Well, I got so busy I totally forgot to write a May post until far too late to matter. I apologize for that. Especially since I promised the Table of Contents for Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires. You may recognize many of the pirates from Avast Ye, Airships on the list, but we have some new writers to welcome to MMP as well.
The stories are set in several continents, and various time periods, but they all have elements of Steampunk horror that resonated with me. :)
The order hasn't been finalized, but, in alphabetical order, the stories are as follows:
A Few Days in Kansas 1881 -- Jim Reader
Better Left Dead -- TC Phillips
Death in the Witch House -- John Lance
Engineered Deceit -- Amy Braun
Footloose -- Ross Baxter (Title may change)
Honeymoon in a Jar -- Robert Perret
Here, Where Our Blood Spilt -- Eric Del Carlo*
Last Dance with Mary Jane -- Wynelda Deaver (Title may change)
Light Over Birmingham -- Mattia Ravasi
Muzzle the Monster -- Leigh Ward-Smith
Purchase & Possess -- Steven Blake
Restless Spirit -- Rie Sheridan Rose
Steel and Steam -- Andrew Knighton
The Express -- Jason Gilbert
The Horrors of War -- Stephen Sanders*
Through the Darkness of the Opera House -- DJ Tyrer
*will update with links when I find them. :)
I am very proud of the lineup, and I think that the resulting anthology is going to be awesome.
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Monday, June 6, 2016
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
AND THE WINNER IS...
The 2016 Women in Horror Flash Fiction Contest is complete and now it's time for the fun part--- THE WINNER! Our judges took the bundle of amazing stories and painstakingly wheedled them down to a top ten. Then, our loyal readers did their part and voted on their favorite! It was a neck-in-neck race that was really fun to watch on my end. Every story we received was great, but in the words of Connor MacLeod--- "There can be only one." So without further ado.....
**INSERT DRUM ROLL HERE**
The winner of the 2016 Women in Horror Flash Fiction Contest is...STAYING by MYRIAH STROZYKOWSKI
Congratulations, Myriah! Our readers chose your twisty story of possession as their favorite of the lot! Myriah has won not only lots of bowing and proclamations of "we're not worthy," but also a $20 Amazon Gift Card!
Thanks again to everyone who entered, read, judged, and voted! We at Mocha Memoirs LOVE interacting with our readers and hope that you'll think about checking out all of our titles! You can also keep abreast on our new releases by subscribing to the newsletter using the form to the right! Stay tuned for more springtime fun coming up in March...
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Women in Horror Month: A Flash Fiction Contest
February is Women in Horror Month, and we here at Mocha Memoirs Press love our ladies of horror! In celebration of “Ghoul Power,” MMP is hosting a February Flash Fiction contest! Flash fiction is quickly becoming popular on the eBook scene. They’re super short pieces (usually less than 1000 words) that you can read on your phone, tablet, or eReader while you’re waiting your turn at the salon, stuck in traffic, or right before bed. So here’s how it works:
- Write a short horror story with a female POV character that’s 1000 words or less.
- Submit your story to mochamemoirs.marketing@gmail.com with WIH FLASH FICTION_Title_YourName in the subject line (Example: Re: WIH FLASH FICTION_BathtubOfDestiny_AlexandraChristian) by February 15, 2016. Please take note that all stories must be submitted as a Word document attachment!
- All stories will be posted on the Mocha Memoirs Press blog**: http://mochamemoirspress.blogspot.com/ by Feb. 17th.
- Our panel of judges will choose the top ten finalists’ stories by Feb. 22nd. Voting will open on Feb. 23rd, allowing readers to vote for their favorite finalists.
- Grand Prize Winner: $20 Amazon Gift Card.
- All TOP TEN FINALISTS will have their stories featured in a promotional mini-anthology used to promote Mocha Memoirs Press.
Even though it is Women in Horror month, authors of all genders may submit. Just remember: HORROR stories with FEMALE PROTAGONISTS! So there, that’s not so complicated! Now, the submission window is narrow, so get to work on those stories!
** Please note that all standard MMP guidelines concerning content apply. While this is horror, stories that feature explicit descriptions of rape, bestiality or abuse will not be accepted. Also stories that glorify violence, racism, or misogyny will not be accepted. Violence and sex are acceptable but make them integral to the plot. Remember, these stories are for Women in Horror Month and therefore we are all about empowering women!
About our “Ladies of Horror” Panelists…
Eden Royce: Eden Royce is descended from women who practiced root, a type of conjure magic in her native Charleston, South Carolina. She now lives in Kent, The Garden of England, and writes stories loosely based on her childhood. She has had over a dozen short stories published in various anthologies and her current release, Spook Lights: Southern Gothic Horror was on the Horror Writers’ Association’s recommended reading list for 2015. Eden is one of the writers for The 7 Magpies project, a first of its kind: a short horror film anthology written and directed entirely by black women.
She is also the horror submissions editor for Mocha Memoirs Press where she conceived and edited several anthologies, one of which is The Grotesquerie, twenty-one horror short stories written by women. She also writes a regular feature for Graveyard Shift Sisters, a site dedicated to purging the black female horror fan from the margins, where she interviews female authors and reviews their latest work.
In her dwindling free time, she is a proofreader, book reviewer, and ice cream connoisseur. Learn more about her at edenroyce.com.
Selah Janel: Selah Janel has been blessed with a giant imagination since she was little and convinced that fairies lived in the nearby state park or vampires hid in the abandoned barns outside of town. The many people around her that supported her love of reading and curiosity probably made it worse. Her e-books The Other Man, Holly and Ivy, and Mooner are published through Mocha Memoirs Press. Lost in the Shadows, a collection of short stories celebrating the edges of ideas and the spaces between genres was co-written with S.H. Roddey. Her work has also been included in The MacGuffin, The Realm Beyond, Stories for Children Magazine, The Big Bad: an Anthology of Evil, The Big Bad 2, The Grotesquerie, and Thunder on the Battlefield: Sorcery. Olde School is the first book in her series, The Kingdom City Chronicles, published through Seventh Star Press. She likes her music to rock, her vampires lethal, her fairies to play mind games, and her princesses to hold their own. Catch up with Selah at http://www.selahjanel.wordpress.com
S.H. Roddey: South Carolina native S.H. Roddey has been writing for fun since she was a child and still enjoys building worlds across the speculative fiction spectrum filled with mystery and intrigue. She brings to the literary world a unique blend of humor, emotion, and wild ideas filled with dark themes and strong characters. She is a voracious reader, wannabe chef, and video game addict with two full-time jobs: administrative professional and mom to a cat, teenager, and pair of precocious little girls. She also enjoys being married to her best friend and full-time muse and moonlighting as romance author Siobhan Kinkade. Visit her at http://www.shroddey.com.
Sumiko Saulson: Born to African-American and Russian-Jewish parents, she is a native Californian, and has spent most of her adult life in the Bay Area. She is a horror blogger and journalist, graphic novelist, horror, sci-fi and dark fantasy writer. Her works include “60 Black Women in Horror,”“Death’s Cafe: Ashes and Coffee,” “Solitude,” “Warmth”, “Happiness and Other Diseases,” “Somnalia,” “Insatiable,” the Young Adult horror novella series “The Moon Cried Blood”, and the short story anthology “Things That Go Bump in My Head.” Visit her at http://www.SumikoSaulson.com
Monday, February 1, 2016
Spooky Victorian Sensibilities
When you think of Steampunk, it harkens back to the era of Victoria. The streets were dark, lit by sputtering gas lights. There was a dreariness to the London air enhanced by the coal dust and damp which created the infamous "pea-soup" fogs.
So...is it any wonder that the era also abounded with mediums and spiritualists? Ghosts were very real to the denizens of Victorian England. Remember, this was the heyday of the post-mortem memorial photo. The science of photography was not something everyone carried around in a smartphone. Photographs were fairly expensive, and time-consuming. Sometimes the photo of a dead child was the only representation of them that a family would have.
The desire not to lose all connection to their loved ones kept many a spiritualist well-fed and dressed.
Steampunk seems an ideal genre to marry with this era of mysticism. Imagine a steam-powered magic lantern device that could project the image of a deceased loved one -- and how that loved one might be angered if the medium tried to cheat those left behind.
Or perhaps a safety-coffin goes horribly awry. The "deceased" could be relying on rescue -- literally being "saved by the bell," and instead finds themselves buried alive with no hope of escape.
A couple of free story ideas for you. Now someone go and write me more submissions for Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires! The pickings have been thin so far. If you've forgotten the guidelines, check them out here.
So...is it any wonder that the era also abounded with mediums and spiritualists? Ghosts were very real to the denizens of Victorian England. Remember, this was the heyday of the post-mortem memorial photo. The science of photography was not something everyone carried around in a smartphone. Photographs were fairly expensive, and time-consuming. Sometimes the photo of a dead child was the only representation of them that a family would have.
The desire not to lose all connection to their loved ones kept many a spiritualist well-fed and dressed.
Steampunk seems an ideal genre to marry with this era of mysticism. Imagine a steam-powered magic lantern device that could project the image of a deceased loved one -- and how that loved one might be angered if the medium tried to cheat those left behind.
Or perhaps a safety-coffin goes horribly awry. The "deceased" could be relying on rescue -- literally being "saved by the bell," and instead finds themselves buried alive with no hope of escape.
A couple of free story ideas for you. Now someone go and write me more submissions for Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires! The pickings have been thin so far. If you've forgotten the guidelines, check them out here.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Attention all Steampunkers! -- Announcing a New Submission Call!
Attention all Steampunkers!
Ghosts, Gears, and
Grimoires
Mocha Memoirs Press is pleased
to announce a new anthology,
Ghosts, Gears, and
Grimoires is
currently open for submissions.
Submission Guidelines:
What We Want: Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires will be a
horror-themed Steampunk anthology of short stories, released as an
ebook and as a paperback. We are looking for Steampunk featuring the
supernatural—as well as a beautifully crafted, original story.
Read
our general submission guidelines at
http://mochamemoirspress.com/about/
for more information.
What
We Don’t Want: Any stories that contain rape, bestiality,
and/or the abuse of minors. Violence and sex are acceptable but make
them integral to the plot.
Submissions:
Submit your work to mmpsteampunk@gmail.com with Ghosts, Gears,
and Grimoires Sub: Your Story Title_Your Last Name in the subject
line. (for example: Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires Sub: Something Amiss
Midship_Poe)
Attach
your story as a DOC or DOCX file. Submissions sent in the body
of the email will not be read.
We
prefer to see submissions using something approaching Standard
Manuscript Format, which can be found here:
http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html
The
only exception is that italics MUST appear as they will be used; no
underlining.
Include
a brief cover letter in the body of your email stating your name, pen
name (if using one), story title with word count, address, website or
blog, and any professional publication credits you think might
interest us.
The anthology will be edited by Rie Sheridan Rose.
We
will accept works of 1,500-6,000 words. Please query first
if you wish to submit outside of these guidelines.
No
simultaneous submissions, please. Don’t submit a story to us and to
another market at the same time.
Multiple
submissions are acceptable. If sending more than one story, please
send them in separate emails.
We’re
not accepting reprints for this anthology. We will pay a flat $10
per story via Paypal only.
Payment
will be made within 45 days of publication. We are seeking Worldwide
English Language rights for 12 months in print and digital formats.
Authors
from outside of the United States are welcome, but submissions must
be in English. Please be aware that at this time, we have a largely
American readership. Feel free to help us expand that base.
Submission
Deadline and Publication Schedule:
We
will remain open for submissions from January 4-April 1, with an
expectation that the anthology will be published by November 1, 2016.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Unusual Settings in Horror: Making Weird Work for You
Like so many people during this month, I'm in the mood for horror and spooky stories. Don't get me wrong, I love the traditional stuff - haunted houses, cemeteries, empty countrysides, creepy small towns, and desolate, winding roads. Sometimes, though, a change of scene can be nice. I love the thought process that Alien was a haunted house movie set in space. Although we're used to the trope of bizarre things happening in modern settings now, Poltergeist was creepy because the hauntings took place in a brand-new subdivision. Look at the diversity in the haunted house industry: there are mazes set in gothic settings and woodland paths, sure, but let's not forget the evil circuses, bogeyman-infested bayous, sinister swamps, macabre meat-packing plants and minimarts, and any other setting you could think of. If it exists, it can be made creepy, I can tell you that from personal experience. Not only does it give a person pause about what's safe and what isn't (which is a huge purpose of horror), but it also makes you appreciate all that can be done with the genre.
I love working with time periods and places that people may not expect the horror genre to touch. What's great about writing is that what seems obvious to me may not be obvious to Fred down the street, or vice versa. All our different interests and experiences lead to some really different, interesting titles. And if they're creepy as hell, even better.
I grew up near the woods. Either I had friends who lived on a decent amount of land or we were near enough to always be hiking through different state parks, and it wasn't unusual that evening drives took us down winding roads where trees looked like they wanted to tear right through the guardrail and get at the cars that passed them by. While forests are peaceful, there's also something inherently claustrophobic about them, especially at night. It's easy to get lost in the trees, and also very easy to be taken unawares, especially by something stronger or more animalistic than you are.
I'm also a history nerd, and I love tales of pioneer America, people working hard to survive and care for their families, doing what they can to stay just a little bit ahead. Their sense of community, faith, morals, and family could be unshakable. At the end of the day, though, they were at the mercy of nature or whatever else life threw at them.
Naturally, that combination just made me want to mess with fictional pioneers and see what would bring a hearty cast to their knees.
Yeah, I wonder about me, too.
Essentially, it's the same kind of logic that made War of the Worlds so terrifying at the time it came out - what if there was something that you just couldn't fight? Remember, the original wasn't the Tom Cruise fest with modern, easy outs. There was a much bigger gap between alien technology and everyday people. In my own work, I wanted to play with people's natural superstitions, and something that might actually be found in the woods, which can be a dangerous and creepy place, anyway. I've also always been interested in lumber culture because I have weird interests, and the term mooner took me by surprise. It's not used often, and I've not seen it filled out very much, other than to allude to some mythical creature that haunts the woods.
Bingo.
That could be a lot of things, and I suppose the obvious choice would have been werewolves, but I really liked the idea of mooners as vampires. After all, in a time period where you're forced to depend on those around you, what happens when your neighbors aren't exactly trustworthy and there's no one else for miles, and travelling miles could take days?
At the end of the day, setting and time period don't really matter. Our fears are primarily the same, we're still wired the same as humans, and react the same way to fear. The fun comes in the research, when you can find specifics to a time period or place that you can play with in your story, making things even harder for your characters and fun for your readers.
It's a lot to think about and a lot to work with. At the end of the day, I'm happy with how the story turned out, but whether it's effective or not is ultimately up to the readers.
So how bout you? What are your favorite unusual settings or time periods in horror?
I love working with time periods and places that people may not expect the horror genre to touch. What's great about writing is that what seems obvious to me may not be obvious to Fred down the street, or vice versa. All our different interests and experiences lead to some really different, interesting titles. And if they're creepy as hell, even better.
I grew up near the woods. Either I had friends who lived on a decent amount of land or we were near enough to always be hiking through different state parks, and it wasn't unusual that evening drives took us down winding roads where trees looked like they wanted to tear right through the guardrail and get at the cars that passed them by. While forests are peaceful, there's also something inherently claustrophobic about them, especially at night. It's easy to get lost in the trees, and also very easy to be taken unawares, especially by something stronger or more animalistic than you are.
I'm also a history nerd, and I love tales of pioneer America, people working hard to survive and care for their families, doing what they can to stay just a little bit ahead. Their sense of community, faith, morals, and family could be unshakable. At the end of the day, though, they were at the mercy of nature or whatever else life threw at them.
Naturally, that combination just made me want to mess with fictional pioneers and see what would bring a hearty cast to their knees.
Yeah, I wonder about me, too.
Essentially, it's the same kind of logic that made War of the Worlds so terrifying at the time it came out - what if there was something that you just couldn't fight? Remember, the original wasn't the Tom Cruise fest with modern, easy outs. There was a much bigger gap between alien technology and everyday people. In my own work, I wanted to play with people's natural superstitions, and something that might actually be found in the woods, which can be a dangerous and creepy place, anyway. I've also always been interested in lumber culture because I have weird interests, and the term mooner took me by surprise. It's not used often, and I've not seen it filled out very much, other than to allude to some mythical creature that haunts the woods.
Bingo.
That could be a lot of things, and I suppose the obvious choice would have been werewolves, but I really liked the idea of mooners as vampires. After all, in a time period where you're forced to depend on those around you, what happens when your neighbors aren't exactly trustworthy and there's no one else for miles, and travelling miles could take days?
At the end of the day, setting and time period don't really matter. Our fears are primarily the same, we're still wired the same as humans, and react the same way to fear. The fun comes in the research, when you can find specifics to a time period or place that you can play with in your story, making things even harder for your characters and fun for your readers.
It's a lot to think about and a lot to work with. At the end of the day, I'm happy with how the story turned out, but whether it's effective or not is ultimately up to the readers.
So how bout you? What are your favorite unusual settings or time periods in horror?
Historical Horror/Vampire
Like many young men at the end of the 1800s, Bill signed on
to work in a logging camp. The work is brutal, but it promised a fast paycheck
with which he can start his life. Unfortunately, his role model is Big John.
Not only is he the camp’s hero, but he’s known for spending his pay as fast as
he makes it. On a cold Saturday night they enter Red’s Saloon to forget the
work that takes the sweat and lives of so many men their age. Red may have
plans for their whiskey money, but something else lurks in the shadows. It
watches and badly wants a drink that has nothing to do with alcohol. Can Bill
make it back out the shabby door, or does someone else have their own plans for
his future?
Friday, May 1, 2015
Bounce into a Good Book with our SPRING SALE!
Savings have bloomed during our Spring Sale!
If you've been waiting all winter to load up your Kindle, Nook, or tablet with beach reads and summer sizzlers, this is the sale for you!
We're giving you 25% off the following titles or more. Straight up. This sale is only available through our website. So, you won't find these deals at Amazon or BN.com.
Below is a list of Spring Sale discounted titles. Click on the hyperlink or visit the website for more information! Fill your e-basket with these fantastic stories.
Sci-Chai:
Subject 82-42
Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet
Rie Tales: A Collection of Stories
The Golden Apple & Other Stories
Steamy Mocha Amour (romance, select your temperature):
Strange Bedfellows: His Phantom Caress
Forever Irish
Strange Bedfellows: His Phantom Caress
Forever Irish
Mocha Memoirs Press wants to give you easy access and great, exclusive prices on, our books. To do that we, we use Payhip to handle our e-book transactions. With PayHip you can complete your purchases via Paypal, credit card, or debit card. The process is simple, safe, and secure.
The great news is your newly purchased downloaded e-book is ready to be placed on your Kindle, Nook, iPad, Android device and most other portable reading devices in seconds! And as an added bonus you claimed your loot at an exclusive price not found at other retailers.
Not ready for PayHip? No problem. You can still purchase our books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online book retailers.
The great news is your newly purchased downloaded e-book is ready to be placed on your Kindle, Nook, iPad, Android device and most other portable reading devices in seconds! And as an added bonus you claimed your loot at an exclusive price not found at other retailers.
Not ready for PayHip? No problem. You can still purchase our books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online book retailers.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Words, Words, Words
Fifty internet points to the person who can tell me where the quote in the title is from.
Last week I had great fun at the Mocha Memoirs Press Twitter party. It's always semi-dangerous, letting bunches of us ornery authors out to play together, but somehow we got some actual promotion and book discussion done, too. As I was talking, I realized in a roundabout way one of the reasons I love being an author.
Words.
Think of how powerful they are, to convey thoughts into speech or text to another person, to put the images in someone's head into something concrete. That's beautiful to me, magical, a kind of blend of literacy and alchemy. They express so much, yet they're often tricky beasts - people do seem to have loads of trouble communicating, after all, and they like to elude us writerly types at times.
Back in the Bronze Age when I studied voice, I also had to lean at least some correct pronunciation of various languages, since my teachers were fond of classical art songs. As a teen, I wasn't overly thrilled at this, but the feel of each new language rolling around in my mouth was lovely. By time I had learned the song in question I always felt terribly sophisticated and grown up.
Disclaimer: Although I took many years of Spanish, I read it better than I converse with it, and although I can sing songs in German, French, Italian, Hebrew, church Latin, and probably some others I'm forgetting, I can't actually speak them. So unless you want really obscure poetic lyrics you won't understand, it's not much of a party trick.
Still, back then it was interesting to compare the rhythms of the English language versions to the originals, to try to figure out what bits matched which aspects of the translation. Obviously, my parents didn't have to worry about me much in high school.
Anywho, that fascination with words carried into my college theatre training - after all, the bard is a master, and there are many others who are just brilliant at crafting a phrase or a picture with words.
And because I also love history, I really have come to love historical terms for things. I have a closet love for antique vulgarities, and I've put that into play in at least one of my titles. With Mocha Memoirs Press, though, this love of language comes out the most in Mooner. You wouldn't think that could happen in a story about 1800's era lumberjacks being stalked by a vampire, but like most inclusive groups, lumberjacks have their own vocabulary.
I think people mistake beautiful language as always having to be eloquent or sophisticated, and that's just silly. Way back in the high school days I sat in on a career day speaker/writer who claimed that if you took away the definition, syphilis was one of the more beautiful words in the English language. I still say it to myself every so often, and he had a point. There's a certain homey quality to lumberjack lingo, and compared to today's slang, it's more amusing than offensive.
It was one of the draws of writing Mooner for me. Not only did I get to explore my love of pioneer America and the vampire genre, but to do it well I also had to dive in and go all the way. It was fun researching the terminology and it soothed some of my ruffled feathers to add a glossary to the MMP rerelease version. After all, what fun are antiquated words if you can't pull them out and startle your friends and family with them?
So, to get you started, here are a few of my favorites. These are real terms thrown around in lumber camps. Even the title is direct from the culture (and as soon as I saw it I knew that I was on the right track with the story. Some times serendipity really does smile on me).
Fever n’ ague
– Fever and ache. It is a term used for various ailments.
Knock his ears down – To beat someone up.
Last week I had great fun at the Mocha Memoirs Press Twitter party. It's always semi-dangerous, letting bunches of us ornery authors out to play together, but somehow we got some actual promotion and book discussion done, too. As I was talking, I realized in a roundabout way one of the reasons I love being an author.
Words.
Think of how powerful they are, to convey thoughts into speech or text to another person, to put the images in someone's head into something concrete. That's beautiful to me, magical, a kind of blend of literacy and alchemy. They express so much, yet they're often tricky beasts - people do seem to have loads of trouble communicating, after all, and they like to elude us writerly types at times.
Back in the Bronze Age when I studied voice, I also had to lean at least some correct pronunciation of various languages, since my teachers were fond of classical art songs. As a teen, I wasn't overly thrilled at this, but the feel of each new language rolling around in my mouth was lovely. By time I had learned the song in question I always felt terribly sophisticated and grown up.
Disclaimer: Although I took many years of Spanish, I read it better than I converse with it, and although I can sing songs in German, French, Italian, Hebrew, church Latin, and probably some others I'm forgetting, I can't actually speak them. So unless you want really obscure poetic lyrics you won't understand, it's not much of a party trick.
Still, back then it was interesting to compare the rhythms of the English language versions to the originals, to try to figure out what bits matched which aspects of the translation. Obviously, my parents didn't have to worry about me much in high school.
Anywho, that fascination with words carried into my college theatre training - after all, the bard is a master, and there are many others who are just brilliant at crafting a phrase or a picture with words.
And because I also love history, I really have come to love historical terms for things. I have a closet love for antique vulgarities, and I've put that into play in at least one of my titles. With Mocha Memoirs Press, though, this love of language comes out the most in Mooner. You wouldn't think that could happen in a story about 1800's era lumberjacks being stalked by a vampire, but like most inclusive groups, lumberjacks have their own vocabulary.
I think people mistake beautiful language as always having to be eloquent or sophisticated, and that's just silly. Way back in the high school days I sat in on a career day speaker/writer who claimed that if you took away the definition, syphilis was one of the more beautiful words in the English language. I still say it to myself every so often, and he had a point. There's a certain homey quality to lumberjack lingo, and compared to today's slang, it's more amusing than offensive.
It was one of the draws of writing Mooner for me. Not only did I get to explore my love of pioneer America and the vampire genre, but to do it well I also had to dive in and go all the way. It was fun researching the terminology and it soothed some of my ruffled feathers to add a glossary to the MMP rerelease version. After all, what fun are antiquated words if you can't pull them out and startle your friends and family with them?
So, to get you started, here are a few of my favorites. These are real terms thrown around in lumber camps. Even the title is direct from the culture (and as soon as I saw it I knew that I was on the right track with the story. Some times serendipity really does smile on me).
Blanket fever
– Staying in bed when the other lumberjacks
are up. Sleeping in and being lazy.
Blanket hoist – A
hazing for new lumberjacks, as well as a game or punishment. Someone is put in a
blanket while everyone else grabs the sides and throws him into the air a few times.
Dozy – Moldy.
Dunghister – A farmer. To call
a true lumberjack a farmer is an insult that usually leads to fights.
Get his teeth fixed – The excuse a lumberjack
gives when he goes to see a prostitute or brothel.
Girl house – A
brothel.
Hit the pike
– To quit a job.
Pants rabbits – Lice and other body critters.
Pat on the lip – A punch in the face.
Sluiced – To be killed.
Yaps – Crazy.
And of course...
Mooner – A made-up, undefined creature that haunts logging woods.
If you're looking for more fun words, plus an unconventional combination of history and vampirism, well, I can definitely help you out. And while you're at it, leave a comment and tell me what you like about words and language, and what type s are the most fun for you to read. Do you like made-up languages in a fantasy setting? Obscure sayings? Little bits of foreign phrases? I realize I'm opening the door up to a hell of a lot, but since we can generally have semi-decent conversations, what words are pleasing to your eyes and ears in fiction?
Like many young men at the end of the 1800s, Bill signed on
to work in a logging camp. The work is brutal, but it promised a fast paycheck
with which he can start his life. Unfortunately, his role model is Big John.
Not only is he the camp’s hero, but he’s known for spending his pay as fast as
he makes it. On a cold Saturday night they enter Red’s Saloon to forget the
work that takes the sweat and lives of so many men their age. Red may have
plans for their whiskey money, but something else lurks in the shadows. It
watches and badly wants a drink that has nothing to do with alcohol. Can Bill
make it back out the shabby door, or does someone else have their own plans for
his future?
Monday, April 6, 2015
What Do You Want to Read?
I had been sitting here trying to decide what to write about this month, and realized I was trying to think from the writer's perspective...and what the blog is about is the reader. :)
So, I want to ask you--the reader--a few questions.
1) What do you want to see in a story?
Sweet Romance with a touch of Spice?
Try Jacqueline and the Giant or the lovely stories in The Golden Apple and Other Stories.
Science Fiction?
How about Subject 82-42 or Drink My Soul...Please.
Fantasy?
The Portal Guards is fascinating, or the stories in Avast Ye, Airships! run the Steampunk gamut. :)
And if you like Horror, we have lots of titles to choose from
The Grotesquerie is an anthology by women writers of horror, and In the Bloodstream combines horror and dark fantasy.
2) Do you like to read series connected by theme?
Try the spicy romance of C.A.K.E. -- visit Death's Cafe or the witches of Toil, Trouble, and Tempation
3) What would you like to see more of?
Leave a comment with your dream story and we will see if we can find it for you. ;)
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Flash Sale! 5 Titles for .99 for 5 days
Thank you for liking us!
We reached over 500 likes on Facebook.
That's a milestone for us. So, to show our appreciation, we're having a flash sale! This sale is site specific and only offered via the Mocha Memoirs Press website.
From today until Thursday, 4/10/15 11:59 EST, you can get free e-books, discounts, and of course, .99 titles to download to your Kindle, Nook, or e-reading device. We also have discounts on our print titles too!
All of this to say THANK YOU for supporting Mocha Memoirs Press!
99 Cents Titles
The Golden Apple and Other Stories
Genre: Fantasy
Step inside a world of pure imagination, where fairytales, new and old, come to life:
§ Clickety Clackety: Jenna doesn’t quite know how to take the homeless man who keeps after her to play the name game. She’s played along, a good sport. Then one day, she invites him for a cup of coffee and unlocks her past.
§ Cinder’s Ella: Ella doesn’t know what she did to deserve multiple fairy godmothers… especially when they (almost) all get it so wrong!
§ The Golden Apple: Dulcie survived her family with the help of Goat, Bear and Fox. Now she needs their help to add a new member to the family.
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Reluctant Magic
Genre: Fantasy
Former witch, Kamilah Lake has sworn off men, that is, until a handsome vet chases a runaway Longhorn bull into her backyard. Dr. Granger Hawkins is straight science, no chaser, no witchcraft, an outlook that promises Kami the normal, quiet life she seeks. But the urge to practice witchcraft and the guilt over her husband’s death remain strong.
Will her past return to shatter her present?
Drink My Soul, Please
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Daniscar Zenov has been a soldier longer than he was not. With the War over at last, all he wants to do is go home and marry the girl he loves. But in the war-torn future that is his reality, nothing is ever that simple…
Turbo Lift Love
Genre: Romance, Sci-Fi
Upon graduating from the cadet training academy, Janna Jameson’s career as a spaceship engineer had been bright, shiny, and full of promise. Assigned to the galaxy-class spaceship, Sirius, she’s managed to incorrectly configure the rear thrusters, burn out the food replicas in cafeteria six and manage to lose both her glove and her left boot—rookie mistakes, that Janna suspects aren’t. Nevertheless, she’s off to a rough start.
Summoned to the captain’s meeting room for a meeting that has been weeks in the making, Janna swears her day can’t get much worse, until the turbo lift comes to a shuddering halt. Janna’s not simply trapped inside of a turbo lift; she’s trapped inside the turbo lift with the one man who excite her more than a brand new stunner array—Trent Taylor.Years ago, newly promoted, junior commander, Trent Taylor, held back his love for Janna to allow her to pursue her career—a necessary choice that pained him. Finding himself locked inside a turbo lift with Janna, he’s going to take full advantage of his second chance. He wasn’t going to waste it. He hadn’t ever been wasteful. He wasn’t going to start today.
Huntress
Genre: Horror
Vanessa is a vampire. She is on the hunt, and only one thing, one man can satisfy her cravings.
Coupons and Discounts
Get 25% off of ASHES AND COFFEE by Sumiko Saulson (use discount code: 9CF6IQK32K on checkout)Get 20% off of Witch Way is Up by John F. Allen (use discount code: ACWJC77YCX on checkout)
Spread the word about our e-books and save (only available via our Payhip site)!
Receive discounts when you LIKE or Tweet about our books.
30% off The Concierge
20% off Avast, Ye Airships
25% off Strange Bedfellows: His Phantom Caress
15% off The Light at the End of Judgment and Day
FREE Title
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Thursday, March 12, 2015
New Release...The Light at the End of Judgment and Day #UrbanFantasy
The Light at the End of Judgment and Day
by Marcia Colette
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Dozens of tenants have left the Folsom Building in downtown Charlotte because of the strange goings on. When Yvette’s agent goes for the bargain-basement rental prices and now has an office there, her mission is clear. Rid the building of the paranormal vermin to keep him and the few tenants left, safe. It won’t be easy when a psychic, who’s leading a team of paranormal investigators, discovers she can see ghosts, too.
With a job this big, Yvette will need all the help she can get. But if they discover her angelic identify, hell will become her new home.
Available Now Via
About Marcia Colette
Bestselling author Marcia Colette didn’t discover her love for reading until her late teens when she started reading John Saul and progressed to works by Bentley Little, Stephen King and Laurell K. Hamilton. Her reading tastes convinced her to write paranormals where curses cause people to shift into spiders, psychotic and telekinetic mothers are locked away in attics, and murderous doppelgangers are on a rampage. Let's not forget about the hunky werecheetah coalitions who live throughout North Carolina. As long as she can make it believable, that's all that matters.
Born and raised in upstate New York, Marcia now lives in North Carolina with her mom and beautiful daughter. They’re not raising zombies in the backyard. There aren’t any hellhounds living in the den, only a rabbit and a cockatiel. So where she gets her ideas is as much a mystery to her as anyone else.
The best place to find her—when she's not stirring up trouble—is on her blog where she loves connecting with readers.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Mocha Memoirs Celebrates Women in Horror Month-Carole Ann Moleti
I never considered myself a horror writer, but one day found that Aramis, the main character in The Ultimate Test, had decided that she didn't want to star in an urban fantasy. She wanted to plunge deep into dark magic and take everyone else with her. As I wrote, I struggled to
understand where were all this was coming from.
My nonfiction themes often parallel my fiction writing--and The Ultimate Test was no exception.
Many of the events in the story are based on real experiences. When I started to scare myself at the intensity of the story, I turned to my fellow horror writer friends for advice and support.
Writing teacher Michaeala Roessner encouraged me to keep going, to not hold back--that to write compelling fiction an author has to push the limits or their characters won't be interesting and the story will fall flat. My longtime critique partner Andrew Richardson, who writes supernatural horror, echoed her advice urging me to stay true to the character. Rayne Hall, an
editor and writer, whose tag line is dark* dangerous* disturbing is an expert on making stories scarier and thus more compelling. Rayne "invites readers to think, to probe their own consciences, to ask themselves what they would have done in this situation, to explore what is right and what’s wrong. The dark corners of the human psyche are far scarier – and more interesting – than chainsaw massacres."
The Ultimate Test took many years to find a home at Mocha Memoirs Press, likely due to the dark, disturbing, and dangerous protagonist's actions. In my work in progress, a very gritty urban fantasy, I'm finding it easier to turn off my conscience and separate myself from the character—which any writer will tell you is hard to do. Like doting parents, we may give life to them, but inevitably they must make the choices of what to do with it. Mark Cassell, a cross-genre writer like myself sums it up. " There's a darkness everywhere, and as writers we have the tools at hand to show it in its rawest form. We can scare -- indeed, we can horrify -- our readers at whatever level we choose. As long as we're honest."
Thanks to my friends for sharing their insights and their talents with me on a regular basis. Thanks to Nicole Kurtz for giving The Ultimate Test a fine home. Thanks to all of you for celebrating Women in Horror Month with Mocha Memoirs Press. I invite you to share our stories and let us know what you think.
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