Tag Archives: short stories

Nov21

REVIEW: Miller and Kelby: Major Case Squad Files by Maxine Flam

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Thank you to the author and Rosie’s Reviews for the copy of this book to review.

It took me a while to get through these stories. Each was pretty short and could easily be read quickly. When I did read them, I read two at a time during my lunch breaks. They were okay reads but I wasn’t compelled to return to them promptly.

While the premise of each story was creative and well thought out, the two main characters were written with very similar personalities and I was glad there were a lot of voice tags so the reader could tell who was speaking.

There were a few things that bothered me about the whole series of stories. There was a police psychologist that the two main characters consulted on over 70% of the tales. This guy was a mind reading savant of some sort because every case, on very little information, he nailed what kind of suspect they should look for; it was especially jarring in the eleventh story. In that one, he barely knew one thing about the crime and spouted off a lot of details. When the reader was invited in the head of the perpetrator, his thoughts mirrored exactly what the psychologist said was the type of killer and the motivation for murder they were looking for in their quest to solve the case. This happened in each story where the psychologist gave advice to the main characters.

there was another thing that bothered this reader. The two partners would set up a stake out at a particular location and that very same night, the killer would show up to their location.  I know these are short stories, but they were too easily solved with the psychologist and the killer playing right into their set up to catch him.  There were no moments of disappointment that they had to try again at another time. I felt there was no real drama or really high stakes (until the eleventh story which was the one with car salesman murders).

My favorite story was the one with the food critic (story number ten) as none of the things that bothered me were present in that story. I’m wondering if the stories were presented in the order the author wrote them as it appears her story telling improved as this reader kept reading.

In short, the writer of these stories has a nice way with prose and plotting. I just wanted the stories to be more fleshed out and a little harder for the protagonists to solve, along with more high stakes as there were in stories eleven and twelve.

3 stars

BLURB:

“Two Detectives, One City

The time: the late 1970s

The place: Los Angeles, California

Joseph (Joe) Miller and William (Bill) Kelby are detectives with the Major Case Squad. They get the hard-to-solve cases. And they solve them the old-fashioned way with grit and determination, forensics, and help from the department psychologist.

Miller and Kelby are a dedicated detective team that Los Angeles turns to when there are unsolved murders in the city. And solving murders is their specialty. They put their lives on the line every day for the citizens of Los Angeles, a city that rarely sleeps.”

Jan21

London Tales by Tim Walker

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London Tales is a collection of short stories through time that all have a central London theme. There are a range of styles and some are more snippets of action rather than full tales.

I enjoyed the first few stories and I particularly liked the third one about Wat Tyler because it was told from the point of view of the peasants as well as the lords.

The story of Holly and the girl who fell through the ice in 1814  was fun to read during an ice cold day in my town. It made me glad to have heat and warm socks! 

I thought that the build up to the story set during the London Blitz was good, but the ending left me a little disappointed.

There are several other stories in this collection but they were less appealing to me and overall the book was okay, but not as good as I had hoped.

3 Stars

Dec1

Cover Love: Twelve Days of Christmas

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This is my upcoming new release blurb and cover.

Just imagine…Imagine if the twelve days of Christmas weren’t about Christmas at all.  What if the Partridge in a pear tree was actually a chef named Otto Partridge who found a pear orchard to pick some fresh pears for his restaurant? Imagine the two turtle doves as a pop duo? What if the eleven pipers piping were bakers on a baking challenge show? And what if the six geese a-laying were sassy birds full of advice for a young girl looking to earn money for a prom dress?

A mixture of stories sure to appeal to a variety of readers. Some are set in historical times, some are modern, some fantasy and some romantic. All of them fun and mostly light-hearted. Something for everyone. And none of them Christmas…except for the last one, which involves the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade… the traditional kick off for Christmas festivities.

Jan27

Saint Vandal’s Day by D. E. Haggerty- A Review

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I read this book in about an hour and a half. There was a breeziness about it that was appealing. It had a lot of fun parts and I definitely loved the recipes in the back. The cupcakes all sounded really, really good.  I may have to break out the cupcake tins! 🙂

The main character, Callie, was charming and likeable and I enjoyed her relationship with her friends and her fiancée. Most of the characters seemed to be people you’d actually meet on the street and enjoy a chat with. The mystery of the whodunit wasn’t that hard. I pegged the culprit from the first scene the character appeared in. The reason for the actions wasn’t as easy to figure out, though. I had a different motive in my mind, so credit to the author for that.

I did not care for some of the behavior of the character who owned the bakery with the main protagonist. She was the one who baked the cupcakes and she was very volatile and almost unbelievable as a character—she seemed almost like a caricature instead. She truly became annoying before the end of the story.  Out of control, having to be held back from attacking people, stalking, and threats of violence when anyone criticized her cupcakes seemed over the top to me. The parts where she was trying to help the protagonist not cheat on her pre-wedding diet seemed unkind and almost rude the way she snatched food from her friend’s hand. It may just be me, but that rubbed me the wrong way.

This was the last of the series of seven stories, and while I enjoyed the time I spent reading it, it didn’t appeal enough for me to go back and read the others in the series.  There were a number of allusions to the other stories in this short book, but the references were enough for me to guess at how they unfolded so I don’t find it necessary to read them. And sadly, I’m not sure I could handle that baker in other tales. She was the one part of this book that made me bring this rating down to a 4 rather than a 5.

Jan14

Penny Pinching Tips for the Morally Bankrupt by Libby Marshall– a Review

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Let me first say, I think I would love to spend a day with this author. She has a very vivid imagination, a clear love for Cold Stone Creamery, and a disturbing way of looking at many regular occurrences in all of our lives.  And I don’t say that in a bad way.  🙂

This book is a collection of short stories and some even shorter views of things we all experience, but certainly don’t think about in strange ways. At least not until they’re pointed out by Libby Marshall.  Then it’s so obvious that she observes events and normality in a different way than most of us.

Some of the stories are poignant and some are really funny in a twisted way. I won’t say which I felt was which lest I be judged for my giggles.  

I enjoyed these little tales and vignettes during my lunch hour and on small breaks from work. They are just short enough to fill in gaps in the day when you need a little smile….or a bit of melodrama. 🙂

Some of my favorites—by no means an exhaustive list—are “Witnesses of Historic Moments Who Missed the Point; 90 Day Fiancé: Dracula; A Man Goes on His First Date Since His Wife was Hanged for Witchcraft; Please Continue this Conversation as Normal or I’ll Be Forced to Assume it was About me; Yes, of Course I’m satisfied by just the Tip of this Piece of Cheesecake; and Yelp Reviews of the Chuck E. Cheese Haunted by the Spirit of Princess Diana.

There are so many more awesome little tales in this book. I recommend it highly for its sense of fun as well as the author’s sense of humor and her appreciation for the ridiculous. I really enjoyed this one.

Sep14

New Short Story Release-

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This new short story is available for purchase here and the background photo for the cover was taken by yours truly on my trip to Edinburgh, Scotland last October. Very exciting to have that photo credit. It makes me very happy. Here’s the original photo as well as the cover and blurb:

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BLURB:
Working on her doctoral dissertation has been stressful for Jenna Monroe, an American studying at Edinburgh University. She’s writing about the mythological kingdom of Camelot which historians believe was above the City of Edinburgh at a place called Arthur’s Seat near Salisbury Crag. She hikes up to the crag for inspiration, and while resting there, meets a man in a hooded cape.

The man introduces himself as Art, the son of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. A castle appears out of the mist and the man escorts her inside to dine. Believing it to be a vivid dream brought on by too much stress, Jenna shrugs off the encounter. She’s later shocked when she sees the man from her dream in town.

Aug13

Long Time No Post!!

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Sorry I’ve beem MIA. I’ve had a lot going on with my mother being ill and in and out of the hospital. I’ve also had to travel quite a bit recently and have been working diligently at the day job and the evenings writing. I also had edits on a pretty long novel that my alter-ego has coming out on September 9, 2012.

I’m over here today to announce that I got an acceptance for a Halloween story to be published by Whortleberry Press in September. This will be my fourth year in their Halloween anthology and I’m super excited to be back. I absolutely adore the fall season and all the holidays therein.

This story I wrote was so fun. I woke up on a Saturday morning with the first paragraph in my head, fully formed. I jumped up and grabbed my iPad to jot it down. The next paragraph came right away and every time I thought I’d stop working on it, more came. I didn’t get up for two hours and it was done. I was still in my robe and was shocked when I looked up to see it was two hours later.

I edited it that night and sent it in. It’s a really cute little story if I do say so myself. It’s in first person but you know, it really called out for that perspective.

The name will be changed from what I had but that’s cool. I’m awful at titles so I’m always open to changing them. LOL! Of course, I’ll post when it’s available for purchase.

Dec19

Christmas Anthologies

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Still Moments Publishing has two books of short stories available for purchase in this the festive season. http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/2011/11/christmas-treats-1.html

http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/2011/11/christmas-treats-2.html

There is a Naughty List and a Nice List. If you’re hankering for a holiday read to add to your new e-reader, you can’t go wrong with these.  And how about those covers?

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Oct13

Why do we let rejections bother us?

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That’s the question of the day for me. I am a writer. Part of that process is rejection. Duh. I know that. But each one I get makes me think I’m a hack. Why is that? The funny thing is, I know I’m competent and capable. But send me a rejection and I think I’m horrid and worthless.  I’ve sold numerous short stories and two novels and just started a quest for an agent about a month ago. I got two agent rejections yesterday.  And on Monday, I got two short story rejections.  It was like a quadruple whammy.

And no, I wasn’t arrogant enough to think that the first agent I queried would fall in love with me but I did at least think I’d get a request for more pages. One of the agents said my writing was very strong but she wasn’t captivated by the first 5 pages, which was all she had.  The other one blew me off completely. Short, terse, nothing.

So, determined not to give up, I sent out two more agent letters and I sent the short stories out again. This morning I woke up to a contract in my email for one of the short stories- It was accepted by a children’s magazine (for ages 14 and up).  So, what a difference 14 hours makes.   I went from Gloomy Gus who thinks she can’t write to Delighted Debbie, the master story teller!  Until the next rejection, that is.

What a crazy industry this is. And me, too. Crazy, that is. 

Jul19

Free Range Fairy Tales

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Back Cover

Is now available to order:  here is the link: http://whortleberrypress.com/

My story is called Rumpelstiltskin’s Quest. Hope you’ll enjoy it if you read it. It was a fun one to write.

Front cover