Outdoor office adventures continue...
August news from Sherry D. Ramsey
Well, the weather decided to cooperate, and I've been spending time in my outdoor office--although probably not as much of it working as I should have! It's been a challenging writing year, but being outside is good for my brain. Do you find a certain time of year re-invigorates you?
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I've generally shied away from the idea of flash fiction, because I never seem to get story ideas that will fit into such a small space. Last month, however, I was moved to try my hand at a drabble--a short story of exactly 100 words--and submit it. And...it was accepted! The anthology is due out in November from Black Hare Press, so if you're into very short fiction, keep an eye out for it!
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The story lineup for Beacon and Other Stories is almost complete. Although most of the tales in this collection have been previously published, it will include a couple of new stories as well. As long as we interpret "new" broadly--I just rewrote an old story I'd never quite finished to include in the collection. The early drafts of this story are twenty years old, so can we really call it "new"? I don't know...but it will be new for readers! Beacon and Other Stories will gather stories for middle grade and YA readers (and of course, for adults who also enjoy stories with younger protagonists!). Watch for it in late September!
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I want to remind you one more time about Flights From The Rock. This short fiction celebration of all types of flight commemorates the 100th anniversary of the first non-stop Trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland (AKA the Rock) to Ireland. There's a very broad range of stories and genres represented in this anthology, so almost every reader is sure to find something they like.
My story in the anthology is "Unquiet Skies," a tale of a boy, a dragon, and the Trans-Atlantic air race. It's in company with twenty-six others in this anthology of alternate histories, adventures of lost planes, steampunk tales, modern epics, and more. If you're interested in stories that showcase "the invention, imagination, and prestige that brought us to the skies," then this book is for you!
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I'm sharing titles from a few fellow StoryOrigin authors this month. Be sure to check out these great reads! Click the image or the title to go to the book's book link page.
 The Heisenberg Corollary by C.H. Duryea
Brilliant physicist Zeke Travers is on the brink of a scientific breakthrough… and a nervous breakdown. So after the beta test of his interdimensional drive goes off without a hitch, he breathes a sigh of relief. But when an alien warship materializes out of nowhere with guns blazing, Zeke and his team must risk using their invention to jump to a parallel universe.
The Heisenberg Corollary is the first book in the hilarious Slagmaster Cycles science fiction fantasy mash-up series. If you like eccentric characters, epic battles, and outrageous hijinks, then you’ll love C. H. Duryea’s laugh-out-loud adventure.
The Med ium by M.R. Graham
The world is governed by certain Rules. A medium cannot kill. A medium must not kill. Even if he has become a vampire.
It begins with the breaking of a gentle monster. Lenny played human, kept his head down, never took a life, until Sebastian came. Torn away from his comfortable life, he is plunged into an endless night of manipulation, death, and blood. The only light in the dark is Kim, a young wizard tasked with destroying Sebastian. She is determined to save Lenny from the monster controlling him, but the monster growing inside him may be harder to kill.
 Dream Eater by K. Bird Lincoln
Koi Pierce dreams other peoples' dreams. Her whole life she's avoided other people. Any skin-to-skin contact—a hug from her sister, the hand of a barista at Stumptown coffee—transfers flashes of that person's most intense dreams. It's enough to make anyone a hermit.
But Koi's getting her act together. No matter what, this time she's going to finish her degree at Portland Community College and get a real life. Of course it's not going to be that easy. Her father, increasingly disturbed from Alzheimer’s disease, a dream fragment of a dead girl from the casual brush of a creepy PCC professor's hand, and a mysterious stranger who speaks the same rare Northern Japanese dialect as Koi's father will force Koi to learn to trust in the help of others, as well as face the truth about herself.
 Myst Academy: Lurking in Shadows by Imani L. Hawkins
Death is only the beginning…He was darkness...Deception...Cruelty
Everything Cory had hoped she’d left behind at a school where humans’ hatred for Mysts showed in the cruelty they projected onto her near daily. But she’d never expected to be thrown into a class where the professor was human and despised her just as much as the students at her previous school.
Ignoring him was hard. Staying away from him? Even harder as she finds him lurking about, everywhere she is.
Her powers over life and death may be her only salvation, or it may be the very thing he’d wanted all along…
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You can find/follow me on all sorts of social media! I'd love to be friends on Goodreads! It's summer reading time, which means I'm dipping into all sorts of interesting reads I've been saving to savour over the summer. Have you read anything particularly great this summer?
Follow my writing news page on Facebook here. Of course, for more pithy musings and glimpses into my life, I'm @sdramsey on Twitter and Instagram. And if you're a fan of the visual over the written, follow me on Pinterest! I have a fun project going over there, a series of visual writing prompts to inspire you and maybe give you a chuckle or two.
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 Well, here we are at the end of another newsletter. I'm keeping it short and sweet again because you'd probably rather be outside with a good book than reading this newsletter. Fortunately, reading this can lead you to lots of other great reads, so it comes full circle. :) Here's a look at one of my favourite garden surprises this summer. I forgot I'd planted it!
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