The year is 1918, and Joel wants to be a newspaper reporter – not a tailor in his father’s shop. When his mother decides to visit her family back in Sweden, Joel gets the chance to accompany her – and prove that he’s responsible enough to choose what he wants to do in life.
On top of the normal dangers of a steamer voyage, the Great War breaks out, stranding them on the wrong side of the ocean! Continue reading
Dog and cat – the eternal dichotomy of the first world (since we can’t talk about men and women anymore).
There’s an old joke that goes like this:
The dog says, “You feed me; you shelter me; you play with me; you care for me…you must be God!”
The cat says, “You feed me; you shelter me; you play with me; you care for me…I must be God!”
We take an extreme example to make a point – and the point is this: Decide to be the dog. Here’s why… Continue reading
This short story opens with about as classic a “Sleeping Beauty: Chapter 1” as you could wish, with the interesting trait of being written from the viewpoint of the infant princess being christened (Liesel).
Chapter 2 rips us from the fairy-tale world “played straight” and shoves us into a sci-fi world, in the head of an imprisoned girl who shares the name but none of the memories (apparently) of the Sleeping Beauty princess. Very disorienting, and a little irritating.
While heavy on the romance, this story blends fairy tale, amnesia, high-tech, aliens with super-powers, and faith into an interesting little tale that pulled me in. Continue reading
Published in connection with the Indie Author e-Con 2018. Find more here
When you enter “post-apocalyptic” into Amazon’s search bar, you get lots of things. 30,000 results, to be exact.
But hey, there’s always room for one more version of civilization’s death throes, right? What if you want to craft your own apocalypse tale? Where do you need to start?
When eating an elephant or an apocalypse, start with one bite at a time. Continue reading
To celebrate independent Christian authors and the different genres in fiction with the Indie e-Con 2018, please join me in welcoming author Laurie Lucking to the blog!
Hi everyone! Thank you so much to Kimia Wood for hosting me today, and to Kendra E. Ardnek for organizing the 2018 Indie e-Con – I’m thrilled to be a part of it!
I’m Laurie Lucking, and my writing journey really started with reading. I’ve always adored books, but after creative writing assignments in school went poorly, I decided I wasn’t cut out to be a writer. Instead, I continued reading voraciously and eventually went to law school. But after working as an attorney for several years, my husband and I had our first child, and I became a stay-at-home mom.
After a few months at home with our infant, I found myself in desperate need of a project. The thought “You could write a book” just wouldn’t go away, no matter how many times I reminded myself I wasn’t good at creative writing. So, glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching, I dug out my laptop, opened a blank Word document, and wrote a scene. And LOVED it! Getting to write the story I wanted, at whatever pace I was comfortable with, was such a different experience from school, and soon I couldn’t type fast enough to spill out the characters and landscapes crowding my head.
After many months, those scenes became a young adult fantasy novel, complete with thousands of weasel words, tons of mid-scene point of view changes, and creative dialogue tags a-plenty. But I figured it might be publishable, considering I was a relatively intelligent person and had read a lot of books. (You have my permission to laugh all you want – believe me, I know better now!) I went through several re-writes as rejections trickled in with little nuggets of feedback, but eventually I determined it wasn’t meant to be. I set that manuscript aside with a heavy heart, but fortunately by then a new story was brewing.
This time around, I had more going for me. I had a wonderful critique group, was meeting monthly with a group of writers, and had attended several writing conferences. The new manuscript still needed many rounds of revisions, but my voice was starting to develop and I was breaking far less writing “rules” than before. But while I was continuing to write young adult fantasy, this story had a Christian thread to it, which I knew would limit my publishing options. Thankfully, I learned of a conference called Realm Makers, which is specifically geared toward Christian writers of speculative fiction. I was able to attend in July, 2016, and pitched my story to several agents and editors. One editor clearly connected with my story right away, and soon she was considering my full manuscript. In early 2017, I signed a contract with Love2ReadLove2Write Publishing, a small publisher focusing on Christian and clean speculative fiction. And I couldn’t be happier! My debut novel, Common, released this past February, and in March I published a short story titled “Threshold” in the Mythical Doorways anthology put together by the Fellowship of Fantasy. I also have several other stories in the works, including at least two more books in my “Tales of the Mystics” series.
My author brand has become “Fantasy Adventure, Fairy Tale Romance,” which I think describes my writing very well. I love taking inspiration from fairy tales and other classic stories, and everything I write has a blend of fantasy and clean romance. If you want to know more, check out my website, www.laurielucking.com. Also, if you enjoy young adult fantasy and/or science fiction, make sure to stop by my group blog, www.landsuncharted.com. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for stopping by, Mrs. Laurie, and for reminding us all that we don’t start out knowing it all! (And it’s okay to learn as you go!) 😉
Guess what? I’m next on the scavenger trail! Find my post here, courtesy of Kyle Robert Shultz!
For the rest of the scavenger hunt, find the full list of participating blogs right here, or visit this link to start from the beginning!
Don’t forget to enter the Scavenger Hunt giveaway, where you could win:
Ace Carroway 2-Book Set
3 random ebooks from Indie e-Con authors
Cover Design by Alea Harper
Bookshelf Necklace donated by Rachel Rossano
(Please note that the Ace Carroway Paperbacks and the Bookshelf necklace are US only.)
-If you don’t like what’s for dinner, you’ll still sit quietly and be polite about it.
-If you get there by cheating, it doesn’t count. I’m looking at you, math worksheets…
-Dilution is the solution to pollution.
-Chocolate fixes a whole lot of things.
-How to make tuna salad, chop an apple, tie a bow in shoe-laces, pet animals…
-If he won’t give you a ring, a surname, and legal rights, he ain’t worth it.
-High-risk behaviors cluster. Counting red flags is not the same thing as “stereotyping”.
-“Cookie” doesn’t mean “saltine cracker”.
-Those colorful machines in stores have candy inside.
-The little cars and fake ponies in the mall move if you put money in them.
-Those shiny, crinkly wrappers have MAGIC inside (I was already two-years-old when I found this out)!
“Give me five bites for a five-year-old.”
“Somebody’s not obeying me.”
“You eat a pound of dirt before you die.”
“Just try to go potty for me.”
“You’re too loud – I can’t hear you!”
“Sit and talk to us about pleasant thing you’ve seen and done.”
Kimia Wood grew up under an aspiring author, so spinning words and weaving plots is in her blood.
She currently lives with her family somewhere in the American midwest, bracing for the collapse of society by knitting, baking, writing, and reading as much Twitter as possible before the web goes dark.
Join the mailing list for a FREE e-copy of her post-apocalyptic adventure novella Soldier!
Published in 1985, Ender’s Game has won Nebula and Hugo awards for best novel, been adapted to a movie, and has led to six sequels and related novels. It is regarded by the internet as a foundational entry in the sci-fi genre.
For the first half I wondered why anyone would praise it (and despaired for the culture that would). Then, somewhere in the second half, I acknowledged it had gained something worthwhile.
Aliens have attacked Earth. For over fifty years, the entire world has been held under the rule of a truce, focusing resources and manpower to preparing for the aliens’ return. One resource the military desires is a brilliant strategist to act as commander for their fleets.
So far so good, eh?
Then the first chapter almost made me put the book down; but I was stubborn, and love to write scathing reviews, so I kept going. Continue reading
I’m 25 and still living at home. But that doesn’t mean I’m a failure, or that my life is a failure. And it doesn’t need to mean that for you, either!
There are lots of reasons to share a roof with your parents, even in your mid- or late-twenties. It’s not a reason to despair. (Although I sometimes feel that way, too.) Here are some of my reasons – feel free to reference them the next time that church-member or well-meaning relative gives you that pitying look and says, “So…” Continue reading
Ready to make your very own DIY thread spool rack? Yay! This is totally just like one of those peg-board racks you’d buy in the store, except made by you and a lot different.
You will need:
a zillion spools of thread (left over from your hoarder grandma);
skinny dowel rods (1/18-inch to 3/18-inch work best–they need to fit through the spools);
boards;
nail and hammer;
hooks (I used “brass plated cup hooks”. They have a curving head so they don’t accidentally drop anything);
fabric;
staple gun and staples;
patience
READ ALL DIRECTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING Continue reading
I’m a huge fan of mysteries. “Top Ten Tuesday” is a list-making meme currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and the theme for this week is a FREEBIE. Since I’ve noticed a troubling lack of mystery-related lists for Top Ten Tuesday, I offer up my list of the top ten…specifically, the mysteries which most took me by surprise or had the most satisfying twists!
Mystery author Harriet Vane is on a walking tour along the coast of England when she discovers a body with its throat cut. Along with her suitor and friend, noble sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, she sets out tracking down suspects, busting alibis, and cracking conspiracies.
The twist is truly original, beautifully foreshadowed, and is surprising yet inevitable – and thus very satisfying.
All in all, an excellent mystery story, with a smattering of romance mixed in.
The hook for this sci-fi puzzle game is a former assassin hunting for his long-lost brother. But there’s way more in this story about organized crime, friendship, and whether we can really trust our memories.
Read my full review to see how the twist totally floored me and made me a fan for life! Continue reading