Many thanks to Marcia for letting me take over her blog to tell her 3,600 dear friends about the release of my short story collection, Donkey Boy and Other Stories.

The ebook is already up on Amazon at the amazing, introductory price of 99p (which I think translates into $1.34 – still cheaper than a cup of coffee. The paperback will be out in a few weeks.

The cover, which I love, was designed by Melissa Priddy of Creative Station.

It’s a slim collection of stories which will entertain, amuse, and make you think – and there are little touches of humour. The reader will meet diverse range of characters in a number of different locations. A donkey boy in Pakistan dreams of buying luxuries for his mother; a mouth artist in rural Scotland longs to leave the circus; a visually impaired man has a problem with his socks; and a woman tries to come to terms with what may be a frightening gift – or a curse.

Here’s a sample story as an appetiser:

Such Soft Hands

Everyone admires her husband’s hands. They’re delicate with long, tapering fingers, the nails beautifully shaped. They might have been considered effeminate on another man but they’re all of a piece with Jonathan’s overall elegance.

Moira’s own hands are broad with stumpy fingers, the nails cut short. The backs of them are brown from hours spent in the garden. A few liver spots have appeared. She folds her arms, tucking her ugly hands under her armpits and turns her attention back to her husband on the television screen.

The camera focus shifts to his face, away from his soft hands, gently cradling a porcelain bowl. No-one had expected a programme on the history of porcelain to be such a hit but the camera loves him. Viewers – mainly women – adore his sexy voice and shiver at the sight of his beautiful hands caressing rare and delicate objects; they write in to tell him so. Continue reading →

10:00PM, Sunday, September 10, 2017

“It Was a Dark and Stormy Night . . .”

. . . when Hurricane Irma decided to pay a call. The knock (on the roof) occurred at about ten o’clock, well before the witching hour, but not before the witch–that being Irma–decided it was the perfect time to say hello.

When we answered the door, we found a tower of greenery on our front steps and got a face full of driving rain, as well. Mark figured he’d go out through the garage, instead. Upon opening the door between the laundry room and the double garage, however, he was brought up short by a pretty grim sight. Eeek! (That bright light is from a fluorescent ceiling fixture laying on the car, because astonishingly, we never once lost power!)

It seems that scamp, Irma, had chosen to drop a tree on our house, ripping a hole through the garage roof, rafters, and attic floor, and dropping a large percentage of all three on top of our 2017 Honda–with a few goodly sized bits and pieces landing on Mark’s vintage 1967 VW van, Victor Willie. Lucky us. Over the course of a week, btw, the damage worsened as the tree settled and boxes of stored items fell out of the attic and onto the cars. Plus, rain continued to pour into the garage off and on for days. Continue reading →

IF anyone is interested in seeing what a tree can do to your garage, you can check out a short video on my FB page here: Video. The orange looking things on top of the roof, right under the tree, are rafters. Half of the garage rafters are reaching for the sky, the other half are sticking into vehicles. The entire attic floor has collapsed on top of our cars, and workbenches, etc. And the door will never open again. It looks like at least the top layer of concrete block will need to be replaced, if not ALL of the garage walls. And the whole house will need a new roof.

And Mark wondered why I was so scared of this particular storm. I had a BAD feeling about Irma from the get-go, hence my obsessive storm-watching for a week. Who says women’s intuition is a myth? LONG days ahead, cleaning, getting contractors out here, wrangling insurance agents, etc. But I’ll do my best to keep things interesting on The Write Stuff, in spite of it all. I’d miss you guys too much, if not.

And hey. I’m still standing, after all these (73) years, and Hurricane Irma, too!!!!! 😀 😀 😀

NOTE: If the link doesn’t work, its’ something with WordPress. Just search Marcia Meara on FB, and choose the one that DOESN’T say “writer” for my personal blog.

Lovely to see Summer Magic pop up on Sally’s blog today. Also, in such good company, alongside Sarah Brentyn and Brigid P. Gallagher. I needed a smile this morning, and now I’ve gotten one! Hope you’ll check out Sally’s post.

What a lovely surprise to find awaiting me this morning. Cathy at Between the Lines has reviewed That Darkest Place, and she simply made my morning! Check it out, and please feel free to share far and wide.