Day: July 13, 2013

Sneak Peek: Hearts in Cups

Today we have a sneak peek from the epic fantasy novel by author Candace Gylgayton: Hearts in Cups.

Where will the lust for power lead the unscrupulous – or the unwary? Power abhors a vacuum and, with no legitimate heir, civil war is brewing in the Pentarchy. Far from home, family or friends, Hollin is using her own gifts and abilities to track down the one man capable of restoring order to the kingdom. But time is running out and the deeds of valor have become entangled with those of deceit. Soon the many shifting facets of magic, in all its guises, will determine the ultimate fate of the realm. Can one woman prevent the fall of night?

The Pentacle War: Book One – Hearts in Cups is available from Amazon and Amazon UK.

And now, an excerpt from Hearts in Cups…

Continue reading “Sneak Peek: Hearts in Cups”

Rethink Advice to Writers

Guest post
by Steve Smy

We constantly encounter the issue of planning. We also know that some authors do and others don’t. It seems that we’re encouraged to use planning to design our work, from beginning to end. The trouble is, those who drive home the idea, often forcefully, aren’t recognising the fact that we’re all individuals. Take a look at a bunch of desks in an open plan office. You’ll see the ones which are so neat that you have to wonder whether they belong to somebody with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. There’ll also be those that resemble the local garbage tip, which you might suspect reveal the presence of highly inefficient workers. The majority of the desks will fall somewhere between these extremes. If we now picture every workstation having a ‘to do list’ fixed on a screen beside it, we’ll see that some are crammed with tasks to be done or completed. There’ll also be some that are completely empty of any entries. Now, however, we’ll probably find more that lean towards the latter than the former – because ‘to do lists’ are an unnecessary extra burden of work. They may be begun, and then forgotten, sometimes over and over again. Continue reading “Rethink Advice to Writers”

Flash Fiction Challenge: Thin Air

Photo by K.S. Brooks

I never liked flying. The pressure changes always gave me headaches and the way the turbulence buffeted the plane jangled my nerves. It was a little better on this flight. At first.

When I returned from the lavatory, I noticed a number of seats were empty that had not been before.

I sat down and resumed reading my book. When I looked up, more people were gone.

I nudged the shoulder of the man in the seat ahead of me and got no response. He was ice cold.

In 250 words or less, tell us a story incorporating the elements in the picture. The 250 word limit will be strictly enforced.

Please keep language and subject matter to a PG-13 level.

Use the comment section below to submit your entry. Entries will be accepted until Tuesday at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. Continue reading “Flash Fiction Challenge: Thin Air”