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Put on your listening ears, we’re reading.

This week, I am part of a virtual literary salon. Last December, my story, “If It Wasn’t for Sylva”, was published in an anthology. As a bit of promotion for the book, E. Victoria Flynn, Stephen Penner, and I made videos of ourselves reading excerpts from our stories.

While you sit in your comfy chair and sip your latte or stir your chamomile tea or crunch ice from that mid-day mojito (because I have a certain friend vacationing in Puerto Rico as I type this…lucky girl), you can click and listen to a sampling of stories from The Dead Shoe Society Anthology.

I recorded the video below a few days ago with my son’s iPod (used totally without permission, but then I did help purchase the thing), while sitting in the dining room under natural light, praying the phone wouldn’t ring and hoping the pixels might soften my crow’s feet. The whole experience was witnessed by an audience of one — the mailman, who dropped the mail through the slot just as I stopped recording.

He always has such good timing.

Following the video, you’ll find information below on how to get your hands on the book and read more if you want. Too, don’t forget to stop by E. Victoria Flynn’s website to hear a snippet of her story, “The Deadest One”, and Stephen Penner’s site to catch a bit of his story, “Lady Justice Wears Heels”.

Drumroll, please…and Play.

Click here to listen to E. Victoria Flynn.

And, here to listen to Stephen Penner.

The Dead Shoe Society Anthology can be purchased on Amazon or on Smashwords, in print or in e-Book format.

 

 

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Stephen Penner: From Children’s Books to Paranormal

Both social networking and blogging benefit writers in a myriad of ways, creating connections and community. Since signing up and logging on, I’ve met authors and writers who live near or far, some who publish from one end of the spectrum to the other in terms of genre. My guest today, Stephen Penner, is a perfect example of such — the versatile author.

I met Stephen when we both worked on stories for the anthology, The Dead Shoe Society. Stephen coordinated deadlines and acted as the group cheerleader, kick-starting our own NaNoShoeMo in the month of October, with the goal of finishing that 10K short story in 31 days…or else (the “or else” being my threat to myself. Stephen is a very nice fellow). He also wrote a titillating line to his own great story:

Assistant District Attorney David Brunelle looked down and admired his shoes: three-inch, red leather stilettos.

I’m thrilled to host Stephen here to share on his road to publication — one that began with children’s literature and has since branched out into so much more.

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My Writing Journey

First of all, I’d like to thank Christi for giving me an opportunity to share a bit about my writing journey. She and I recently collaborated, each contributing a short story to THE DEAD SHOE SOCIETY anthology, seven very different and very excellent short stories dealing with the unexpected theme of death and shoes. As it turns out, THE DEAD SHOE SOCIETY and my story, “Lady Justice Wears Heels,” are perfectly illustrative of my writing journey and the one thing above all else that’s made it possible: the support and passion of other writers.

Several years ago I wrote a pair of paranormal mystery novels (SCOTTISH RITE and BLOOD RITE). I started the traditional agent querying process, and had a few requests to see the manuscript. But it never got past that stage and my life got busy in other areas. I set those manuscripts aside and figured I might get back to writing in a couple years.

Well, it turned out to be more like six or seven, and rather than an adult mystery, I had written and illustrated a children’s book. Times were starting to change in the publishing industry. Rather than seek an agent, I secured a publisher directly: Nimble Books, a small press in Michigan. They have now published four of my PROFESSOR BARRISTER’S DINOSAUR MYSTERIES books, and number five will be available soon.

This gave me some new motivation in my writing career. I joined Twitter and Facebook and began networking, mostly with other writers. One such writer, Michelle Anderson-Picarella, invited me to contribute to a short story anthology about the Seven Deadly Sins. I was happy to do it and wrote a decidedly un-kid friendly story about Wrath. What was great about that was the feedback I got from the other writers. Not only pointers on how to make it better, but a general acknowledgement that I could write a pretty good story.

Next came THE DEAD SHOE SOCIETY. Again, somehow I got invited to contribute. Again, it was an adult story. And again, I got encouragement and feedback from some very talented writers. Writers like Christi and Jonas Saul; Kate Cornwell and Mark Souza; Lori Gordon and E. Victoria Flynn. Very good writers. And we were going in together on a good book. Jonas and Kate knew a lot about the publishing industry and they were kind enough to share their insights.

In the meantime, I’d been watching the industry continue to change and thinking about those novels I’d written a few years back. In fact, I’d written two more novels between the children’s books (MARS STATION ALPHA and THE GODLING CLUB). So I had four finished novels just sitting on my hard drive. I wanted people to read my books. And I finally believed I was a good enough writer to put them out there and see if anyone wanted to read them.

Well, turns out they did. I’m no John Grisham or Stephen King, but people are buying and reading my books. As an author there’s no better feeling. I’ll be writing more now; my journey is just beginning.

For information on all my books, please visit http://stephenpenner.com

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Thanks, Stephen! Now to you, reader. Are you a writer who’s dedicated to one genre but thinking of another? Maybe you write young adult fiction but have an itch to publish a memoir? Or, you’ve penned a romance novel but are secretly drawn to the challenges of science-fiction. Could it be, you just toss up the story cards and wait to see where they land? Spill it.