Tag: Literary fiction

Featured Book: Mazie Baby

Mazie BabyMazie Baby
by Julie Frayn
Genres: literary fiction, contemporary
Available at Amazon.

Mazie Reynolds’ husband used to adore her. Now he’d rather blacken her eyes. When he tires of her and turns his attentions to their daughter, Mazie hatches a plan to get them both out, now. But can she outwit the man she vowed to obey until death do they part?

Excerpt:

His breath was heavy and laboured, his chest rose and fell in fast rhythm with each inhale and bourbon-scented exhale. “Mazie.” His voice was gravelly. A hoarse whisper. “Baby.” She used to love it when he called her that. Mazie Baby. It spoke of his love for her, his desire to take care of her, protect her. Like a mother is supposed to keep a child safe from harm. It morphed into a taunt, like a schoolyard bully mocking a weak kid crying for his mommy. What’s the matter, baby? You gonna cry, baby? “Come on, baby. Untie me. You’ve made your point.” He smiled one of his fake smiles. “You know I love you, right?” How many times had he said that? After he hurt her. After the apologies that used to mean something but now rang as hollow and untrue as most every word he spewed.

What others are saying: “Her characters are raw and too real to ignore.” ~ Darcy, Amazon.com

Book Brief: My Name is Hardly

My Name Is Hardly
by Martin Crosbie
Genre: Thriller/Suspense, Literary Fiction
Word count: 73,000 words

A beautiful girl is missing, and may or may not want to be found, a soldier on his last and most dangerous mission, and a vow made to a dying friend. Northern Ireland, in 1996, was one of the most dangerous places in the world. The government called it a state of unrest, the people who lived through it called it the time of “The Troubles”.

Gerald “Hardly” McDougall is a forgotten man. He’s abused, bullied, and left behind. The only escape left is to join the British Army. At first, he’s a reluctant soldier, then everything changes when tensions in Northern Ireland escalate and the Army need a man with a particular set of characteristics. Hardly’s re-assigned and sent into the heart of the troubles, living in the same houses as the IRA soldiers he’s fighting against.

MY NAME IS HARDLY takes the reader on a twenty year journey through Hardly’s life–from the beginning, when he leaves Scotland and joins the Army, to the tragic final days when his time as a spy in Ireland has to come to an end.

Follow-up to the #1 Amazon Bestseller-MY TEMPORARY LIFE.

Please note-although this is book two of a trilogy, it is a stand-alone novel, and it’s not necessary to read the first book in the series in order to enjoy MY NAME IS HARDLY.

This book is available on Amazon. Continue reading “Book Brief: My Name is Hardly”

If You’re Going to Steal…

I admit it: when I ran across this article in Salon, I giggled a little at the title: “Most Contemporary Literary Fiction Is Terrible”. In it, J. Robert Lennon refutes a column by another writer who suggests that young literary fiction writers should be reading the stories that are getting published in their genre, and familiarizing themselves with the best anthologies of short fiction, the literary magazines, and so on.

I giggled because I am a reformed literary fiction writer, a proud graduate of a master’s program in fiction writing where literary fiction was touted as the only really, truly decent fiction to be writing. When I was in grad school, I read a bunch of these publications on a fairly regular basis – sometimes for class, sometimes on my own. And for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how some of the stories had gotten published. Maybe the writing was pretty good, but the ending didn’t make sense – things would sort of wind down in a burst of lyricism without resolving any part of the plot. Or, more often than not, the writing wasn’t any better than the stuff we were turning out in class – yet these writers had gotten published while we were collecting rejection slips. Continue reading “If You’re Going to Steal…”

Sneak Peek: The Second Daughter

Today we have a sneak peek from the women’s fiction book by J. Jeffrey: The Second Daughter.

It had started out well. Umbrellas tangled. A storybook romance followed. A wonderful wedding. A beautiful, sweet first daughter. They were complete, a family, happy. And then they went and had another daughter.

Everyone blames poor Debra as the family slowly, then quickly, then explosively disintegrates. But fortunately Debra Gale has unyielding determination. Fortunately she has an irrepressible capacity to love.

And maybe, just maybe, she also has a chance.

The Second Daughter is available from Amazon, Amazon UK, and Barnes & Noble.

Here is an excerpt from The Second Daughter…

Continue reading “Sneak Peek: The Second Daughter”