My 1st short story published in YA anthology. Available free!

Cafe Society
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Hi everyone! Idle Thoughts and the CS mods have given me permission to post this, since it’s not a sales pitch. (The ebook’s free.)

I’m proud to say that my first-ever short story was accepted into That Moment When…, an anthology of YA (young adult) fiction. This large collection (over 600 pages & 200k words) contains 42 tales in a variety of genres–including urban fantasy, paranormal, dystopian, science fiction, horror and epic fantasy–by extraordinary authors, many of whom are Amazon, USA Today and New York Times bestsellers. I’m one of the only nobodies in the bunch. :slight_smile:

The above link is to the Amazon Kindle version, but in addition, you can grab it on Barnes and Noble, iTunes/iBooks or Kobo. Also on the non-U.S. versions of Amazon as well.

My own tale, “Provisions,” is a creepy kinda hybrid that can be found in the Dystopian section, but IMHO has even stronger elements of horror and paranormal. (I hate being bound by a single category!) Very happy to note that so far the reviews have been largely positive–“Provisions” in particular has been mentioned in each review that lists multiple favorite stories. The only story to be thus honored, in fact! :cool:

FYI, while several of the stories in the anthology are standalone works like “Provisions,” others are prequels or teasers of full novels that are already published. The free ebook version offers links to the authors’ sites that’ll let you continue reading any new favorites you discover. More info at Goodreads.

I would be extremely grateful for any honest feedback, especially if you leave a review on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, or wherever you download the book. Here would be fine too, of course. No pressure! :slight_smile:

So that’s my pitch. Please give it a try, it’s free! And with so many stories, even if you don’t like mine, there’s sure to be something in here that catches your fancy.

Get it on Kindle / Barnes and Noble / Get it on iBooks / Get it on Kobo

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions! Thanks again to Idle and the rest of the mods for letting me post about this. They actually gave me permission months ago, but I never got around to it until today. Oops!

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Congratulations!

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Well, thank you choie, I appreciate the book. It looks like the kind of thing I’d enjoy even without the Dope connection. Congratulations on rubbing elbows with the big shots!

It may be some time before I actually read the story, as I usually get to my Kindle stuff only when I travel, but if I remember to, I’ll come back and bump this again.

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Got called away at work…I have downloaded the book and am looking forward to reading your story!

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Congratulations! May many more follow!

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Downloaded, will read! Thank’ee! (Everybody loves free stuff!)

May you write and publish many, many more!

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Congratulations!

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Congrats!

Your story was mentioned in several reviews of the “Top Customer Reviews” on Amazon. Will download once I get home.

BTW: That’s a sweet do you’re rockin in your pic in the “More about the authors” section on the Amazon page.

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I just finished Provisions and I like it. I’d give it 5 Never Gonna Get Paid Off Millennial Student Loan Debts out of 5.

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A fun read. Left me wanting more! I’m sending the links to my daughters to read. Congratulations!

Sent from my LGMS631 using Tapatalk

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Aw thanks so much, everyone! I really appreciate the encouragement and the congrats.

It’s funny, I’ve had three novellas out (they’re oddities, not sold on Amazon… long story) since 2010, but I’d say this short story was, in its way, harder to put together and the whole process was particularly nerve-wracking.

It is frickin’ hard to have a proper beginning, middle and end in under 6K words! I’d never tried to do it before for precisely that reason–the discipline it takes to write so compactly seemed beyond me. Conciseness ain’t my thing. (I have web-based serial that’s over 1.5 million words for chrissake! Even keeping the aforementioned novellas to the publisher-mandated maximum of 45K words was torture.) But now at least I know I can cram a full story into under 10K words!

Anyway, I’m flattered by everyone who’s given the story a look, as well as my colleagues’ stuff too–there are some amazing minds represented! Many of the other stories are previews for books on Kindle Unlimited, so in those cases you can even read the entire novels for free. (My story’s just a one-off, though I’m mulling over a full-length work using this universe/premise.)

LOL to Drunky Smurf about the, um, nondescript photo, shall we say? I’ve been lax in uploading a bio or anything to Amazon’s author central area, mainly 'cause I don’t have a proper headshot. I’ve bitten the bullet and slapped something up there, although if you click through to my website linked at the end of my story, you’ll see the same basic picture. Not that it’s anything to write home about, but hey, you brought it up. :slight_smile:

Again, many many thanks again for anyone who gives the story and anthology a try. It was a cool experiment and one that was very rewarding, albeit challenging.

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Pretty cool, choie, and congratulations!

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Congratulations!

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Truth! But the word “discipline” is exactly right. It’s excellent training. It focuses awareness with laser sharpness on the absolute essentials.

As with all the arts, when the result is good, it feels GREAT!