Nineteen gut-wrenching reports from the front lines of the War of the Worlds, as logged by Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, H.P. Lovecraft, Winston Churchill, Jules Verne, and many of the other most famous writers of the time. The most popular and acclaimed science fiction writers of today relive the Martian invasion through the eyes of their famous predecessors.
My Review
I received War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches as a stretch goal reward from Kevin J. Anderson’s Bats in the Belfry Kickstarter campaign. This anthology offers a global take on the invasion begun in a novel by H.G. Wells and the 1938 radio broadcast that caused near panic when thought to be real. Compiled by Kevin J. Anderson, this anthology contains stories by various authors, portraying the invasion through the eyes of various historical figures. Authors with featured dispatches include Kevin J. Anderson, Dave Wolverton, Mike Resnick, David Brin, Gregory Benford, Walter Jon Williams, Connie Willis, Robert Silverberg, and others. MacLeod Andrews narrates these fictional tales from arounf the globe.
H.G. Wells nearly created a mass hysteria with his famous radio broadcast in 1938. By now, we’re all familiar with the infamous tale of a Martian invasion and foiled plan to take over the world. They came, smashing their cyclinders into the Earth at every vantage point they could find. We know what happened here in the U.S., where the original story was set, but what about the rest of the world?
Global Dispatches presents nineteen different perspectives on the Martian invasion from around the world, with more tripods and tentacles than you can count. Mike Resnik offers up the perspective of Theodore Roosevelt, Kevin J. Anderson speaks as Percival Lowell, a Chinese Empress speaks through Walter Jon Williams, Danial Marcus gives us the Picaso perspective, etc… How each of these historical figures might have percieved such an alien invasion is presented through nineteen talented authors.
To me, it seemed like all these stories were just more of the same, and I was easily bored as one tripod looks the same as the next. The fact that I was familiar with the oiginal story and knew how it ended, made it difficult for me to feel fear for any of the characters in these tales. Reactions are not surprising. All watch in fear as the invaders wreck havoc wherever they are until they all eventually come to a halt as our viruses and germs which their systems couldn’t fight off.
Although it may be interesting to explore this tale from different historical perspectives, how much variance can there be between the different areas of the globe? This one wasn’t for me. I give this story collection three quills.
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Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review here.
It’s the final stop on the WordCrafter Midnight Roost Book Blog Tour and today we’re going to wrap things up with a reading by contributing author Denise Aparo from her haunting story, “The Pines”,and some excerpts from stories from authors who weren’t able to participate in the tour. So, kick back and enjoy the reading and peruse the excerpts, meet the authors and join in the discussion by leaving a comment and earn a chance at a free digital copy of Midnight Roost.
Meet Author Denise Aparo
Denise Aparo is a new WordCrafter Press author, so I’m just getting to know a little ab out her, too. Her story, “The Pines” wasn’t the winning story in the short fiction contest, but I still felt that its dark parnormal feel would fit into the anthology. Now that the book is compiled and I can see the finished product, I think I made the right decision. It is a perfect addition to the Midnight Roost collection. Listen to the reading below and see if you don’t agree.
Reading from “The Pines”
Reading from “The Pines” by Denise Aparo
About Denise Aparo
Denise Aparo is a New England native, born and raised in the clockmaking city of Bristol, Connecticut. She lives with her husband, Joe, and they have five grandchildren. She is also a freelance writer who spends her time working on her novel and writing short stories. She also spends her time gardening, crafting, and crocheting.
Denise likes to write Paranormal Fiction, genre of Historical Fantasy. She recently completed her first novel, Crossbows. She has a Masters of Arts in English and a Fine Arts/Creative Writing with concentration in Fiction from Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and a member of Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society, and The National Society of Leadership and Success, Sigma Alpha Pi, with SNHU.
She is a member of the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association (CAPA) and the author of a new WordPress writing blog, The Write Voice, The Write Voice | The write voice at the write time, a blog that boasts, “Like multiple genres, there are many cultures – each with an individual voice.” Denise is a new addition to the WordCrafter Press authors.
Excerpt from “She Shed Galleria” by C.R. Johansson
Excerpt from “House on the Plains” by Zack Ellafy
Excerpt from “Take Two” by Rebecca M. Senese
Excerpt from “A Visitor Comes to the Window” by Robert Kostanczuk
That wraps up today’s stop, and the whole tour. I hope you enjoyed meeting Denise and the excerpts from the other stories. Be sure to visit any stops you missed through the links in the schedule below for more chances to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost. I will announce the winners in next Monday’s “WordCrafter News” post, here on “Writing to be Read”
Giveaway
A chance to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost at every stop. Just leave a comment to show your support for the tour, the anthology, and all of the fantastic authors.
Tour Schedule
Monday – October 16 – Opening Day –Isabele Grey (Interview & Reading) & Joseph Carrabis (Reading) –Writing to be Read
Tuesday – October 17 – M J Mallon (Reading) & Christa Planko (Interview & Guest Post)– Undawnted
Wednesday – October 18 – Chris Barili (Guest Post) & Paul Kane (Guest Post) – Patty’s Worlds
Thursday – October 19 – Julie Jones (Reading) & Keith Hoskins (Guest Post) – Robbie’s Inspiration
Friday – October 20 – Michaele Jordan (Reading) & Mario Acevedo (Guest Post) – Writing to be Read
Saturday – October 21 – Patty Fletcher (Guest Post) & DL Mullen (Guest Post & Video) – Roberta Writes
Sunday – October 22 – Sonia Pipkin (Guest Post) & Roberta Eaton Cheadle (Reading) – KyrosmagicaPublishing
Monday – October 23 – Closing Post –Denise Aparo (Reading) & excerpts from other stories – Writing to be Read
About Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Stories
20 authors bring your nightmares to life in 23 stories of ghosts, paranormal phenomenon, and the horror from the dark crevasses of their minds. Stories of stalkers, both human and supernatural, possession and occult rituals, alien visitations of the strange kind, and ghostly tales that will give you goosebumps. These are the tales that will make you fear the dark. Read them at the Midnight Roost… if you dare.
Day 7 of the WordCrafter Midnight Roost Book Blog Tour brings us to Marje Mallon’s Kyrosmagica blog with a guest post from Sonia Pipkin about her dark fairy tale, “Once Upon a Time”, and a reading from Roberta Eaton Cheadle from her story, “The Behemoth”. Click on the link to join us and comment to enter the giveaway for a free digital copy of Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Stories.
For Day 6 of the WordCrafter Midnight Roost Book Blog Tour, we’re over at Roberta Writes with contributing authors Patty Fletcher and DL Mullan. They each share a guest post about their stories, “Casualties of War” and “Mangled” respectively, and I think they may have a couple surprises for you. Join us for the fun, and don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost.
Welcome to Day 5 of the WordCrafter Midnight Roost Book Blog Tour. It’s been a great tour so far. We’ve met contributing authors Isabel Grey, M J Mallon, Christa Planko, Chris Barili, Paul Kane, Julie Jones, and Keith Hoskins. Each has shared their inspirations for their stories, or readings from them, or both. Check the schedule below to see who’s still coming up, or to go back and visit any stops you’ve missed for more chances to win one of three free digital copies of Midnight Roost.
Today we’ll be meeting contributing authors, Michaele Jordan and Mario Acevedo. Michaele shares a reading from her story, “Afterwards” and Mario talks about the inspiration behind his story, “Immediate Intervention”.
Tour Schedule
Monday – October 16 – Opening Day –Isabele Grey (Interview & Reading) & Joseph Carrabis (Reading) –Writing to be Read
Tuesday – October 17 – M J Mallon (Reading) & Christa Planko (Interview & Guest Post)– Undawnted
Wednesday – October 18 – Chris Barili (Guest Post) & Paul Kane (Guest Post) – Patty’s Worlds
Thursday – October 19 – Julie Jones (Reading) & Keith Hoskins (Guest Post) – Robbie’s Inspiration
Friday – October 20 – Michaele Jordan (Reading) & Mario Acevedo (Guest Post) – Writing to be Read
Saturday – October 21 – Patty Fletcher (Guest Post) & DL Mullen (Guest Post & Video) – Roberta Writes
Sunday – October 22 – Sonia Pipkin (Guest Post) & Roberta Eaton Cheadle (Reading) – Kyrosmagica Publishing
Monday – October 23 – Closing Post –Denise Aparo (Reading) & excerpts from other stories – Writing to be Read
Giveaway
A chance to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost at every stop. Just leave a comment to show your support for the tour, the anthology, and all of the fantastic authors.
Meet Author Michaele Jordan
Michaele Jordan’s contribution came by invitation, and I was pleased to include her story, “Afterward” in Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Stories. Last year, I worked with Michaele with the Visions anthology and I’m tickled to be working with her again. Her story is a paranormal tale which speaks on the human psyche. I’ll let you judge for yourself with the reading below, but I hope you’ll enjoy her story just as much as I did.
Reading from “Afterwards”
About Michaele Jordan
Michaele Jordan was born in LA, educated in New York, and lives in Cincinnati. She’s worked at a kennel, a Hebrew School and AT&T. Now she writes, supervised by a long-suffering husband and two domineering cats.
Her first novel, Blade Light, was serialized in Jim Baen’s Universe, followed by her occult thriller, Mirror Maze.
Her work has appeared in the “Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction,” “Abyss & Apex,” and “Buzzy Mag”. Horror fans will enjoy her ‘Blossom’ series, from The Crimson Pact series.
Her website, www.michaelejordan.com, is undergoing reconstruction, but just grab a hard hat, and come on in.
Michaele’s story, “Farewell, My Miko” is featured in the 2022 Visions anthology from WordCrafter Press.
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Meet Author Mario Acevedo
I first came across Mario Acevedo back when I was the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner and I reviewed one of his graphic novels. Since then, he has served as a presenter and panelist at WordCrafter virtual writing events, and participated in the Ask the Authors 2022 writing reference anthology. He writes urban fantasy and speculative fiction, so I invited him to submit to this dark themed anthology, which turned out to be Midnight Roost. His story, “Immediate Intervention” is a futuristic science fiction tale which offers a quirky take on the regulation of population growth.
Excerpt from “Immediate Intervention”
Inspiration for “Immediate Intervention”
NASA recently announced that a capsule from the Osiris-Rex spacecraft had landed in Utah. The capsule contained debris collected from the asteroid Bennu.
For us science-fiction nerds, the scenario is all too reminiscent of the plot from Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain. Our government assures us that precautions against contamination are in place. Which begs the question, precautions against what? If we don’t know what we protecting ourselves against, how would we know our protections are effective?
Certainly, there is much to be gained from an analysis of the asteroid’s material, but is it worth the risk? Why not study that extraterrestrial material in space?
Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.
It’s a saying that’s become more significant with our ever increasing technical and industrial capabilities. Several examples come to mind: The creation of the atomic bomb. Gain-of-function research. News articles that raise the hairs on the back of your neck, i.e., stories involving reanimating dead flesh. Gee, what could go wrong? It’s as if the scientists involved have ignored the warnings of every zombie movie ever filmed. Then comes a story about the Chinese growing human tissue inside pig uteruses. Hello, Island of Dr. Moreau calling.
When Kaye Booth asked me to contribute a story to this horror anthology, I had the perfect concept to explore “Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should,” as in human inception and gestation in artificial wombs, to incubate what are known as “bag babies.” The so-called benefits of this development include “freeing women from the tyranny of pregnancy,” allowing parents to customize the genes of their baby, and giving the government the opportunity to control demographics to enact state policies. With bag babies, the government can control population growth without the pesky need for humans getting it on. Two examples warning us about the dangers of industrial-scale human incubation came to mind: Brave New World, and The Matrix.
In my story I saw the opportunity to discuss several themes addressing bag babies. The first is that human development is very complicated and nuanced. We know about the importance of an emotional connection between a mother and the infant while in the womb. When the baby is born, its prefrontal cortex is undeveloped and the brain is a blank slate. As the baby matures, what becomes evident is the empathetic connection between the infant and mother, then infant and father, then infant and others. This connection depends on environmental influences upon the baby in the womb, things like the mother’s heartbeat, her warmth, her emotional state, the projection of good vibes from mother to child. Some of this may sound esoteric but we know that babies born in emotionally toxic environments will become emotionally toxic people.
How then to replicate a nurturing environment for the baby in an artificial womb? Certainly, a fetus incubator could replicate heart beats and use soothing stimuli to mimic a human host mother. But would that be enough? Wouldn’t such a loss of the child-mother bond bring the risk of babies not developing a sense of empathy?
What would be the fallout of that?
In my story, this lack of empathy results in an inability to establish meaningful emotional connections, which in turn would lead to isolation, a sense of chronic loneliness, then depression. And from that, a proclivity to suicide.
The other theme would be one of, who am I? What am I? Who are my real parents? The DNA donors? Or the mother—the incubator? Would there be a sense of spiritual estrangement, that rather than feel part of the human continuum stretching back through prehistory, you see yourself as a fleshy widget, a product of commerce, another cog in the government’s machinery?
This leads to the question, who do you belong to? Presently, as a child, you belong to your parents until the age of emancipation. What happens if the state has sole responsibility over you and you’re seen as a replaceable component of the system? If the state had the authority to conceive you, could they not have the sole authority to terminate you?
With this, the elements for a good horror story fell into place. That the mother who bore you is the same monster who will devour you.
Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.
About Mario Acevedo
Mario Acevedo is the author-artist of Cats In Quarantine: A Cartoon Memoir of the COVID-19 Pandemic. He is an award-winning cartoonist and artist who served as a soldier-artist for the US Army during Operation Desert Storm. Mario is the author of the national bestselling Felix Gomez detective-vampire series, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats and most recently Steampunk Banditos: Sex Slaves of Shark Island; the graphic novel from IDW, Killing the Cobra; and the YA humor thriller, University of Doom. He co-authored the Western novel, Luther, Wyoming. His work has won an International Latino Book Award, a Colorado Book Award, and has appeared in numerous anthologies to include Denver Noir; ¡El Porvenir, Ya!; Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the America;, A Fistful of Dinosaurs; Straight Outta Deadwood; Psi-Wars; and It Came From The Multiplex. Mario was a faculty member of the Regis University Mile-High MFA program and Lighthouse Writers Workshops.
Mario has also been a presenter and panel member for both the 2020 Stay in Place Virtual Writing Conference, and the 2021 New Beginnings Virtual Writing Conference. He is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022: Writing Reference Anthology from WordCrafter Press.
About Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Stories
20 authors bring your nightmares to life in 23 stories of ghosts, paranormal phenomenon, and the horror from the dark crevasses of their minds. Stories of stalkers, both human and supernatural, possession and occult rituals, alien visitations of the strange kind, and ghostly tales that will give you goosebumps. These are the tales that will make you fear the dark. Read them at the Midnight Roost… if you dare.
That’s it for today’s stop. I hope you enjoyed meeting contributing authors Michaele Jordan and Mario Acevedo and learning about their stories. You can use the links in the schedule above to go back and visit earlier stops on the tour, but the links for future stops won’t be live until their scheduled day. Don’t forget to comment to show your support for all of the talented authors that contributed to Midnight Roost, and get more chances to win the giveaway.
Join us tomorrow, on Roberta Writes, where Robbie Cheadle hosts contributing authors Patty Fletcher and DL Mullan, who share lots of interesting things about their stories, “Casualties of War” and “Mangled”, respectively.
For Day 3 of the WordCrafter Midnight Roost Book Blog Tour we’re over at Patty’s Worlds where contributing authors Chris Barili and Paul Kane share the inspirations for their stories, “Shaken” and “The White Lady” respectively.
Welcome to the WordCrafter Midnight Roost Book Blog Tour! We’ve got a great tour planned for an outstanding anthology Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Stories. Below, you will find the tour schedule and information about how you can get chances to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost. The great thing about this tour is that you will get to meet, not one, but two contributing authors at each stop and learn about their stories.
Today, I’ll tell you a little about this weird and creepy anthology and then we’ll meet the author of the winning story in the 2023 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest, Isabel Grey, and learn more about her story, “Red Door House”. Get ready to dig into a probing interview with Ms. Grey and she also shares a reading of her story.
About Midnight Roost
20 authors bring your nightmares to life in 23 stories of ghosts, paranormal phenomenon, and the horror from the dark crevasses of their minds. Stories of stalkers, both human and supernatural, possession and occult rituals, alien visitations of the strange kind, and ghostly tales that will give you goosebumps. These are the tales that will make you fear the dark. Read them at the Midnight Roost… if you dare.
Monday – October 16 – Opening Day –Isabele Grey (Interview & Reading) & Joseph Carrabis (Reading) – Writing to be Read
Tuesday – October 17 – M J Mallon (Reading) & Christa Planko (Interview & Guest Post)– Undawnted
Wednesday – October 18 – Chris Barili (Guest Post) & Paul Kane (Guest Post) – Patty’s Worlds
Thursday – October 19 – Julie Jones (Reading) & Keith Hoskins (Guest Post) – Robbie’s Inspiration
Friday – October 20 – Michaele Jordan (Reading) & Mario Acevedo (Guest Post) – Writing to be Read
Saturday – October 21 – Patty Fletcher (Guest Post) & DL Mullen (Guest Post & Video) – Roberta Writes
Sunday – October 22 – Sonia Pipkin (Guest Post) & Roberta Eaton Cheadle (Reading) – Kyrosmagica Publishing
Monday – October 23 – Closing Post –Denise Aparo (Reading) & excerpts from other stories – Writing to be Read
Giveaway
A chance to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost at every stop.
Just leave a comment to show your support for the tour, the anthology, and all of the fantastic authors.
Meet Author Isabel Grey
I’m delighted to bring you this interview with a budding young author, Isabel Grey. Her occult horror story, “Red Door House” was the winning story in the 2023 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest, and I am so pleased to be able to introduce you to her here. She was previously unknown to me, so I learned some cool things about her, too. And I have to say that I am proud to have not one, but two of her stories featured in Midnight Roost. Her other story is “Rabbits Can’t See Pink Firework”, offering a rabbit’s eye view of human nature during a disastrous gender reveal party.
Kaye: I always like to start by learning something about the author’s writing journey, so can you tell us about yours?
Isabel: I was an avid reader from a young age, mostly choosing fiction but eventually finding a love for poetry. I’m currently receiving my second MFA in Poetry after I completed my first in Genre Fiction at Western Colorado University. I’m an emerging writer who primarily focuses on fiction and verse though I do dabble in essays.
Kaye: What’s something most readers would never guess about you?
Isabel: When I tell people I write horror, they always seem surprised. Someone told me I don’t look like a horror writer, though I’m still not entirely sure what she meant by it.
Kaye: What prompted you to enter the 2023 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest?
Isabel: WCU had an advertisement in their newsletter for the contest. I happened to be in my Short Forms course at the same time and had a few pieces I was happy with. I figured, why not?
Kaye: You entered two stories to WordCrafter Press: “Rabbits Can’t See Pink Firework” and “Red Door House”. Only one can win, and I’ll ask you about the one that won, “Red Door House” a little further into the interview. But for now, can you share a little about the story that didn’t win, “Rabbits Can’t See Pink Fireworks”? What inspired you to write that story?
Isabel: I explore gender identity in my writing, “Rabbits” being a prime example. There was a horrible wildfire in California as a result of festivities at a gender reveal party not long before I wrote this, so the story is something of a response to that tragedy. I chose to write from a rabbit’s perspective to speculate the concept of a gender reveal party and gender roles in general.
Kaye: Were you surprised to learn that “Red Door House” won the contest?
Isabel: Yes! This was the first fiction contest I ever entered so it was a delightful surprise to hear the news.
Kaye: Can you share a little bit with our readers about the winning story?
Isabel: “Red Door House” is a supernatural horror about a brother and sister in a small town where a cult is carrying out insidious acts for a sentient house. There is mystery, dark magic, and dreamlike sequences that make the reader question what is going on under the surface of Staiwhile town’s suburban veneer until the final and unnatural third act.
Kaye: What inspired you to write “Red Door House?”
Isabel: “Red Door House” was very loosely inspired by a several-decades-old cold case I fell upon randomly during my studies. Of course, I took many liberties and added fantastical elements to make “Red Door House” its own story.
Kaye: Which author, dead or alive, would you love to have lunch with?
Isabel: There are so many, but for the purpose of this interview, I will say Shirley Jackson. She is my main inspiration for horror, especially when making the mundane macabre. A trope I’m obsessed with is that of the haunted house. Using the house as a symbol of the psyche is something I return to again and again, both in my writing and reading. I would love to talk houses and witchcraft with Jackson, perhaps at a meal to match her famous dinner parties.
Kaye: What is the biggest challenge of being a writer for you so far?
Isabel: Making time for writing. I’m a full-time student with a part-time job, and if it weren’t for the fact that much of my school assignments had to do with my writing, I would have a far more difficult attempt at time management. It’s been reassuring knowing I can juggle so many things, which is always the case in life as a writer, but budgeting the hours I can snatch for my writing is something I’m still working on.
Kaye: Do you also write longer, book length fiction? Which do you find easier? Why?
Isabel: Right now, I’m querying my first novel, a Gothic historical set in 1927 California. I find novel writing easier than writing short stories because there is far more space for suspense and build-up in a longer-length book. With a short story, there is much precision that doesn’t come as naturally to me. Part of the trouble is that I tend to read more novels than short stories, something I’m making a conscious effort to change.
Kaye: What is your favorite genre to write in? Why?
Isabel: Horror, usually in historical settings. In the new movie, A Haunting in Venice, Tina Fey’s character, Ariadne Oliver says “Scary stories make the world less scary.” The world at large has always scared me and a way that I cope with that is by trying to scare it back with my writing.
Kaye: What is the one thing in your writing career that is the most unusual or unique thing you’ve done so far?
Isabel: I bought a roll of several thousand Zoltar cards that served as “research” for a short story. I don’t regret it only because I used them to decoupage a piece of furniture later on.
Kaye: What goals do you set for yourself in your writing?
Isabel: Find representation for my novel and continue working on my second which I started earlier this year. I returned to poetry writing after taking a break while studying fiction. Recently, I’ve published a few poems in smaller presses and would like to continue to have material for a poetry collection.
Kaye: I always like to make interview posts informative. What is the best piece of writing advice you ever received?
Isabel: The fabulous writer, who was also one of my professors in grad school, Fran Wilde, told me “First drafts are allowed to suck.” While studying fiction, I realized my process for writing worked best by “running through the graveyard at night”, in other words, getting down the story as quickly as possible without tripping up on my technical imagination early in the process. The first draft of anything is scary, and it’s important to allow your creative imagination to flow when you start something new.
Also, never stop reading.
Reading from “Red Door House” by Isabel Grey
Reading from “Red Door House” by Isabel Grey
About Isabel Grey
Isabel Grey is a Colorado resident. She is currently receiving her MFA at Western Colorado University in Genre Fiction and Poetry. Her work has been published in Ample Remains, The Gay & Lesbian Review, and The Chamber Magazine. Grey writes fiction, poetry, and essays. You can find her on Instagram- @greyauthor222.
Isabel is a new addition to the WordCrafter Press authors. Her story, “Red Door House” was the winning story in the 2023 WordCrafter Short Fiction contest.
Joseph is a contributor by invitation, which is to say, he was not a contestant in the short fiction contest, but received an invitation to submit from me. He submitted three stories, and I accepted all three because they were outstanding, and I am pleased to have his writing featured in this year’s anthology. So Joseph has contributed three stories featured in MidnightRoost: Weird and Creepy Stories, and they are weird and creepy indeed. “Blood Magic”, a dark fairytale in which a young girl’s foolishness brings down a witch’s curse upon her betrothed and the price to make things right is high. “Binky”, a social commentary on birth defects and lingering spirits. And “The Beach”, which will speak for itself in the reading below.
Inspiration for “The Beach”
The Beach is based on actual beach I discovered my first time through college. Pretty much everything in the story is based on what really happened…except killing. The killing is specific to the story. Aside from that, riding my bike, discovering the cove, seeing the mansions, even returning after successes in business (although just to see if the beach still existed, not to develop the property) are all based on actual events from my life.
Reading from “The Beach “
Reading from “The Beach” 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.
Joseph’s story, “Maryanne”, is featured in the 2022 Visions anthology from WordCrafter Press.
That wraps up the first stop on the WordCrafter Midnight Roost Book Blog Tour. I hope you enjoyed learning about Isabel Grey and her winning story. I hope you’ll join us tomorrow on Undawnted, where DL Mullan interviews contributing author, Christa Planko and we’ll learn about the inspiration for her story, “The Easterville Glass Ghost”. And we’ll meet author M J Mallon with a reading from her story, “The Cull”.
