Jim Bates tells us about his latest book: The Stargazer and Other Stories

 

About the Book        

The thirteen stories in my newest collection, “The Stargazer and Other Stories,” are about the lives of ordinary people who each have a unique story to tell. Mitch’s life is enhanced immeasurably when he meets fellow stargazer Loren and his daughter. Doug and Evie form an unlikely friendship while riding the bus to work. Dan and Tim meet Michael at a concert and learn the importance of a caring friendship even if it’s only for a short time. Outcasts Poppy and Sid form a singing duo and perform in the fifth-grade talent show. Lenny’s sad death affects young Cal for the rest of his life. The summer between 6^th and 7^th grade is one Tommy will never forget. Widower Marv saves a drowning boy and gets a new lease on life. Cory attends his father’s funeral and meets a man who changes his life forever. A single mother and her daughter are thankful for their lives together even though their home is their car. Two brothers find that playing in marble tournaments helps them deal with the complexities of life. Maggie makes a fateful decision. Will she live to regret it? Strait-laced businessman Dave spontaneously decides to play hooky from work and get more than he bargained for. These stories are quietly told, and character-driven.  If you are looking for thoughtful stories where you can sit back, relax, and take your time to read them, then this is the book for you.

Research

I didn’t do much research for this book. I’m an amateur stargazer, so I verified some of the story's descriptions of the stars and constellations mentioned in that story. I also checked for accuracy in other stories where it was appropriate such as how marble tournaments are run and what were popular classic rock songs during the period the main character in “Classic Rock” was in high school.

Inspiration of the Stories

These stories were all written five to ten years ago when I first started writing. They came out of my imagination and were inspired by me looking to find “my voice” and becoming the best writer I could be. I recently went back and looked at them, went through and edited them, and decided that I liked them a lot and wanted to share them with others. They are very character driven which I like. They are also long, averaging 12.k in length which I also like. I hope readers like them as well!

What’s Next?

I have 11 more long stories from the same writing time period as “The Stargazer” that I am currently editing with the intent of publishing, hopefully by the end of this year. The title is “Moonshine.”

 

 How to Get Copies?

“The Stargazer and Other Stories” is available as both an ebook and paperback through Amazon and other outlets. 

You can find them on Amazon here.  

Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.   

Do I Have Any Events Planned?

Not at this time. I’m marketing right now via social media, primarily FB.

THANK YOU, GILL, FOR LETTING ME SHARE MY NEW BOOK WITH YOU AND YOUR READERS!! I really appreciate it!

Paula Readman talks to me today about her involvement with our Gifted project

 

How did you interpret the word “Gifted”?

I thought about a small gift, something unexpected when I started writing my story, ‘Just a Packet of Seeds’. As the saying goes; from little acorns, mighty oaks do grow. Sometimes the smallest gifts give the greatest pleasure and from these come the best memories.

How did you find out about our call for submission?

I’ve been writing for Bridge House Publishing for many years now, so I always check out their web pages to keep up-to-date with their submission.

What are the merits for you of the short story form?

Short stories were the best way for me to learn how to write to be published. It can be tough tackling a novel first, which can sometimes be soul-destroying. However, writing short fiction can help you master the basic skills you need for writing your first novel. By writing to a word limit, you can learn how to choose your words wisely, keep your sentences concise, and understand the importance of editing and working on a deadline. Submitting your short fiction can help you develop a thicker skin to deal with rejection. The upside with all the rejected stories is that you have a back catalogue of short stories. A quick re-edit and then you can submit somewhere else. I learned quite quickly that no stories go to waste. You can revisit them as many times as necessary until a spark of inspiration helps you create a story that finally finds a home.

Tell us a little about you as a writer.

I embarked on my writing journey twenty-five years ago when I was thirty-nine. It was a personal challenge to get something published before my fortieth birthday. Despite being poorly educated due to dyslexia, which left me embarrassed about my awful handwriting and weak spelling, I was determined to learn the basics of grammar and punctuation, and also to understand how the publishing industry works. This gave me an insight into what publishers were looking for when submitting my work.

Since I was a single mother working full-time to support my young son, and myself I had limited funds and time. Attending writing courses was not an option for me. Instead, I taught myself from 'how to write' books I found in charity shops, on eBay, and books borrowed from the library.

My effort paid off in 2010 when English Heritage published my first short story. Since then, I have published over a hundred short stories and six books. Although it has been a long journey, I am proud of what I have achieved so far.

Do you have any more forthcoming publications or events?

My latest book is a novella published by Demain Publishing called Never Reaching The End. It tells a tale about a young couple buying a house. It seems some houses don’t let go of their past. I have two short stories published one in CafeLit, the second in Gifted.

Blog: https://colourswordspaper.blog/

Twitter: Paula R C Readman @Darkfantasy13

Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paula-R-C-Readman

Write Time Short Story Competition

 Full details 

WriteTime Short Story Competitions
1. Entries must be in English.
2. Entries must be a maximum of 1500 words on any theme.
3. Entries must not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere.
4. Entries submitted by post cannot be returned.
5. The closing date for entries during the rest of 2020 is 31 December. Winners will be notified within six weeks of the closing date.‬
6. By entering the competition you are agreeing to publication on the website. The results of the competition and the winning stories will be published at www.writetime.org/storytime
7. Entering the competition gives Shoreham Press CIC the once-only permission to publish the story in the WriteTime anthology.
8. Extracts from stories may be used as examples of good practice in the WriteTime newsletter.
9. Entries will be judged anonymously and the judges will not know the name or gender of any author.
10. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
11. No corrections will be accepted or refunds given.
12. Copyright remains with the author.
13. Entries not complying with competition rules will be disqualified.
14. Submission of an entry or entries implies acceptance of these rules.
Submitting your entry
15. All entries must be prepaid.
16. Entries should be submitted through this website or by post. See How to Enter for full details.

L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future

 Full details 

Welcome to the Writers of the Future

The most enduring and influential contest in the history of SF and Fantasy

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new writers of science fiction and fantasy to have their work judged by some of the masters in the field and discovered by a wide audience.

No entry fee is required and entrants retain all publication rights.

Entries in the Writers of the Future Contest are adjudicated only by professional writers. Prizes of $1000, $750 and $500 are awarded every three months. From the four quarterly 1st Place winners each year, a panel of judges select one story as the grand prize winner. The writer of the grand-prize-winning story receives the L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award and an additional $5000 cash prize.

Enter the Writer Contest

1st Quarter 2021
Deadline: December 31, 2020

Click Here to Enter Writer Contest

This Contest will run from October 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.

Deadline is 11:59 p.m. December 31, 2020 Pacific Standard Time.

 

News 1 November 2019

 

Image by Oli Lynch from Pixabay

Course at MMU

That’s Manchester Metropolitan University. I attended a two day playwriting course there this week.  We also dabbled in some virtual reality and wrote a few short stories. This was held at the Writing School, now housed in what used to be The Corner House (now moved to Home) but soon to move to a brand new building. The room we worked in was cold but it had a delightfully high ceiling. I’m told this aids creativity. Certainly ideas flew around and the critiques were helpful. I managed to write most of a twenty-minute play script, first draft, and I’ve also almost got the first draft of four short stories. The course director has said he will read and critique our completed play scripts if we send them to him.  I shall certainly send him mine.             

News about my writing

I’m still working 240 X 70, Peace Child 4 (The House of Clementine) and Not Just Fluffy Bunnies, my non-fiction text about the darker side of children’s literature. I’m also now spending quite a bit of time working on the book of 366 writing prompts. I’m going to give this book to all the people who have contributed to it and to all the people I’ve published. I’m confident I’ll get it finished in time for Christmas. Would you like to contribute? Do you have any writing prompts?

Here are a few examples of the sort of thing:

5 February  Birth Choices?

The body is an amazing thing, but older women are at risk in childbirth of having babies with health problems. Can you tell a tale of the effects of older women having children may bring? Highlight the positives and the change in mindset your character will go through. Maybe a highflying business woman who didn’t employ people with disabilities suddenly realises they have the same dreams as us to have successful careers, when she gives birth to a disabled child late in life.

Paula Readman  

6 February Story Cubes

Try out the APP Story Cubes.  At the time of writing it costs £1.99.

But if you don’t want to buy I’ve “rolled my dice” for you.  I got: a cat, a fountain, an L plate, a book, an apple, someone sleeping and an open eye. Pick at least three to build into your story

Gill James

 

7 February Chocolate 

Can you say it with chocolate 🍫? Write a chocolate tale with a twist. Remember, Chocolate can be Dark, Milk or White? What shade will your tale be? 

Paula Readman

18 February 2019 Drink Wine Day

As today is Drink Wine Day write a short story where a glass or a bottle of wine is the catalyst to something going well or badly.

Gill James

 

19 February 2019 The Mysterious Package

Two people meet on a bridge. One hands the other a mysterious package.  Who are the people? What is in the package?  What will happen next?

Gill James

Note, the book will also be available on Amazon as an e-book and all contributors will get a pro-rata 50% share of net sales.  If you have ideas, send them to me.

On the short story front I’ve written Theme Park, about an older lady spending a birthday at a theme park, Setting the Right Tone about how a teacher’s stress is alleviated when she helps the music teacher with the choir and On The Island, a spooky story about a couple of tourists trapped on an island.   

My short story collection Other Ways of Being is now out. You can find it on Amazon here.

         

Catalogue of books for children

I’ve added two books in October:

• The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas by David Almond, suitable for Key Stage 2, fluent readers.  It is quite quirky and as usual David Almond is a great story teller.
• The Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John Boyne  This is the story of a young boy who goes to live at the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain top retreat, and who becomes a Nazi. I have a few problems with this book, just as I did with The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.  Who should the reader actually be?

You can read my full comments here and here.     

Current reading recommendation

Despite my comments above about John Boyne’s book above, this is the one I’m recommending this month, perhaps because I welcome other views on what I consider controversial. I found it a fascinating and a relatively quick read in any case, despite my misgivings.  

It is difficult to really pinpoint a reader. Pierrot is seven at the beginning of the story and at the end we see Pierrot / Pieter as a gown man.  Before the epilogue he is eighteen and wears a soldier’s uniform but isn’t ever involved in active combat. There is a scene near the end of the story where he almost rapes the girl he would like to have as a girlfriend.  Yet this would not be too startling for the younger reader as the scene is quite subtle. Clearer is his sense of entitlement that his Nazi upbringing has created. 

Adults reading the text know what is happening. Boyne writes very much form Pierrot’s / Pieter’s point of view and we see everything through an innocent boy’s eyes. When he is transcribing for Hitler what some important Nazi figures discuss in a meeting, he queries why the showers in the new camps will not have water. However, once we get to the end of the story Pieter refers to Buchenwald, Dachau, Auschwitz and the Geneva Convention as though the readers would perfectly understand this.  

Find it on Amazon here.             

Giveaway

This month I’m giving away a PDF of my short story collection Our Daily Bread. This seems to have disappeared from Amazon so I shall republish it there, perhaps under a different title, in the not too distant future.   

Get your free PDF and lots of other goodies here.

Note, that normally my books and the books supplied by the imprints I manage sell for anything from £0.99 to £10.99, with most on Kindle being about £2.99 and the average price for paperback being £7.00. We have to allow our writers to make a living. But I’m offering these free samples so that you can try before you buy.   

Naturally I welcome reviews.

 

The Schellberg Project

The posts may be helpful for teachers who are familiar with the Schellberg stories or who are teaching about the Holocaust.

This month I’ve added posts about Hani Gődde: about her childhood in Germany and about the BDM.

 You can read the posts here and here.      

 

School visits

I’m still promoting my school visits associated with The House on Schellberg Street project. I’ve now developed a whole workshop for this. It starts off with a board game, includes some role play and creative writing and ends with a discussion.

It is now possible to purchase the kit to work on on your own. Find details here.

Costs for my workshops = travel expenses plus £400 for a full day and £200 for a half day. This includes all materials and some freebies. Two schools near to each other might consider splitting the day and halving the travel expenses and fees. This is open to negotiation in any case.       

I also offer a free half day visit, though you pay my travel expenses, if you allow me to promote my books.      

I’m continuously adding materials for schools to the site that are different from the ones I use for the workshops. I’ve recently added in resources and books to do with the topic. See them here:      

Query for a school visit here.

I’m also happy to tailor a visit for your agreed donation. This can be for either a Schellberg Cycle visit or a creative writing workshop. Any monies raised this way will go specifically to a project I have for a non-fiction book about a journey that will follow the footsteps of Clara Lehrs. I’m hoping to do the whole journey by train, including departing via my nearest Metrolink station. It’s important to feel the rails beneath my feet.       

I offer as well standard author visits which include readings from my books, Q & A sessions and creative writing exercises.

Please remember, with these as well, I’m open to negotiation if you can’t afford the full price.

 

Some notes about my newsletters and blogs

They do overlap a little but here is a summary of what they all do.

Bridge House Authors For all those published by Bridge House, CaféLit, Chapeltown or The Red Telephone or interested in being published by us. General news about the imprints. News for writers. Links to book performance. Sign up here.

Chapeltown Books News about our books. Sign up here.

The Creative Café Project News about the project and CaféLit – for the consumer rather than for the producer.  Sign up here.   

Gill’s News: News about my writing, The Schellberg Project, School Visits and Events. Find it here.   

Opportunities List Remember I keep a full list of vetted opportunities on my writing blog. See them here. New ones are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I go through it and take out all of the out of date ones. At that point I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.  

Pushing Boundaries, Flying Higher News about conferences and workshops to do with the young adult novel. (infrequent postings) Sign up here.  

Red Telephone Books News about our books and our authors. Sign up here.

A Publisher’s Perspective Here I blog as a publisher. Access this here.   

The Creative Café Project Listings and reviews of creative cafés. See them here.   

CaféLit Stories Find these here

Gill James Writer All about writing and about my books. View this here.

Gill’s Recommended Reads Find information here about books that have taken me out of my editor’s head.   

Gill’s Sample Fiction Read some of my fiction here.

The House on Schellberg Street All about my Schellberg project. Read it here.

Writing Teacher All about teaching creative writing.  Some creative writing exercises. Access this here.     

Books Books Books Weekly offers on our books and news of new books. Find them here. 

Happy reading and writing.

Our Daily Bread

This is my first collection of short stories which I've self-published as an e-book only. It's also the first time I've completed the whole design and the cover myself. I was pleased that I could do it though not sure I've made as good a job of it as our in-house designer. 

Nevertheless, I used Draft2Digital and I have to say they were very easy to use. A downside is that they take a % of all that you earn though there are no set-up costs. Also, they can publish to multiple platforms. We normally only publish on Amazon. This time I've hooked it up to everything I can. You can see this here.

At the time of writing it's still not on Amazon. On all the other platforms you can pre-release. I did that. I even edited the book again after some of my reviewers found a couple of typos and then tried to release to Amazon. It's still processing. We hit another snag at this point. I had to fill in another tax exemption form. Amazon actually already knows that I am US tax exempt. That has now all been accepted and I am registered for 0% US tax. Still we wait. Oh dear. Amazon again.  

I've divided all of my short stories up into folders – everyday, science fiction, historical, retellings of Bible and near future. This first collection is of everyday stories. Straight away I notice a snag about this method; it's going to take ages to fill some volumes. So, I think in future I'm going to go for the mix. I can always republish stories in other collections later.

I have made a decision to self-publish most of my work. This seems a little at odds with the Opportunities List    I publish. I also miss that excitement / curiosity about publishing. So I've decided to send off each story to others first. I guess the list is still there also for those people we cannot publish. 

Our Daily Bread includes stories of people striving to succeed, sometimes managing, sometimes not.  It is at the same time about daily lives and the bigger picture. There's the story of the young woman who struggles to come to terms with the death of her baby.  A music manager is near to despair but finds a way to carry on. An older citizen finds that miracles still do happen.  Even God, whoever she may be has her say and gives us an interpretation of the Lord's Prayer – hence the title.