New Release Coming in time for Halloween!

Hello All you Cute Bats & Mittens!

I have a new short story coming out, just in time for Halloween! It's part of a Wolfsinger Publications anthology titled Never Cheat a Witch.

The prompt for the anthology revolves around the idea inherent in the title: cheating a witch is a bad thing to do. I took that idea and wrote a story about a village that needed help in dealing with a witch they had wronged. Titled Isabella the Eldridge, the short story is filled with magic, werewolves, magical trees, faithful villagers, loving grandparents, and witches that hold grudges.

Here is a piece: 

Amidst the waste, slop, and vile run-off, wrapped up in old rags, looking like nothing more than another pile of refuse. The Old Blind Woman. They say she gave up her sight to punish someone who wronged her. A last, desperate trick. What-ever the truth was, it was plain to see she was a witch with nothing left to lose.

I crouched down beside her. A rat screeched nearby, annoyed at my presence no doubt. “Megarith?”

The pile of rags shifted. Moved. Muffled, a coarse voice whispered, “She needed the babe. Powerful magic in a babe.”

“What?” I asked.

“You were about to ask me what she needed the baby for. Or have we reached that part yet?” The Old Blind Woman yawned, stretched. “Dark magic.” She unfolded her legs and lifted a rag off her head. I saw the stories were true. Deep scars surrounded empty sockets. What a mess. The patchy remains of her thick eyebrows danced like hairy warts as she grimaced and scrunched her face. “After being roasted in an oven, together with a few other savories, and then ground to powder and ashes, she would use the material in certain spells and potions.” She sounded as if she recited a treasured family recipe for pot roast. “Or she could have wanted to transform the baby into something else.” A wrinkled hand reached up and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.

I fell back on my butt, stunned.

The rat chittered and squeaked.

“Yes. He should know better. Never cheat a witch,” she cackled. “They will make you rue the day and the night for the rest of your short, pitiful, life. Trust me, I should know.”

There are a lot of other talented writers in the anthology as well. I'm looking forward to reading their stories. The titles look intriguing. Below is a table of stories and authors:

Acts of God, by Ian Kitley

Skulls on a Shelf, by Jodi Rizzotto

Better than Gold, by T.W. Kirchner

Law of Spells, by Lea Storry

Subscribed, by Louise Zedda-Sampson

No Age Restrictions, by Danielle Mikals

Fair Trade, by Dominick Cancilla

Dream Weaver, by Wendy Harrison

Can’t Be Done, by Elle Hartford

Dwarves, Donks, and Death, by Brian MacDonald

Mike and His Three Lives, by M.A. Lang

Book and Key, by J.L. Royce

Isabella the Eldridge, by Frank Montellano

Hex, by Clark Sodersten

Paper Mage, by Sandra Unerman

Controlling the Kudzu, by Bailey Finn

The Friar and the Turnip, by Christopher Wortley

How to Steal a Spell Book, by Mirabelle Poppy

The Frog and the Princess, by Jean Martin

Marigold at Midnight, by Tyree Campbell

Learning Something Useful, by Joyce Frohn

Night Work, by Rose Strickman

Breaking Down a Cursed Sandwich, by Ray Daley

Paybacks a Witch, by Harriet Phoenix

For those interested, my title has a deeper meaning not mentioned in the story. Isabella the Eldridge is a mangling of Isabella the Elf-Bridge. The title witch is friendly to elves, functioning as a sort of connection between our world and theirs. If I ever write more of the tale, there is plenty to work with. 

All for now,

Frank

Descriptions & Time Capsules

It's been a quiet bit of time on this blog, nearly a year, but for good reasons. I've been busier than usual and reflections and expansions of the written sort have taken a back seat.

So let's catch up on some news, eh? I have two new stories out! One is my typical fantasy fare, good stuff and I'm proud of it. The other is a piece of realistic fiction. Also good, and also proud of it. You can find both stories in the Time Capsule anthology released by Wolfsinger Publications.

The first recent story is called How the Wish was Won. It was based on a selection of time capsule contents. While there is no one single protagonist, there is a brave and gallant knight, a possessed soldier, an unpossessed soldier, a mysterious underground creature, and a woman of the woods, along with some elvish lore and an ancient outpost in the deep forest.
Here is an excerpt:

Five seekers quested for their Heart’s Desire. One from the east, one from the west, and two from the south.
The fifth seeker, you ask? No cardinal direction guided its way. Its dark path twisted and turned in the unlit underground. And yet it too quested, the same as the others.

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The whole idea of hiding something away fascinates me, especially with the recent find of not one but two time capsules beneath a civil war statue scheduled for movement elsewhere. Time changes, changes more than anyone can predict. The stories hidden inside this anthology were written with this idea in mind, that things change over time. Authors were given lists of time capsule contents to choose from, with no clues as to why the items were originally sequestered. With a list and nothing else, they came up with fantastic stories that bear a tangential tie with the original depositors, as discovered by the notes from the capsule content authors at the end of the story.
For those who wish a peek behind the writing curtain, my two stories evolved in very different ways. For How the Wish was Won, I ran the story by a few readers, including my youngest daughter. An interesting note is that all readers so far have come away with a different idea of the ending! What will you find when you buy it?

Here is another sneak peak at How the Wish was Won:

Sanders and Palmer dug into the black earth, occasionally stopping to vomit. The ground came away in shovelfuls. The men looked at each other with insane glee. They would find the treasure!
With a wounded retch of rotted roots, the earth caved in, throwing them into a hollow nestled among the roots of the trunk.
“What in God’s name?”
They coughed and hacked as the air cleared. By the sunlight they noticed a small tunnel leading away.
“Drag marks. Look. Someone got here first.”

My second story in the anthology is The Importance of Things, a piece of realistic fiction. Unlike the first story, this one came fast and furious. Deadlines are great at inspiring lazy writers and Carol Hightshoe is a wonderful motivator! Although not fully noted in the story, it is located in a particular place within the continental United States, and I hope readers from the area will recognize it. The people at the heart of the story are not real though. They are, like most literary inventions, fictitious blends of various characters I've been or have had the misfortune and/or good grace to stumble across. I hope I did them justice.
Here is a sneak peak at The Importance of Things:

“Daddy found it in the backyard.”
“Yes, well. That’s where I buried it. Forgot about it back there.”
They both stared at it.
“What is it?”
“It is a time capsule.”
“Time? Like a clock?”
“Don’t they teach you nothing in schools these days?”
“I’m only in second grade,” Tommy said with a pout.
“No excuse.” His voice held an edge. Tommy cringed, but Grandpa Tom only ruffled his red hair.

What did Grandpa Tom bury in the backyard? Buy the e-book and find out! You can find both stories in the Time Capsule anthology released by Wolfsinger Publications. Other authors in the anthology include Deby Fredericks, John Lance, Dana Bell, and Ryan Kinkor.





****
Never have I read a more accurate description:

"One woman makes a din, two women a lot of trouble, three an annual market, four a quarrel, five an army, and against six the Devil himself has no weapon."

Mad Griet, from the Flemish. Must use this somewhere in my writing.