My deep thanks to the editors of The Compassion Anthology for including my story “Greyhound” in the new edition. And special thanks to Midge Raymond of Ashland Creek Press for submitting my work. This stunning issue, comprised of fiction, poetry, essays and art, reflects the editors’ commitment to bringing forth environmental offerings encompassing mindfulness, reverence and awe.
Thanks to my publisher and dear friend Mark McNease at MadeMark Publishing, my second collection of short stories, Lovers and Loners, is now available on Kindle. Those with other types of electronic tablets can simply download the Kindle app to their device. The paperback edition will be out in just a few days.
The stories in this new collection feature female protagonists who struggle for footholds in a shifting world. “Parasites” involves a widow who agrees to have dinner with a man she believes is a killer. “Manatee Gardens” explores the relationship between a mother and daughter who discover common ground at a marine sanctuary. In “Chasing Zero” a woman with a mysterious illness loses her hold on the callous man she adores. “Odds and Ends” follows a woman running errands on the last day of her life.
Lovers and Loners is a study of the human predicament: our eagerness and despair, our hidden fears and stubborn hopes, the blunders we make and the ways in which we are salvaged.
I wish to thank Rebecca LeBoeuf of The Penmen Review for hosting this interview. I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation about the craft of writing and the challenges involved in being a writer.
The Penmen Review is Southern New Hampshire University’s online journal for creative writers, featuring resource articles and spotlight interviews, as well as prose and poetry chosen by the editorial board from submitted work.
I am honored and delighted to have won second place in this contest for my story “Savages.”
On The Premises is an online fiction magazine founded in 2006 by Tarl Kudrick and Bethany Granger.
Stories published in On The Premises are winning entries in short story contests launched each December and June. Each contest challenges writers to produce a great story based on a broad premise supplied by the editors. Winning stories are published in each April and October.
I am grateful to editors Tarl and Bethany for this opportunity and distinction.
My gratitude to editor Jessica Bell for sharing my essay, “Writing, Secretive Dogs and LGBT Literature” in the current issue of The Artist Unleashed, a provocative and inspiring blog for writers and readers. Jessica invites authors to share their creative ideas, and each Wednesday she posts them, providing the featured authors more visibility, while fostering encouragement and motivation. This is a great site on which to contribute your writing, questions and comments.
A big thank you to the editors of Every Writer’s Resource for sharing my story “Chasing Zero.” This story takes a look at the flavor and fragrance industry and concerns a woman with a mysterious illness who loses her grip on the callous man she adores.
An invaluable tool for any author, Every Writer’s Resource is a site of literary markets, book publishers, literary magazines, poetry, short stories, articles and resources on writing.
I wish to thank Ian Chung, editor of Eunoia Review, for reprinting my story “Odds and Ends.” This story is set in the Midwest and concerns a woman running errands, unaware of what’s headed her way. If you enjoy surprises, I think you’ll like this piece.
Each day Ian brings us two pieces of writing in a pleasant user-friendly format. The tagline for Eunioa Review is “Beautiful Thinking,” a description reflected in the journal’s content. I admire this editor for his inexhaustible energy and his commitment to publishing stories and poems that matter.
The quiet world of cuttlefish.
“I lingered in front of the kelp forest, eerily beautiful in the morning light, and as I watched the leathery brown ribbons swaying in the currents, the chains of bubbles and the silver fish, I could imagine the relief a diver must feel: a single plunge, and all history is banished, blame lifted, anguish ended.”
Excerpt from “A Sea Change,” one of the stories in SURVIVAL SKILLS
OUTER VOICES INNER LIVES, edited my Mark McNease and Stephen Dolainski, is a captivating anthology of short stories by LGBT writers over fifty. My story “Manatee Gardens” is included in this collection and appears today in lgbtSr.org.
Many thanks to Mark for the good work he does for our community as well as his continuing support of my work. For those interested in first-rate mysteries and short fiction, please check out Mark’s Amazon page.
Once again, I am indebted to editor Mark McNease for publishing this author Q&A on lgbtSr.org. In this post we discuss the origins of some of the stories in SURVIVAL SKILLS, and we take a look at the writing process, the necessity of writing, and the importance of staying on course despite discourage.
Jean Ryan 