That’s right! My awesome new short story anthology Eye Candy is available in the Amazon Kindle Store for immediate download. Enjoy!

Here is that all-important link:

http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Candy-ebook/dp/B007GR25YO/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1334263401&sr=1-3

Set in late-50s heartland America, “Slow Dancing” is a Rock ‘n’ Roll tale of enduring teenage friendship, feuding families, and the finality of death. Through it all runs the amazing story of an orphan of the Holocaust and his meteoric rise to the top of the music entertainment business. If you appreciated Rebel Without A Cause, Stand By Me, and American Graffiti, you will definitely enjoy this classic from the prolific American short story writer, Wayne C. Long.

Here’s how to purchase this wonderful short story at Amazon.com in the Kindle Store:

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Dancing-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B0071NIJUM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1328251674&sr=1-1

Sure wish we had better news about the submissions to our latest LongShortStories Short Story Contest. But, alas, there were no short story entrants that tripped our trigger this time.

We continue to see stories with major spelling problems and grammatical mistakes that any writer worth their salt should know are unacceptable in this highly-competitive field of fiction writing.

Another thing is that many aspiring writers do not know how to punctuate dialogue. There is a simple fix for this. It is to read some great examples of short fiction and see firsthand how those writers do it. It’s not rocket science.

We continue to see story themes that have been done a thousand times. Hey, we want something unique and never before seen!

May we suggest that you review just how to create stunning short stories at the usual places on the Internet. If you own an e-reader, maybe you could purchase and download one of my ebooks from the Kindle Store and see how the good stuf looks.

Maybe you could buy a vocabulary-building book like “30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary.” Short story writing is all about using power words.

And last, but by no means least, know that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

We know that great and wonderfully talented short story writers are out there, honing their craft, editing and re-editing their manuscripts, and we ask that you send us something eye-popping and rare. We know you have it in you!

Just in time for Christmas! My new ebook “Flash In The Hand” is the perfect Kindle-stuffer for that special adult short story reader on your list. Twelve delicious Flash Fiction pieces (short stories under 1000 words each) just waiting for you to sample and then download at Smashwords.com: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/115764

What, no Kindle? No problem. Just download the FREE “Kindle for PC” app from the Internet and you will be able to read Kindle material just like Kindle owners do. Cool!

Between now and Christmas Day 2011, I am offering my new 5-Star-reviewed ebook “Stories from the Edges” at a special holiday sale price of only $0.99 at the Smashwords.com store. This wonderful 34-story ebook’s normal price is $4.99, so this is a BIG savings, just in time for your holiday reading.

You have enjoyed my two Free Sample stories on my Web site. Now you can enjoy a whole collection of great short fiction by yours truly for a limited-time low price.

Here’s that all-important link that takes you directly to my ebook ordering page:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/47051

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from LongShortStories!

It is rare indeed to discover a writer on the Amateur Radio bands but that is exactly how I met today’s LongShortStories guest. John Beckman is an experienced ham radio operator, a Renaissance man, and, as I was soon to learn, a marvelous writer.

John Beckman, a retired meteorologist, was known as “Johnny the Weatherman” in a career that spanned forty years. He forecasted the weather on WSJS-TV in Winston-Salem, NC, at WFGA-TV in Jacksonville, FL, and for thirty-three years in Atlanta at WSB-TV and WXIA-TV.
In his TV career he was the winner of many awards including two Emmys for his predictions of severe weather.
Also a writer since his teens, Beckman has been nationally published in The New American Review, and numerous magazines and newspapers. Regionally he has published twice in Oh, Georgia, an anthology of southern writers. He was a monthly contributing Editor for Southern Distinction Magazine. He has also presented at the Harriette Austin Writer’s Conference at the University of Georgia.
Besides writing, Beckman has had many hobbies over the years including flying his own plane, motorcycling, sailing, and for over 50 years he has been an avid amateur radio operator with the call sign W4BTX, communicating with other “hams” all over the world.
He lives with his wife Dr. Deborah Beckman in Stone Mountain, GA which is a suburb of Atlanta. If you wish to contact him, he receives Email at: webbeck@comcast.net

1) Welcome to LongShortStories, John! Please tell our readers how you came to be a writer.

Thank you, Wayne. When I was in elementary school a teacher made us memorize Joyce Kilmer’s lovely poem “Trees.” It so impressed me that as an eight year old I went wandering over our farm making up childish poems. I think from that moment on I was destined to be a writer of some kind. When my mom died a few years back (she kept EVERYTHING – old Sears receipts, etc.) I found stuff I had written on notebook paper from grade school through high school. Some were just scenes, some were attempts at full stories. And all of them were BAD!

2) What traits or characteristics help someone become a writer? Take us from being a newbie to a polished, published writer like yourself?

I think you have to be a lover of “words.” All writers are voracious readers and I have always devoured books. But, it is not so much the plot that intrigues me, it is the way the author puts together the words. Done rightly, words can wring the strongest emotions out of the reader. To make people laugh or cry by reading something you have created is a power (and gratification) few people ever know.

3) Again, I want to congratulate you on the debut of your wonderful new ebook “Cloudy McCoy Plus 13 Short Stories” over at Smashwords.com and soon to appear at Amazon.com. Tell our readers how that ebook came to be published.

I was educated as a meteorologist and made my living by forecasting weather in the TV business. As a teen ager I watched an early “weatherman” on WBT-TV in Charlotte, NC. His name was Clyde McClain. Because his forecasting was so often wrong, he won the nickname of “Cloudy McClain.” When I first started writing that story in 2004 he came to mind. I also had a weatherman (not a meteorologist) working for me at the time who was notoriously bad at following the forecasts I and my staff put together for him, but he was loved by the public for his humility and his homespun TV presentation. Those two characters blended well for my alcoholic protagonist newspaper reporter to make the most of them in “Cloudy McCoy.”

4) John, please give us some insight into how you created the story arc for “Cloudy McCoy,” your novella that opens your ebook.

All good fiction has the same characteristics. Man against man, man against nature, and man against himself. Also there must be a redemptive feature – the protagonist must undergo a change. In the case of “Cloudy McCoy” the narrative is carried by an alcoholic newspaper writer who befriends the old worn-out TV weatherman and in the process looks at his own life and decides to correct his mistakes of the past and become a new or better person.

5) So, John, what is your opinion about the traditional publishing market today versus today’s electronic or ebook market?

Wayne, if you will forgive a cliche’, I am convinced that ebooks are the wave of the future. The print publishing business has become so expensive that the big publishers won’t, or can’t take a chance on a new writer so they will only go with the James Pattersons (in my opinion the biggest hack writer in the market – but he sells tons of books) or the Tom Clancys. Ebooks open a market for otherwise unknown writers to be published and the convenience of reading those books is so easy I predict that within 8 to 10 years electronic books will far surpass the output of paper books. The days of brick and mortar bookstores, except for specialty purposes, are numbered.

6) Do you have any comment for our budding short story writers out there about writer’s block and also entering short story contests such as the two we host here at LongShortStories each year?

Well, first, I don’t believe in writer’s block. That is just an excuse not to write. As Ernest Hemingway said, “There’s no such thing as writing, it is all rewriting.” A first draft is just the beginning. All of the stories in “Cloudy McCoy plus 13 Short Stories” have been rewritten at least a dozen times. And if I went back to them now, I would find something to change for the better. You should never give up on a story. If it is good enough to be written it deserves to be honed to the very best of your writing ability.  And, entering contests is good. When I was 15 I wrote a script for a contest – a CBS radio program called “Doctor Christian.” I didn’t win the contest, but that didn’t stop me from writing.

7) Are you a member of a writers forum where you can have like-minded writers read and give you feedback on  your manuscript, or how can you be sure that what you have written is any good?

I’m not convinced that writers wasting their time writing to other writers about writing is good for them. Spend your time, when you are not writing, by READING, and only read those authors whose prose knocks you out. If you read a book by, say, Martin Cruz Smith by far the very best word craftsman of the modern era, try to emulate that in your writing. You will know when you’ve written something good if your wife or husband or companion reads it and says, “Wow!” That is the best compliment you can get. Then, go back and rewrite it again.

8 ) We often hear about writers having a ‘muse,’ John. Who or what is your muse?

I’ve heard that all my life too, Wayne. But I really don’t think a writer has a choice. Writers simply MUST write, they don’t need an inspiration to write. For years my mailbox was full of rejection letters. Some of them were even “form” rejections, which is really an insult. But even if you never get published (and it isn’t your fault, it is just the way the business is) if you have written a two or three hundred page novel you have done something that very few people in the world CAN do! So be proud of your accomplishment. Even if nobody ever sees your work, you will know you are a writer.

9) What writers are your favorites, and why, John?

I’ve already mentioned Martin Cruz Smith who is an absolute master of words. Lawrence Block, Ed McBain, Robert B. Parker, earlier work of James Lee Burke, Nelson DeMille to mention a few. It’s hard to beat the old masters who had to do it in longhand and have it rewritten on a typewriter. I still believe that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby” is probably the best example of good fiction writing. I re-read that book about once a year. Although its time period is dated, I defy anyone to find a better “word” for ANY word Fitzgerald put into that book.

10) How important to a professional writer is having a great vocabulary, John, and how did you acquire yours?

When I write, it is like a movie going on in my head. I “see” the people and places and I just write what I see and “hear.” (And smell and taste and feel.) And I write in the language that my characters use. One should never make the mistake of trying to write in dialect. You can define ethnicity or regional accents without using stereotypical words. What vocabulary I have, I got from reading. All I ever got out of high school and college English classes was learning how to type.

11) John, thank you so much for agreeing to be our guest blogger and for your keen insights into the fine art of writing. This is our final question for you today. If you could rule the world as a writer, what would you do with your power?

Whoa! How about “World Peace?” It works for the Miss America Contestants, why shouldn’t it work for an author? And thank you Wayne for allowing me to speak to your audience. You’re a good man and a great writer. Buy his book (and mine, too) folks!

Do yourselves a big favor and buy John Beckman’s terrific new ebook, “Cloudy McCoy Plus 13 Short Stories” at Smashwords.com. Here’s that link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94303.

Don’t have an e-reader, like Kindle or Nook? No problem. Download the free ‘Kindle for PC’ app from the Internet and then buy John’s ebook in Kindle format which you will be able to read on your computer. Until Santa Claus visits this year, that’s how I enjoy great ebooks like John’s and mine.

The Grammar Police?

Yes, there are many so-called writers out there that have unknowingly broken some of the rules of correct grammar. If you write (or want to write) professionally, you’d better know the rules so your readers don’t call you out! I’m not talking about idioms or colloquialisms. I’m talking formal writing, like one finds in a high school English classroom. Or in a magazine or newspaper publisher’s office. Or at one of the Big Six book publishing houses.

But why should it matter, you may ask? Who is to say today what is correct grammar usage or not? Well, let it just be said that there are official style guides one can purchase at Amazon.com.

The de facto style guide for American English style, grammar, and punctuation (not journalism, which is generally guided by the Associated Press Stylebook) is The Chicago Manual of Style published by the University of Chicago Press. If you don’t own one, you’d better get one!

Here are some flagrant abuses that may cause you to have your book manuscript or your writing contest entry rejected. You should Google these examples if you have any doubts, so I won’t take the time here to give you the rules:

Please drive safe. Should be (S/B): Please drive safely.

I’m going to try and fix this. S/B: I’m going to try to fix this.

You look real pretty tonight. S/B: You look really pretty tonight.

I can do math real good. S/B: I can do math well.

She gave a heart-rendering performance. S/B: She gave a heart-rending performance.

If I would of known. S/B: If I would have known.

Its hard to save money. S/B: It’s hard to save money

I use to be afraid of the dark. S/B: I used to be afraid of the dark.

At the flea market, there were lots of SUV’s. S/B: At the flea market, there were lots of SUVs.

Him and me bought some burgers. S/B: He and I bought some burgers.

Nine is fewer then ten. S/B: Nine is less than ten.

The businessmen had an alternate plan. S/B: The businessmen had an alternative plan.

Mary heard her cellphone ring. S/B: Mary heard her cell phone ring.

James Dixon launched a new website. S/B: James Dixon launched a new Web site.

The company’s email address is right here. S/B: The company’s e-mail address is right here.

Alot of my friends have TV’s. S/B: A lot of my friends have TVs.

Alright now, no funny business! S/B; All right now, no funny business!

It’s a hit and miss proposition. S/B: It’s a hit or miss proposition.

I am going to lay down. S/B: I am going to lie down.

Don’t loose that money! S/B: Don’t lose that money!

Be sure to bring the picnic basket to the park. S/B: Be sure to take the picnic basket to the park.

That dress is different than this one. S/B: That dress is different from this one.

Hurricanes effect the crops. S/B: Hurricanes affect the crops.

He acted very professional. S/B: He acted very professionally.

Gary could of made a lot of money. S/B: Gary could have made a lot of money.

Every renown writer starts out a beginner. S/B: Every renowned writer starts out a beginner.

And the list goes on and on! Why? Because of common usage, social media, and advertising, but that doesn’t make these mistakes valid choices for the writing professional. When in doubt, look it up!

Now, I’m sure someone, somewhere is going to find an exception to the rules as manifested in the above simple examples.

Great!

Then prove your point here by providing documented evidence from a reputable source, as is required in any police case.

Win, lose, or draw, the best grammar advice is this:

Stay out of trouble. Know the rules!

LongShortStories is very pleased to announce that Kamila Z. Miller has won our Third Prize with her short story “Hide and Seek.” This announcement is especially gratifying to us because Kamila and her submission have been patiently waiting since June of 2010 for this decision. At the time of receiving this wonderful short story, we did not have a large enough field of high-quality submissions with which to compare Kamila’s to, so we chose to roll her submission over into the next submission period, as per our Contest rules. We’re certainly glad we did!

Kamila Zeman Miller lives with her family on small acreage in the Columbia River Gorge, where she paints and writes.  She has exceeded a writer’s obligatory minimum number of rescued cats, who live uneasily with the dogs, goats, chickens, and a very weird rabbit.  Her first published story appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine.  She blogs at kzmillers.blogspot.com

We asked Kamila to tell us how her hauntingly beautiful fantasy piece came to be. She replied:

“When I wrote Hide and Seek, I didn’t want anything to be simple or easy, or the thing that everyone knows.  I wanted an inhuman being to serve as a witness because tapping too directly into the human instinct to protect children from torture and death calls too much attention to the abuser.  I  needed to think about the tragedy and suffering without screams for justice overshadowing the human pain.  I’m not sure I revealed enough of what it costs those that care about the victims, or what is gained and lost when someone powerless to stop it tries to mitigate pain.  Maybe readers wiser than me will connect their own experiences with Nettleborn’s strange life and better articulate what it means to try to bring joy in a wasteland of despair.”

Kamila will receive $100 in cash and a free One Year e-mail subscription to LongShortStories. Congratulations!

And now, let us proudly present to the world “Hide and Seek” by Kamila Z. Miller.

 Hide and Seek

by

Kamila Zeman Miller

“Ke-vin—come out come out wherever you are.”  Nettleborn crept in twilight through the overgrown garden, brushing through roses with heavy, drooping blossoms.  Towers of hollyhock grew through tangled honeysuckle.  He paralleled a broad gravel path that had succumbed to dandelions and grasses.

A shout came from the ancient house.  He crouched under a holly tree where his green hair and dark face served as camouflage among the leaves.

An adult male, the father, burst out the manor’s back door.  He overturned a dresser drawer of socks into a bed of azaleas.  A woman dressed in a servant’s black and whites about Nettleborn’s size followed him, shoulders hunched.

“Fold these properly this time!”  The father’s voice wasn’t just angry but shrill, as if he were afraid.  He swung the drawer at the servant.

She braced and took the glancing blow.  He cast the drawer, which broke, onto the ground and stormed back to the house.

The servant breathed the softest of sighs and gathered up the socks in her apron.  She settled on the ground and brushed them off carefully, unrolled them, and refolded them exactly as they’d been before—perfect and round.  She stifled sobs in her fist as she put each ball back in her apron.

The servant fascinated him, but she was an adult and wouldn’t accept him as a friend.  Too bad.  He knew he could make her smile, and nothing brought him greater joy and satisfaction than making someone deep in darkness smile. 

He waited until she’d gone back inside before he continued toward the house.  His hand looked dark and warm against the cold, white plaster as he braced and gazed up the thick wisteria trunks that grew up the wall.  The window was closed.

He carefully climbed the wisteria unwilling to be caught by the father.  That might lead to certain bad things.

Maybe the father was afraid because he didn’t want to be swallowed up by death. Nettleborn thought a man who feared death wouldn’t allow his estate to decay.  It would be a constant reminder.  But human beings seldom made sense.

Nettleborn swept his hair back from his face and gazed inside the bedroom window.  The bed was made and no boy sat on it or lay under the plush blankets.  Nettleborn’s tufted ears swiveled.  No sound of him.  He sniffed the windowsill.  No fresh scent of him.  He hadn’t climbed out into the garden.

Perhaps Kevin had left the house by another way and had hidden himself so well that Nettleborn hadn’t found him, but it was more likely that he sat in a room in a corner.  No play today.

Disappointed, Nettleborn climbed back down and roamed the garden.  Many tracks caught his attention as they often did on his way between the homes of the children he’d befriended.  The next child was some distance off, too, so he wanted to find something large and meaty to eat, like a cat or a raccoon.

The father had come this way, odd because he never ventured into the garden.  Nettleborn followed the tracks.

“Oh, here you are.”  Nettleborn crouched by the small grave poorly hidden under a pink hydrangea.  He stroked the soil, scented of new decay and boy and blood and father and piss.  His gaze slid toward the house and he bared his large teeth.  Another boy lost to commonplace evil, an evil he could answer with death, but only at the cost of staining his pristine immortal being. 

It tempted him nonetheless.

“Nettle?”

Kevin’s voice jerked Nettleborn’s head up and made him prick his ears.  Confusion faded to caution.  “Kevin?”

Kevin’s ghost appeared, as real to Nettleborn’s immortal sight as flesh.  Over the many centuries since his birth in a dream, Nettleborn had never met a spirit of Men before face to face.  Caution gave way to curiosity.

“Nettle, come play with me!”  He smiled, filling Nettle with joy, and extended his hand.

Nettle reached.  His hand didn’t touch flesh but fire.

Hot and then cold electricity jolted through his body.  Kevin yanked and Nettle yanked back, desperate to be free.

“Ouch.”  Kevin shrank away and brightened until he became as a diamond star and winked out.

“Wait!”  Nettleborn waited for an answer, but sagged as he realized what had happened.  Kevin had passed on.  Where he’d gone was beyond knowing and therefore beyond dreaming.  Could he come back?  “Kevin, I can’t follow.  Please.  If I don’t know where you’ve gone I can’t dream myself there.”

The hollow wind dragged death scents along the ground.

“Kevin?  I can’t die to be with you.  I’m forever until I’m not.  I can’t become fresh and new and bright and elsewhere and free …”  His last word fell away.

Nettleborn caressed the grave.  “Is it goodbye so soon?”  He brushed the hydrangea and it withered from his pain and anger.  That just made him feel worse.  He’d killed something beautiful just because ….

I’m not like him.

Still, it made him uneasy.  What made him different from the father?  It might have been accident or purpose or both that had brought about Kevin’s death.

I could never harm a child.  That’s the difference.

He hoped.

Time to go and never come back to this house.  He took a last glance at the grave and then followed animal tracks on his way home.  He skittered and dashed and crawled underground when he needed to until he found his way to the landfill.  There, near humanity’s garbage, he snuggled in his cozy home.  He had other children to play with–he’d visit one of them tomorrow.

The End

That’s right, friends! And just in time for your 4th of July summer reading.

For a limited time only, you can download my 34 short story ebook

“Stories from the Edges” from Smashwords.com for FREE.

Here’s the URL that will take you right to my Smashwords.com ebook page: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/47051.

Once there, enter the following free coupon code prior to completing your checkout:

VW48W

Note: this LongShortStories FREE ebook offer expires July 25, 2011, so don’t delay.

Have a great summer filled with enjoyable reading!

Wayne C. Long

Writer/Editor/Digital Publisher

www.LongShortStories.com

Where the Short Story LIVES!

Our week-long LongShortStories 4th Anniversary celebration has been in full swing since Wednesday. I hope you have been enjoying all the fun. Maybe you’ll even win a prize!

It’s not every day that one gets to make a new friend. A true friend. Great friends are like fine art or great books. You know, really know, you’ve found one because they instantly resonate that tuning fork of the heart and never stop giving back.

Such a friend is George Angus. He’s that brother I never had. He makes me laugh. And best of all, he knows where my writing and my very soul is coming from.

You see, he’s a Tumblemoose!

You’ll have to go to his blog at www.Tumblemoose.com  to learn what that means.

Bio: George is a writer of many things. Freelance articles, blogs, short stories. He owns Tumblemoose.com, a blog about writing. He has a book of short stories and a book on writing, both available at Smashwords and Amazon. George lives in beautiful Palmer, Alaska with his lovely daughter Maddy.

Friends, meet George Angus!

First and foremost, I need to congratulate Wayne on the 4^th anniversary of Long Short Stories. I’ve been blogging nearly three years myself and I know what a tremendous accomplishment this is. In my tenure I’ve seen a lot of blogs come and go. Many of them I had figured would be around a very long time and it surprises me how many go by the wayside. I think the longevity speaks to the heart, courage and integrity of Wayne Long. Again, congratulations, my friend.

One of the most important things a writer can do (oddly enough) is to write. You would be surprised by how many “writers” don’t actually write that much. In a word, Wayne is prolific. Each month my inbox gets the eagerly anticipated note from Wayne letting me know that the next installment of his short stories has arrived. I am never disappointed. The stories are varied and filled with rich, true-to-life characters. Wayne skillfully twists and moves things around within the story so I’m never really certain just where things are going to end up. I like that. As a reader, it keeps me engaged.

Owning a website and a blog is serious, hard business. When an owner takes the time to engage their readership and subscribers, they have gone a lot further than most of their brethren.  It is this style of engagement that laid the foundation which gave me an opportunity to meet Wayne and his lovely wife in person last year. He is the first internet friend I’ve met in person and the experience cemented our friendship. Think about how many folks you’ve engaged on the web and contrast that with the number you’ve met in person. I’ll bet it’s an eye opener.

While these encounters are rare, their importance cannot be overemphasized. Meeting in person has opened doors for both of us and I know that I am a better writer and blogger for knowing Wayne. Yes it has taken a bit of work to reach the point of engaging in person. It has also taken some time. The value does exceed the effort though and I just want to make the point that personally engaging an internet pal is rewarding and I think essential to longevity in this business.

Look around. Look at the blogs you subscribe to. Check out your inbox. Is there someone who intrigues you? I’m sure there is. Take the steps today to put the wheels in motion. You’ll be glad you did.