Today we’re over at the Paul Martz blog site for Day 3 of the Midnight Garden Book Blog Tour with contributing author, Joseph Carrabis, sharing his inspiration for “Striders” and a reading of “The Last Drop”. Join us to get a small sampling of the deliciously dark stories featured in Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow and a chance to win a free digital copy.
It’s Day 2 of the WordCrafter Midnight Garden Book Blog Tour and we’re over at Roberta Writes with contributing authors Danaeka Scrimshaw and Denise Aparo. Join us in the lauch for volume 2 of the Midnight Dark Fiction Anthology Series from WordCrafter Press, Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow with guest posts on inspiration and excerpt readings from their stories, and a giveaway where you could be the winner of a free digital copy.
It’s day 1 of the WordCrafter Midnight Garden Book Blog Tour, and we’ve got a great tour scheduled with with guest posts and readings from contributing authors at every stop, and a fantastic giveaway, so stick with us.
Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow is the annual WordCrafter anthology, and book 2 of the Midnight dark fiction anthology series. This year’s winning story is “The Seagull Man”, by M.J. Mallon. Also featured are stories by contributing authors Paul Kane, Ell Rodman, DL Mullan, Joseph Carrabis, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Paul Martz, Denise Aparo, Jon Shannon, Julie Jones, Abe Margel, Robb T. White, Molly Ertel, Zack Elafy, Danaeka Scrimshaw, Kaye Lynne Booth, and Alex Constance.
About Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow
17 authors bring you 21 magnificent dark tales. Stories of magic, monsters and mayhem. Tales of murder and madness which will make your skin crawl. These are the tales that explore your darkest Midnight Garden… if you dare.
Three lucky winners will receive a digital copy of Midnight Garden in a random drawing following the tour. All you have to do to enter is follow the tour and leave a comment at each stop that you visit.
If you miss a stop, you can go back and visit through the links in the schedule below. (Links won’t work until the stop goes live).
Schedule
Monday – October 7 – M.J. Mallon: Interview & Reading from “The Seagull Man” – Writing to be Read
Tuesday – October 8 – Danaeka Scrimshaw: Inspiration for “The Fae Game” & Denise Aparo: Reading from “Jack Moon & the Vanishing Book” – Roberta Writes
Wednesday – October 9 – Joseph Carrabis: Reading of “The Last Drop” & Inspiration for “Striders” – Paul Martz
Thursday – October 10 – Paul Martz: Reading & Inspiration for “The Blackest Ink” – Writing to be Read
Friday – October 11 – Molly Ertel: Inspiration Reading from “Antipenultimate” & Abe Margel: Inspiration for “My Balance” – Kyrosmagica
Saturday – October 12 – Paul Kane: Inspiration for “Drip Feed” & Joseph Carrabis: Reading of “Grande Ture” – Undawnted
Sunday – October 13 – DL Mullan: Reading from “Kurst” & Ell Rodman: Inspiration for “The Drummer” – BookPlaces
Monday – October 14 – Joseph Carrabis: Reading of “The Exchange” & Inspiration for “The Tomb”) – Writing to be Read
Today’s stop features an interview with the author of the winning story, M.J. Mallon, and an excerpt reading from “The Seagull Man”.
Interview
M.J.: Thank you so much Kaye for such wonderful questions and for featuring me.
Kaye: What inspired you to enter the WordCrafter 2024 Short Fiction Contest?
I enjoy being part of anthologies especially around Halloween time when I can flex my dark fiction tendencies. And the bonus of winning, which this time I did, is so inspiring!
Kaye: What inspired your story entry, “The Seagull Man”?
M.J.: Bird and people watching! I’ve witnessed four curious bird episodes, three with seagulls, either acting strange or amusing and one more recently with a large swan and pigeons being fed by a curious-looking man. Getting back to the seagull story that inspired me, I saw a man surrounded by seagulls who appeared to be dressed like them. They flocked around him, obsessively, camouflaging him, and then followed him when he drove off on his bike. He disappeared with them, as if he was one of them, dressed in seagull colours of white and grey.
Kaye: Where were you when you received the news that your story had been chosen as the winner?
M.J.: I was in Tavira, Portugal, enjoying the June sunshine. Imagine my delight to hear that I was the winner. An excuse for some celebratory wine, some vinho verde!
Kaye: You’re a YA author. In your opinion, what is the biggest difference between YA and adult fiction? Why do you choose to write for young adults?
M.J.: With YA fiction, you must have the right mindset, a youthful one. And be mindful of the audience you are writing for. So, I include mental health, etc, trigger warnings, (mild ones, albeit.) I am currently writing book three in the series and there is one creepy scene, (which I’ve had some concerns about. How far is it okay to go?) How much do I include for a younger readership? What is acceptable? Whereas, if you write for adults, there are fewer restrictions in that way. I write YA because I have a young mindset, and I like to keep as youthful in mind and body as I can.
Kaye: What is the biggest reward you get from your writing?
M.J.: The readership, when you get feedback that your writing means different things to different people. No one has the same opinion. And when someone truly gets your story and relates to what you are trying to portray that is the biggest reward.
Kaye: How does your love of crystals play a role in your writing?
M.J.: I collect crystals have done for years. My first was a malachite, which is a green crystal and a stone of transformation! Crystals are a crucial part of the Curse of Time series, Bloodstone and Golden Healer, and will also be in the third book, still to be named. Crystals are magical! The main protagonist, Amelina, learns about her magical ancestry and how to wield magic to protect her family and her friend Esme, the vulnerable mental health protagonist, the mirror girl, from harm.
Kaye: Books 1 & 2 of your Curse of Time series are Bloodstone and Golden Healer, respectively. Would you like to tell about this series?
M.J.: The story setting is Cambridge, England, where I used to live.
It is inspired by:
The Corpus Christi Chronophage clock on King’s parade and its three creatures: the grasshopper, the mythological midsummer fly, and the dragon, (invented by Dr. John C. Taylor, OBE who I had the pleasure of meeting!)
Juniper Artland’s sculptural park, crystal grotto, (crafted by artist Anya Gallaccio,) in Wilkieston, near Edinburgh, Scotland.
It is a light (crystal magic,) and dark tale of a girl’s transformation, her discovery of who she is, who she can trust and how to cure her father of a debilitating aging curse. As the series continues, the storyline of all the characters evolves. In this process, we learn more about the antagonist, Ryder, who is a dark demon, a shadow sorcerer, with a creepy panther. And book three has the extraordinary dragon clock timepiece! A dragon like one you have never met before!
Kaye: In addition to your novels, you’ve had stories published in several short fiction anthologies, including Nightmareland, in which I also have a story featured. (I didn’t realize that until I visited your author page on Amazon.) What is your preference: writing fiction in short or long form? Why?
M.J.: Yes, I began writing short fiction horror/dark fiction through the training ground of Nightmareland!
My preference… long form is so rewarding when I write that final chapter. I always feel such a sense of accomplishment. But it is so difficult in its production, because of its size, the sheer volume of the project. And a series is even harder.
Short form is easier to get to the nugget of the story. I love that about short form. Both are wonderful. I’m not sure which I prefer… I love them both, but for different reasons!
Kaye: If you could meet and talk with one literary figure, dead or alive, who would it be? Why?
M.J.: Ah, just one? Oscar Wilde, as I’d love to ask him about his portrayal of Dorian Grey, in the Picture of Dorian Gray. The antagonist, Ryder, in the Curse of time series was based on him. Dorian’s narcissistic vanity, his longing for beauty, for youth, his charm, and his excesses that is Ryder.
Reading from “The Seagull Man” by M.J. Mallon
Midnight Garden Book Trailer
Excerpt From “The Peddler”, by Alex Constance
Excerpt From “Fire Sale at the Burdock Family Business”, by Robb T. White
Robbie Cheadle started the “Growing Bookworms” blog series back in 2019. It was the first series that she brought to Writing to be Read, and is the longest running blog series to date on Writing to be Read. It has been a wonderful series, which originated with her Sir Chocolate series characters, and all the creative ways in which she encouraged her own sons to read and enjoy the world of literature. It has now grown into a discussion of children’s books and literature as the series progresses. Now, after six years, Robbie’s bookworms are grown and she is ready to move on with a new series, which I’ll tell you a little about below. But first, let’s celebrate the series by spotlighting all the fabulous banners Robbie has created for the “Growing Bookworms” series over the years with her darling fondant art as we bid “Growing Bookworms” farewell.
Growing Bookworms
(The fondant village is the latest banner. Click to the right for a trip back through time to the first banner with Sir Chocolate and Silly Willy back in 2019.)
Welcome “Robbie Reads and Cooks”
In her new blog series, “Read and Cook”, Robbie plans to share posts containing a book review paired with a recipe. I hope you will join us in welcoming this new and creative blog series for Robbie. I think it will be interesting to see what Robbie’s literary tastes cook up.
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October Release: Midnight Garden
17 authors bring you 21 magnificent dark tales. Stories of magic, monsters and mayhem. Tales of murder and madness which will make your skin crawl. These are the tales that explore your darkest fears. Read them in the Midnight Garden… if you dare.
Contributing authors include Paul Kane, Ell Rodman, DL Mullan, Joseph Carrabis, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Denise Aparo, Jon Shannon, Zack Elafy, Paul Martz, Robb T. White, Abe Margel, Julie Jones, Molly Ertel, Peter McKay, Kaye Lynne Booth, Danaeka Scrimshaw, and M.J. Mallon, author of the winning story in the 2024 WordCrafter Dark Fiction Contest.
Scheduled for release on October 8th. Don’t miss the WordCrafter Midnight Garden Book Blog Tour October 7 – 14, with guest posts and audio/video readings by contributing authors, and a great giveaway. So be sure to join us in sending this dark fiction anthology off right.
Tales From the Hanging Tree News
There exists a tree that is timeless, spanning across all dimensions, which absorbs every life as those who are hanged as they die… and it remembers every one. The stories within are a select few of the Tales From the Hanging Tree.
September saw the release of Tales From the Hanging Tree: Imprints of Tragedy. We launched it with a great blog tour featuring guest posts or excerpt readings from contributing authors. If you missed it, you can access each stop through the links in the tour schedule below. You can get your copy at your favorite retailer through Books2Read: https://books2read.com/Hanging-Tree
Tour Schedule
Monday Sept. 9 –Writing to be Read– Reading Excerpt by Joseph Carrabis & Guest Sylva Fae
Friday Sept. 13 – Writing to be Read– Reading Excerpt by DL Mullan & Guest Matt Usher
We also had a cool giveaway during the tour. The winners received a free digital copy of Tales From the Hanging Tree: Imprints of Tragedy.
And the winners are…
T.W. Dittmer
Merril D. Smith
C.E. Robinson
We also had promotional posts appear on the Joseph Carrabis blog site, so if you’d like to learn more about the anthology, click on the links below to see those posts.
Friday Sept. 13 – Writing to be Read – Reading Excerpt by Dl Mullan & Guest Matt Usher
The Giveaway
Follow the tour and leave a comment at each stop you visit to let us know you were there and earn an entry in the giveaway for a free digital copy of Tales From the Hanging Tree.
About Tales From the Hanging Tree
Tales from the Hanging Tree is a wonderfully dark, themed anthology which revolves around an ephemeral and timeless hanging tree that absorbs the memories of all hanging victims. This WordCrafter Press anthology was created by invitation only and includes stories from authors Kaye Lynne Booth, Paul Kane, DL Mullan, C.R. Johansson, Joseph Carrabis, Sylva Fae, and Matt Usher.
Book Trailer
Inspiration for Death for Sale, by Matt Usher
Hanging is harder than it looks. In media, you’re more likely to find your average strangulation hanging. This belies a long history of hanging development. Strangulation is more of an amateur, homespun kind of hanging. Many works in this collection consider this to great effect. Others prefer the cleaner solutions. They both have their appeal.
The history of hanging, dating back to at least Homer, converges in different nations to a common point of development. An odd form of mercy: you see, there’s the short drop, the medium drop, and the long drop of the famed “long drop, short stop”. This is because the merciful version of the art of hanging causes death by cervical fracture long before the patient can enjoy asphyxia. Cleaner that way. No risk of having to watch the hanged make a drama out of the proceedings.
The body’s weight does all the work, leaving the executioner to the simple task of pulling a lever. The English, masters of execution that they were, with a long, long history of hanging innocents, had it down to an exact science. The solution is to make a table that compares the soon to be departed’s height and weight to an array of possible drop distances. This was, of course, to avoid the chances of decapitation with a too-long drop, or a drawn-out death by a too-short one. Jolly humanism at its finest. Wouldn’t want to cause a mess. Unless you happen to fall athwart the long history of botched hangings. But hey, you can’t get it right all the time.
You’ll find plenty to learn about the history and morbid dynamics of hanging in this collection. In my own contribution that takes place in the near future, despite everything I’ve said, I’ve opted for a traditional death by strangulation. It just has that particular frisson. Makes your skin crawl. Others have plumped for the quick and painless style. Why be shy about it when you’re spoiled for choice? So much for the how of hanging; this anthology explores why. Even the Hanging Tree has its reasons.
About Matt Usher
Matt Usher is an agender creature in the big city. Before this, they had no other fiction publications. They write as a critic at Compulsive Reader. They cherish a love of the music of language and a polycule who are the dearest people in their life.
They are the strange sort of being that makes spreadsheets for fun. This is often in service of automatic calculations and data storage for traditional roleplaying games, their most important hobby. Collaborative creativity is one of their most valued things.
They play bass and trumpet, like pro wrestling, and write extremely nerdy poetry. They are immensely neurodivergent and rather queer.
Excerpt from “12 Angry Dead”, by DL Mullan
About DL Mullan
DL Mullan holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology. Her lecture, Spacescapes: Where Photography Ends; Imagination Begins, debuted at the Phoenix Astronomy Society, which then led to her Sally Ride Festival lecture invitations. Her presentation, Bridging the Gap between Technology and Women, won her accolades at a community college’s Student Success Conference. She has been a panelist at speculative fiction, science fiction, and other regional conventions. Her digital exhibition pieces have won awards at convention art shows, as well as garnered her Second Premium at the Arizona State Fair. Currently, Ms. Mullan’s artistic renditions are seen on book covers, blog sites, and various merchandise. As an independent publisher, she uses her technical background to innovate the way she perceives the creative arts.
As a writer, DL Mullan loves to stretch her imagination and the elasticity of genres. She writes complex multigenre stories in digestible and entertaining forms, be it poetry, short fiction, or novels. Her science, history, mythology, and paranormal research background is woven into her writings, especially in Undawnted’s Legacy Universe. Ms. Mullan’s creative endeavors are available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. She is also an award-winning poet.
Be sure to subscribe to her newsletters and follow her on social media. For further information, visit her at http://www.undawnted.com.
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That wraps up this stop and the WordCrafter Tales From the Hanging Tree Book Blog Tour. Thank you all for hanging around with us, and thanks to the contributors of the anthology for all their promotional efforts for this tour. Be sure to use the schedule above to go back and visit any stops that you missed, and don’t forget to comment so I know you were there and can enter you in the drawing for the giveaway. I’ll leave this open through the weekend and announce the winners in this month’s “WordCrafter News” on Monday, the 30th, so be watching for that. After all, you might be a winner!
Today we’re all ‘hanging around’ over at Undawnted for Day 4 of the WordCrafter Tales of the Hanging Tree Book Blog Tour with a guest post by contributing author Paul Kane about his story, “The Hanging Men”. Join us. (Please leave any comments here on Writing to be Read, as Undawnted is not comment enabled.)
Today we’re hanging around over at Carla Loves to Read for Day 3 of the WordCrafter Tales From the Hanging Tree Book Blog Tour with a guest post from C.R. Johansson about her story, “Therion’s Heart”. Won’t you join us?
Welcome to the opening day of the WordCrafter Tales From the Hanging Tree Book Blog Tour. We have a great tour planned, with guest posts and readings from contributing authors, and a great giveaway where you could win a free digital copy of this dark fiction anthology.
Tour Schedule
Monday Sept. 9 – Writing to be Read – Reading Excerpt by Joseph Carrabis & Guest Sylva Fae
Friday Sept. 13 – Writing to be Read– Reading Excerpt by DL Mullan & Guest Matt Usher
The Giveaway
Follow the tour and leave a comment at each stop you visit to let us know you were there and earn an entry in the giveaway for a free digital copy of Tales From the Hanging Tree.
About Tales From the Hanging Tree
There exists a tree that is timeless, spanning across all dimensions, which absorbs every life as those who are hanged as they die… and it remembers every one. The stories within are a select few of the Tales From the Hanging Tree.
Tales from the Hanging Tree is a wonderfully dark, themed anthology which revolves around an ephemeral and timeless hanging tree that absorbs the memories of all hanging victims. This WordCrafter Press anthology was created by invitation only and includes stories from authors Kaye Lynne Booth, Paul Kane, DL Mullan, C.R. Johansson, Joseph Carrabis, Sylva Fae, and Matt Usher.
Reading from “Mercy”, by Joseph Carrabis
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.
Inspiration for “The Devil’s Mark” by Sylva Fae
I am an author from Lancashire, England, and my maiden name was Jan Southworth – both of these facts are quite relevant to finding inspiration for the story.
Salmesbury Hall, a beautiful stately home in Lancashire, in the north of England, was originally built for the Southworth family, (one of the oldest families in the country) who resided there between 1325 and 1678. The house has a chequered past, which includes religious persecution, betrayal, witchcraft and murder. From being a young child, I was fascinated to read the history of my ancestors, the lords and ladies, saints and witches, but in particular about the women accused of witchcraft.
Jane Southworth was one of three women tried for maleficium, causing harm by witchcraft, in the Lancashire Witch Trials of 1612. The family was split at the Reformation, with one half staying Roman Catholic and the other half, including Jane and her husband, converting to the Protestant Church. There were strong disagreements, and when Jane’s husband was disinherited, her father-in-law spread rumours of her being a witch. Later, Jane and two others, were accused of witchcraft by a child named Grace Sowerbutts. Grace gave evidence at trial of witnessing the women shapeshifting into dogs, meeting with demonic creatures in the woods at night and murdering and eating a child. The accused women beseeched Grace to tell of who had coached her, and when cross-examined, it came out that she had been told what to say by Sir Christopher Southworth, a Jesuit priest. Thankfully, the evidence was thrown out and the women were acquitted, but sadly this was not always the case.
The themes of innocent women being accused of witchcraft, merely because they were deemed different or troublesome, seemed the perfect basis for the Hanging Tree anthology story. My story is purely fictional, but uses research taken from real trials and the ridiculous reasons some of these women were accused of witchcraft. I also like to see justice served, but you’ll have to read the story to find out how this happens in The Devil’s Mark.
About Sylva Fae
Sylva Fae is a married mum of three from Lancashire, England. She grew up in a rambling old farmhouse with an artistic family and an adopted bunch of dysfunctional animals. Her earliest memories are of bedtime stories snuggled up close to Mum to see the pictures. It was a magical time, those last special moments before dozing off to sleep would feed dreams of faraway lands and mystical beings. She spent twenty plus years teaching literacy to adults with learning difficulties and disabilities and now lives in Cheshire, juggling being a mum, writing children’s stories and keeping up with the crazy antics of their naughty rabbits.
Sylva and her family own a small woodland and escape there at every possible opportunity. Adventures in their own enchanted woodland, hunting for fairies and stomping in puddles, originally inspired Sylva to write stories for her girls. Whether it’s sat at the campfire in her own woods, or pottering around the beautiful local countryside, Sylva now finds her story inspiration being out in nature.
Sylva published her first children’s book Rainbow Monsters, in 2017. She has since published seventeen other children’s picture books, three chapter books, five illustrated anthologies, and has several short stories published in other anthologies. Three of her books have won Best in Category for children’s books at the Chanticleer International Book Awards and she’s won ten Reader’s Choice Awards. In addition to writing her own, Sylva has ghost written several books, and is an editor and writer for Connections eMagazine.
That wraps up today’s stop on the WordCrafter Tales From the Hanging Tree Book Blog Tour. Follow the tour through links in the schedule above and leave a comment for a chance to win a free digital copy of the book. Tomorrow we’ll be over at Roberta Writes, where I will be Robbie Cheadle’s guest. So be sure to join us there, where I’ll share my inspiration for this dark anthology.
To be released September 10. Join us for the book blog tour September 9-13 and help us launch this anthology right.
Seven authors bring you eight deliciously dark tales. Featuring the short fiction of Kaye Lynne Booth, Paul Kane, DL Mullan, C.R. Johansson, Joseph Carrabis, Sylva Fae, and Matt Usher.
If trees could talk…
An ephemeral tree with its roots buried in the fabric of time absorbs the memories and emotions of all hanging victims. Within these bindings, you’ll find their tragically dark tales of be bigotry and bias, curses and deception.
Update for the WordCrafter My Backyard Friends Book Blog Tour
The WordCrafter My Backyard Friends Book Blog Tour was a lot of fun, but unfortunately, no one replied to the question posed at the last tour stop, on Writing to be Read, so there are no winners of the surprise giveaway to announce. And because we didn’t raise any money at the My Backyard Friends store for the print editions of the series, featuring Robbie Cheadle’s lovely illustrations, it looks like the books will only be available in ebook format for quite awhile, as I will not be printing them in black & white.
The My Backyard Friends store is gone, but you can still get digital copies of all three books from your favorite distributors at the following Books2Read purchase links.
*Note: Actively seeking reviewers for this series. If interested, please contact me at kayebooth@yahoo.com.
August Projects
August will be a lull for me with no new releases to peddle. But, I’ll be hard at work preparing the last two anthologies planned for release this year. Submissions have been read, edited and the last revisions are coming due. I will be compiling them for release in September and October.
Tales from the Hanging Tree – Release Date: September 10th, 2024
Tales from the Hanging Tree is an by invitation only, themed anthology which is based on the following premise:
You would think being a paranormal tree with a life spanning over eons since the beginning of time would be pretty boring, but I’m here to tell you, I am far from bored. I suppose if I was a normal tree, I would be, but you see, I am the hanging tree and I’ve absorbed the lives and memories of every hanging that has ever taken place throughout time. I see their lives, I share their joys, I feel their pain. It would be too much for a normal tree to absorb even one life, so I exist to absorb them all. And I have seen many.
I’ve seen those accused of being outlaws and witches, some guilty, some not. I’ve seen those hanged from pure hatred, due to the color of their skin or the lifestyle they chose. When lives are cut short by the hands of others, or by their own doing, there must be somewhere for their life memories to go. For hangings, that’s me.
A boring existence, no. An often painful one, yes. But here I stand in the plane between life and death, with no recourse but to experience the lives of all hanging victims over and over again. I can’t get away from them, so I thought perhaps they would be easier to bear if I shared them with you here.
Between these pages, you will find their tales, for better or for worse. Many different lives, many different stories, with one thing in common. None have a happy ending.
Featuring stories by Joseph Carrabis, Paul Kane, C.R. Johansson, Sylva Fae, DL Mullan, Robbie Cheadle, Matt Usher, and Kaye Lynne Booth.
2024 WordCrafter Dark Fiction Anthology – To Be Released in October
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