my experience with it and share what I have learned. I do hope you will join me.

My Review

Reading Slush Pile Memories: How Not to Get Rejected, by New York Times Bestselling author, Kevin J. Anderson helped to prepare me for the onslaught that is already flooding the submissions box, because it offered me a better idea of what lay ahead. But, this book was written for authors, to give them an idea of what editors are looking for and improve the chances that your submission will read and accepted. It is a brief book, which doesn’t take long to read and the lessons contained within could prove invaluable. As I have begun working my own way through this year’s slush pile, I’ve already learned that the experiences contained within Slush Pile Memories: How Not to Get Rejected is spot on.

Of course there’s never any guarantees of acceptance, but there are ways to increase the odds. Kevin J. Anderson relates his own experiences from the last two anthologies the graduate publishing program at Western put together. (Yes, he is really my professor. How cool is that?) If you are thinking of submitting a story to Mirror, Mirror or any other anthology, Slush Pile Memories: How Not to Get Rejected is a must read. I give it five quills.

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Anthology Release, Winner Announcement and Pre-Call for Short Fiction Submissions

Last week saw the release of the 2021 WordCrafter paranormal anthology, Where Spirits Linger. I was pleased with he stories that are featured in this anthology. I had worked with three of the contributing authors in past anthologies, but two were new to me, including the winner of the 2021 Short Fiction Contest, Christa Planko, who sent in a wonderfully eerie piece of flash fiction, “Olde-Tyme Village”, which gives me goosebumps.

For the release, we ran a book blog tour and giveaway, which I feel was a success, resulting in a few more book sales. The winner of the WordCrafter “Where Spirits Linger” Book Blog Tour giveaway was Cindy Georgakas, who commented on Miriam Hurdle’s blog stop The Many Showers of Blessings. Cindy, if you will contact me at KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com to let me know your format preference, (epub, mobi, or pdf), I’ll be pleased to send you your free digital copy of Where Spirits Linger. Congratulations!

If you didn’t win this time, I hope you’ll drop in on our next WordCrafter Book Blog Tour. For now, you can purchase your copy of this original anthology here:

https://www.amazon.com/Where-Spirits-Linger-Lynne-Booth-ebook/dp/B09GNZJVJ5

I want your Visions

Now that Where Spirits Linger has been released, it’s time to gear up for next year’s contest. There were only six contributing authors in this year’s anthology, but next year I’m hoping to be able to include more, so I am planning to broaden the scope of the theme for 2022. In the past, WordCrafter anthologies have had paranormal themes because I’m a sucker for a good ghost story, but for 2022, I plan to broaden that out to include the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. For Visions, your story can still have a ghost if you like, but it won’t be required. I’m announcing this ahead of time because I want you to have time to limber up your fingers and your minds, and send me your very best stories. What I’m looking for in the 2022 WordCrafter anthology are thought provoking stories that will stay with readers long after they close the book.

WordCrafter will be open for submissions beginning on January 1 through the submission deadline of May 31, 2022. The winner will receive a $25.00 Amazon gift card and their story will be featured in Visions. All finalists will also receive an invitation to be included in the anthology, which offers a small royalty share for your story contribution. My submission guidelines are pretty simple, but they are different from last year, so be sure to read and follow them carefully. Submit your story with a cover letter to KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com with “Submission: [Your Title] in the subject line and pay the $5 entry fee in the PayPal box on the submissions page, which will go up January 1st, 2022, when submissions open.

Visions: Submission Guidelines

Submission Dates: January 1st, 2022 to May 31st, 2022

Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror

Word Count: up to 10,000 words

Rights: First Anthology Rights and audio rights as part of the anthology; rights revert to author one month after publication; publisher retains non-exclusive right to include in the anthology as a whole. 

Multiple Submissions: Yes

Simultaneous Submissions: No

Submit: MS Word doc or RTF file

If you don’t know what standard manuscript format is, review, for example, https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/

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Day 6 of the WordCrafter “Where Spirits Linger” Book Blog Tour

Where Spirits Linger Book Blog Tour

To wrap-up the WordCrafter Where Spirits Linger Book Blog Tour, we have a guest post by contributing author, S.L. Kretschmer about the inspiration behind her story, “The Final Portrait”. I hope you all have enjoyed following this tour with us. Don’t forget to leave a comment. Every comment at each stop earns an entry into a random drawing for a free digital copy of Where Spirits Linger.

Guest post by S.L. Kretschmer, author of The Final Portrait

The Final Portrait evolved from prompts I received in round 1 of the 2020 NYC Midnight Short Story Competition – Ghost story, a monument, deodorant. My mind immediately flew to the Western Front of World War I and the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in Northern France. I was fortunate to have visited the memorial in 2011, boarding a bus in the French town of Lille, and travelling south towards the battlefields. Little could prepare me for the emotion I felt on the trip. The scars across the landscape, now lush and green, could be easily identified, and it was not difficult to imagine the horrific scenes of trench warfare.

Thiepval Memorial

I began to research World War I paintings and came across a particularly moving one by the Irish artist William Orpen. Orpen was an official World War I Artist, and his depiction of a soldier, bloodied and lying in an alien landscape, devoid of nature and pitted with craters and pools of fetid water, was confronting. Orpen struggled with the brutality and grisly sights he documented for those back home and claimed to have been struck by a phantom force while painting in an abandoned field.

William Orpen

These nuggets of information were gelling into a thought. What would those painted in death have thought of the depiction? Of family and friends who might recognize their loved one? Of who they were, compared to how they are remembered in this final rendering? The Final Portrait.

The Final Portrait, by S.L. Kretschmer

S. L. Kretschmer is a born and bred South Australian, recently embracing both a tree change and becoming an empty nester in the beautiful wine region of the Barossa Valley. She has a BA in Creative Writing, and Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies. Her stories have been featured in the anthologies A Flash of Brilliance and Tales from the Upper Room, and have also been published by Haunted Waters Press, Two Sisters Publishing, 101 Words, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Bluing the Blade and inScribe Literary Journal.

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Where Spirits Linger

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Spirits-Linger-Lynne-Booth-ebook/dp/B09GNZJVJ5

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Thanks for joining us today! And if you missed any of the blog stops along the way, you can find them at the links below. Drop by and catch the ones you missed, and leave a comment to let us know you were there and get a chance for the free didgital copy of Where Spirits Linger.

Sept. 20 – Intro./Enid’s promo – Writing to be Read/Review – Undawnted

https://writingtoberead.com/2021/09/20/welcome-to-the-wordcrafter-where-spirits-linger-book-blog-tour/

Sept. 21 – Guest Post – Roberta Eaton Cheadle/Review – The Showers of Blessings

Sept. 22 – Guest Post – Kaye Lynne Booth – Patty’s World

Sept. 23 – Interview with Christa – Roberta Writes

Sept. 24 – Guest Post – Stevie Turner/ Review – Zigler’s News

https://ziglernews.blogspot.com/2021/09/where-spirits-linger-wordcrafter-book.html

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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!


Day 5 of the WordCrafter “Where Spirits Linger” Book Blog Tour

Where Spirits Linger Book Blog Tour

For Day 5 of the WordCrafter Where Spirits Linger Book Blog Tour brings us a guest post by contributing author, Stevie Turner about her story, “David’s Revenge”, on Zigler’s News and a review by Victoria Zigler. Please join us to learn more about this author and her story. Leave a comment and earn a chance to win a free digital copy of Where Spirits Linger.

https://ziglernews.blogspot.com/2021/09/where-spirits-linger-wordcrafter-book.html

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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!


Day 3 of the WordCrafter “Where Spirits Linger” Book Blog Tour

Where Spirits Linger Book Blog Tour

Day 3 of the WordCrafter Where Spirits Linger Book Blog Tour finds us over at Patty’s World with a guest post from me! Join us to learn about the inspiriation behind my story, “The People Upstairs”, which is included in the newly released paranormal anthology.

Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!


Welcome to the WordCrafter “Where Spirits Linger” Book Blog Tour

Exciting news! The 2021 WordCrafter Paranormal Anthology, Where Spirits Linger, was released today! And we’re launching a six-day blog tour to send this delightfully eerie anthology off to a great start. Each blog tour stop will feature a guest post by one of the authors about their story, and there will also be an interview of Christa Planko, author of the winning story in the 2021 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest, “Olde-Tyme Village”. So, I hope you will stay with us and follow the tour this week to learn more about this wonderful anthology and its featured stories. Many thanks to the wonderful bloggers who have graciously agreed to host for this tour.

This is Day 1 of the WordCrafter Where Spirits Linger Book Blog Tour, so let me tell you just a little about the stories featured in this anthology and their authors. Since I published this wonderful anthology, I can’t really offer a review, but you can find a review by D.L. Mullen on her blog, Undawnted, here:  http://www.undawnted.com/2021/09/wordcrafter-blog-tour-where-spirits.html

The winning story in the 2021 WordCrafter Paranormal Short Fiction Contest was Christa Planko with her story of ghostly encounters, “Olde-Tyme Village”. Robbie Cheadle will be interviewing Christa about her winning story on Thursday on her blog, Roberta Writes.

Where Spirits Linger Authors

In Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s story, “Listen to Instructions”, a greedy man misses the message a ghost is trying to convey. You can find out more about this story in Roberta’s guest post tomorrow on, The Showers of Blessings, along with a review by Miriam Hurdle.

In my story, “The People Upstairs”, when a young girl inherits her housekeeper and long time friend’s house, she finds out that her friend may not have been crazy after all, when strange things start happening to her. You will find my guest post about the inspiration behind this story on Patty Fletcher’s Patty’s World on Wednesday.

Stevie Turner’s spirit gets his takes out his revenge from the ethereal regions in “David’s Revenge”. Her guest post will be featured on Friday on Zigler’s News along with a review by Victoria Zigler.

And on Saturday, we will finish off the tour right here, on Writing to be Read with a guest post by S.L. Kretschmer about her story, “The Final Portrait”, in which her character releases a spirit with a phantom image.

Unfortunately, Enid Holden was not able to participate in the tour and tell you about her story, “The Chosen Few”. But, I can tell you that it is a delightful paranormal charactered by some very colorful spirits whose co-existance with their home’s living inhabitants will surprise and delight you. This light and humorous story is sure to evoke a chuckle or two. I will include the excerpt from her story here.

The Chosen Few, by Enid Holden

I’m pleased with the selection of stories we eneded up with in Where Spirits Linger. We have some great contributing authors and some wonderful short stories. I hope you will stay with us and follow the tour to each blog stop to learn more about the stories within to picque your interest. Of course, I hope you buy the book, but each comment you make along the way earns an entry into a random drawing for a free digital copy of Where Spirits Linger, so you could be our next lucky winner!

You can purchase your copy of Where Spirits Linger here:

Print: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Spirits-Linger-Lynne-Booth/dp/B09DFDDB1Q

Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GNZJVJ5

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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!