Tag: Fiction

Fans, Fiction, & Ballgowns Charity Anthology 2024
1. Monday · Book Reviews · Monday Musings

Fans, Fiction, & Ballgowns Charity Anthology 2024

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This weeks read is another anthology I am part of and is available until July!

This intimate collection of short stories will take you on an adventure to all things fae, goblins, cathedrals, balls, forests and your own inner fantasies. Written exclusively for this anthology, each special story comes from fourteen of the attending authors at 2024’s Fiction, Fans and Ballgowns event in a unique collaboration.

All proceeds will be donated to Cancer Research.

by Stephanie Hudson (Author), Paula Acton (Author), Amy Davies (Author), B. Lybaek (Author), Grace Harper (Author), Laura Greenwood (Author), Arizona Tape (Author), Luna May (Author), Maggie Brown (Author), Martin Tracey (Author), Lily Wildhart (Author), Tatum Rayne (Author), Molly Shelby (Author), Adaline Winters (Author) 

Get your copy here

From United Kingdom

Ro

5.0 out of 5 stars Oblivion 5*++

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 March 2024

Short, yummy and on so tempting. This is such a naughty tease of a tale, that I can’t wait to read more of. Stephanie Hudson’s work is the bomb, especially this series.

From other countries

Kindle Customer

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many unfinished stories

Reviewed in the United States on 27 March 2024

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Some of the stories were great and interesting, and those were typically unfinished, which was just truly frustrating. That just ruined my enjoyment of the book.

Some people will query why I include what could be perceived as a negative review, here is the thing, that review actually praises the stories, they just wanted more. I have been guilty in the past of writing short stories where readers have told me they wanted more but in short story format you can’t always round off every single loose thread as much as you try to. the chances are if you read a story in an anthology you really love it may be reworked at a later date into a full book, or it may be part of a wider world that the author has created that you will fall in love with if you check it out. Every reader is entitled to review as they see fit, I think 2 stars is a little harsh but I choose to take the positives that is was the fact the stories were so good that left this reader frustrated but I always recommend trying things for yourself.

WIP Wednesday 28th February 2024
Fact Vs Fiction

WIP Wednesday 28th February 2024

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I currently have two short stories on the go, firstly the one I was working on last week but the second is a YA story for the Blackpool signing in August. I wouldn’t normally have two going at once but circumstances took over.

Last week I slipped down a few steps and have a lovely bruise on my leg and bruised ribs. As a result of this I struggled to sit at the computer to write so I spent some time platting away at the YA story.

Every genre has its own challenges and YA is one I have never tackled. As many of you know I tend to write darker subjects so writing a story where no one dies horribly provides its own set of challenges. I have written tamer stories for anthologies with very little spice or fade to black sex so that is less of an issue.

The main challenge is putting myself into the mind of a teenager, first life has changed a lot since I was one, and secondly although my son is a teenager is autism means that I can hardly pick his brain. The plot of the story is your basic boy meets girl, girl thinks boy is an idiot, boy does something heroic and girl decides to give him a go. I am setting the story in a riding school, which does mean I can pick the brains of the girls up at the stables where Preeya now lives, and Preeya, along with a couple of the girls may get name checks in there.

The first lot of questions I need to be asking is would a girl give their number to a guy now or their snapchat details? How long do they wait to respond to messages? When I was a teenager there were no mobile phones and dating was done mainly in school hours with the occasional meet up to go to the cinema at the weekend. I am not sure if it was because we had less freedom in some ways as teenagers or if it was simply that we hung around in crowds more.

Hopefully by next week I will have both stories finished and be back to writing novels, but I have a signing coming up so I am busy preparing for that at the minute too.

Fact Vs Fiction

Where it all began!

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As I set about getting this year off to a productive start I decided the appropriate place to begin was back where it all began…

A series of short stories about when the fairy tale ends and everything falls apart. Love,death and revenge all feature in these tales where not everything is as it seems. The phrase till death do us part takes on a different meaning in both Disintegration and Empty, while Table For One and Deuce examine the more humorous side of betrayal.

It was my first book but it wasn’t supposed to be. I had been writing Voices planning to help raise funds for a courageous little boy named Charlie Harris Beard, if you have been around for long enough you will know what happened and that sadly he passed before I finished the book. I put that to one side and wrote some other stories but I had no clear plan of what to do with them. At this time my 18 year relationship was crumbling and many of the stories came as a result of my inability to write a happily ever after.

Once the relationship was over I was determined to find myself, so I pulled together these stories and took a better look at them. Some went in the bin, never to see the light of day, some still remain hidden in files on my computer but these precious few were initially hastily edited and put together. The cover created in the kindle app using a photo I had taken and which I constantly consider replacing but I am too attached to the symbolism. Then before I could second guess myself I hit publish and hid.

I sat waiting for the horrible reviews to come, so far I have been lucky and I am still waiting. I have gone back and given it a proper edit since, but I cannot tell you the mix of excitement and terror I felt hitting that button. I love some of these stories, one ended up with a sequel in Voices, but my favourite is Table For One. I think it was probably inspired by Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. Somewhere there was a recording of me reading it but it’s much better if you listen to the audio book instead. Here are a few reviews about the book…

5.0 out of 5 stars Great set of short storiesReviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2022

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I decided to buy this on paperback as I like them and it’s so cheap.
The stories are well written and dark but well thought out with regard to being the injured party for revenge and retribution. Already bought Paula’s ghost stories off the back of this

5.0 out of 5 stars Great selection of short stories with twists you won’t expect.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 July 2017

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A selection of short stories based around divorce/separation and the reasons behind it. Even though each tale is short in length, they all have enough in them to make you invested in the tale.
I thoroughly enjoyed them.

4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 stars from meReviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 May 2019

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There are some really good short stories in this book, some of them I would like to be made into longer stories as I felt they had more to give but all in all they were good but sometimes dark reads.

As you can see not all 5 star reviews but the main complaint was not the quality but the length of the stories and maybe I should have made some longer. If my brain wasn’t full of stories I might go back and do more to them but for now they stay as they are, a tribute to survival when my world crumbled.

If you would like to read it for yourself if is available on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited.

https://mybook.to/Disintegration

Fact Vs Fiction

31 Overlook Hotel, Interlude & Chapter 5

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https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-r6f6b-10fef51

This is Interlude and chapter 5 of 31 Overlook Hotel on the Coffee & Dark Reads podcast, you can find the book at //mybook.to/31OverlookHotel and all my social media links at //bio.link/paulaacton

Fact Vs Fiction

I’m Back!

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https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-zjbnj-dd8aa9

I lost focus but the secret to success is picking yourself up again and not quitting

Fact Vs Fiction

A sense of community.

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https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-vmdnv-c322e6

This week I briefly talk about how a sense of community can help when writer’s block strikes.

Fact Vs Fiction

Inside the creative mind

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https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-nu7uv-c06b68

This week I discuss the way the writers mind works, why there is no simple answer to the question why do you write?

Fact Vs Fiction

First Bite of the Cherry

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https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-bbvq8-bf93d6

This week I read my first real published work, this was a short story in the charity anthology Lupus Animus and titled Acceptance. if you want to read the book for yourself the link is mybook.to/LupusAnimus