Day: September 21, 2013

Sneak Peek: The Gentle Man

Today we have a sneak peek from Michelle Montague Mogil’s paranormal romance novel, The Gentle Man.

Ana Trent was the first to admit it: she had crested the peak and was now in her downhill years. Middle-aged and worn out, she’s resigned herself to a life of drudgery and angst as she watches her marriage, job, house and body slowly but surely fall apart. Enter a dark and compelling stranger who claims he’s running for his life and begs for her help. Against all reason, Ana lets him in. Soon, she’s questioning his sanity, her sanity, and reality itself. One thing’s for certain: life will never be dull or ordinary again.

Available from Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Smashwords.

Here is an excerpt from The Gentle Man:

Continue reading “Sneak Peek: The Gentle Man”

Dystopian, Utopian, and Cacotopyan

Guest post
by Massimo Marino

The word dystopian comes from the ancient greek with δυσ-, “bad, hard”,and τόπος, “place.” Alternatively it can also be called cacotopia, or anti-utopia.

Many dystopias describe an utopian society where good-life seems to have been achieved, but suffers by at least one fatal issue. Whereas utopian societies are founded on aspiring to the general well-being, a dystopian society’s dreams of improvement are overshadowed by a repression of any sort and origin, at times even a benevolent repression.

The society appears in stories staged on a speculative and visionary future and are characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian rules, ecological and environmental disasters or other events associated with a cataclysmic decline in the society fabric. Continue reading “Dystopian, Utopian, and Cacotopyan”

Flash Fiction Challenge: Crisis of Consciousness

Photo by K.S. Brooks

Sixty year-old Doug Slater was a wealthy New York banker. One night, his high-stress life caught up with him. Doug had a stroke in his sleep. For the last four years, he has been in a coma.

The last thing he remembered was going to sleep. No one was more surprised than Doug when he woke up this morning.

Partly, this was because he didn’t know where he was. Mostly, though, he was surprised to discover that he was now a young Latino man.

As disorienting as all this was, Doug’s day was about to get a whole lot weirder…

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: Crisis of Consciousness”