E.D. Martin's Blog, page 25

Media Monday: Anticipating death with Jeff Suwak and E.D. Martin

The books: “The Sunset Matinee” by Jeff Suwak and “A Place to Die” by me.

The music: “Some Day” by Shinedown

Imagine you’re in your mid-thirties and given a terminal medical diagnosis. Or imagine you receive that same diagnosis when you’re in your teens. How would you react? What if it were a loved one with that diagnosis – what would you do?

That’s the issue explored in these two short stories. In “The Sunset Matinee,” Grady, a teenage boy whose main hobby is getting high with his friends learns he has cancer, probably terminal. His friends and his little brother are scared but unable to lose face by showing it. His single mom blames herself for poor life choices that led them to this point. Grady has a choice: he can keep on his current path as one of his trailer parks’ Stoner Boys, or he can give back to the only community he’s known.

“A Place to Die” tells the story of a college girl, Libby, who spends the summer helping out at her mom’s bed-and-breakfast-turned-hospice. She’s tasked with keeping an eye on Mr. Calloway, a mid-thirties businessman who’s determined not to let his illness get in the way of life. As their friendship and his illness progress over the summer, her ideas of what death should look like – and how we should react – are challenged, leaving her a different person at the end.

This week’s song is one of my favorites by Shinedown. It’s a song with a strongly mixed response to loss: blame, regret, sadness, resilience.

Weekend Writing Warrior 3/6/16 #8Sunday

This month’s excerpts are from the next stand-alone short story I plan to release (still working on the title). I don’t have a blurb yet either, but it’s about an American guy’s up-and-down relationship with a French girl.

This scene is his initial arrival in France.

* * * * * * * * * *

Finished with customs, Daniel stepped uncertainly into the throngs of people in Charles de Gaulle airport. His French was rusty, much rustier than it should’ve been considering he’d be living in the country for a year, and all he knew was that a woman named Mireille Dubois was meeting him at the TGV station. He drifted with the crowds, finally arriving near the train platform. He set down his bag, rubbed his shoulder, and looked around.

A short woman in her mid-twenties approached him. “Daniel?

Looking back he would always tell himself that time stopped when she first said his name, that he memorized every detail of her face and body, that he could pinpoint the moment he fell in love, but really he just nodded, exhausted after the long flight. “Mireille?”

* * * * * * * * * *

Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

If you’re a writer, sign up to be a Friday Five author, which gets you and your latest work featured on my blog.

And then sign up for my mailing list to get a FREE ebook short story, “A Place to Die,” about a guy in hospice who’s in denial about his illness.

Weekend Writing Warrior 2/28/16 #8Sunday

Avignon

This month’s excerpts are from the next stand-alone short story I plan to release (still working on the title). I don’t have a blurb yet either, but it’s about an American guy’s up-and-down relationship with a French girl.

In this week’s scene, Daniel is leaving France after a year spent teaching in Avignon.

* * * * * * * * * *

Daniel has reached the train station, conveniently located on the edge of the old town, of the downtown. A year in France and he still isn’t sure what to call it, a city so different from any in America. Always paranoid about not having a seat, he bought his ticket weeks ago. He’s early, of course; traveling in the States has trained him to arrive hours ahead of time. He sits on a bench on the edge of the terminal, half watching the people rushing by.

He hates train stations, airports too. Nowhere else is his aloneness accentuated as much as these places, where couples kiss as if they’ve been parted for years, where they embrace as if they’ll never see each other again. He’s jealous of their passion and their partners. He lays his head on his hands, propped up on his knees, closes his eyes, and waits for his train to Paris.

* * * * * * * * * *

Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

If you’re a writer, sign up to be a Friday Five author, which gets you and your latest work featured on my blog.

And then sign up for my mailing list to get a FREE ebook short story, “A Place to Die,” about a guy in hospice who’s in denial about his illness.

Bathrooms, zombies, and second grade semantics

Today I chaperoned a trip for an after school program. We took about 60 elementary school kids to a local art museum. My duties basically consisted of making sure 10 K-2 graders quietly paid attention to the docent and had adequate bathroom breaks.

I’m pretty sure most of the kids didn’t actually need to use the bathroom; they just wanted to go because they weren’t interested in art, and because they couldn’t let their friends use the bathrooms and not them.

(Side note for people not familiar with children: M = N3, where M = chaotic mess and N = the number of kids. In order to keep the mess to a minimum, you make them do things one at a time, even if it takes longer.)

The bathrooms at the museum were “weird,” as several kids told me. You walked through a door with a man/woman sign on it, which led the kids to think they were using the wrong sex’s bathroom. This door led to a room with drinking fountains and two more doors, one for the men’s room and one for the women’s. Through these doors was another room with sinks and another door. Through this door, finally, were the actual toilets.

One little girl told me, as we walked through each door, that she was scared. While washing her hands, she told a woman in the room (not part of our group) that the bathrooms reminded her of The Walking Dead. She then described the plot, but reassured the woman that she prayed, so it was okay that she watched the show. The woman agreed that prayer was powerful – although if I’m ever confronted with zombies, I’m not relying on prayer for survival. Double tap.

Zombies are a pretty popular topic with kids, so I wasn’t surprised when this little girl brought them up later. Several other kids chimed in with their views on zombies, which led to the question, “Would you rather be dead alive or alive dead?”

Huh?

Dead alive, as they explained, is when you’re dead but still alive. Alive dead is when you’re alive but you’re dead.

Before I could answer, I had to calm down a kid who was crying because a classmate had rolled her eyes at her (“Next time, just close your eyes and don’t look at her.” “But I’ll still know!!”).

Either way – dead alive or alive dead – I can see a great horror movie coming from this:

Night at the Museum 4 – Ben Stiller trapped in a museum with two dozen 1st graders who can’t be left alone, can’t use the bathroom together, and they all think they have to pee. Zombies optional.

Media Monday: Medical dystopias with RJ Crayton and Jeff Altabef

The books: Life First series by RJ Crayton, Shatter Point by Jeff Altabef, and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The music: “Heaven’s a Lie” by Lacuna Coil

Imagine a world where everyone can be healthy: no cancer, no failing organs. What would you be willing to give up to make this a reality? Or, more importantly, what would you be willing for others to give up for you to be healthy?

Those are the questions explored in this week’s books.

First, RJ Crayton introduces us to the Federation of Surviving States (FoSS), a country made from the remnants of the United States after pandemics wiped out 80% of the population. In this future country, life comes first. No exceptions. That means risks are discouraged, and if you’re a match for an organ donation to someone who needs it, you’re required to comply. But Kelsey, the MC of the first book, Life First, doesn’t want to comply. It’s not that she’s selfish or wants the recipient to die; it’s that she wants to make the decision herself. What follows is a massive legal battle that culminates in a fight for her very life, not just her kidney.

But the FoSS government isn’t necessarily all bad. As we learn in book two, Second Life, they just want the best possible medical outcomes – even if sometimes it’s at the expense of the first experimental patients. In this book, Kelsey’s paraplegic best friend, Susan, is given the opportunity to walk again, and must decide if the strings attached to the offer are worth the reward.

Jeff Altabef also explores the dark side of government intervention in his psychological thriller Shatter Point. Government scientists have developed a drug that can improve cognitive functioning, as well as a vaccine that cures cancer. The key question becomes, who has a right to these drugs? Is it okay to maintain a second class of citizens, so that others can thrive? Is it okay to experiment on people without their knowledge, given the possible greatness of the implications for everyone else?

Kazuo Ishiguro takes this a step further in Never Let Me Go, a deceptively simple novel about a group of kids raised in privilege at a secluded boarding school. As the MC, Kathy, reflects back on her life, she reveals the dark reasoning for the existence of her and her friends. The end is heartbreaking, as we’re told in plain terms just how selfish people are willing to be – as long as it’s not their lives being destroyed.

The song I picked for this week is dark, just like the books. The singer asks to be “set free” because “your heaven’s a lie” – exactly what the characters in this week’s books come to realize too, as their government’s heavens turn into their own personal hells.

Weekend Writing Warrior 2/21/16 #8Sunday

This month’s excerpts are from the next stand-alone short story I plan to release (still working on the title). I don’t have a blurb yet either, but it’s about an American guy’s up-and-down relationship with a French girl.

This week’s snippet is the rest of last week’s scene. After deciding it might be fun to be a pigeon, Mireille ran around the square with her arms outstretched like a bird. Daniel was not amused.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Mireille,” he hissed at her, grabbing her arm and pulling her roughly to her feet, “you’re not a bird. You’re a girl, a grown woman, so act like it.”

She stared at him and the light faded from her eyes.

Daniel’s heart dropped into his stomach; he hated when she had that look, so defeated. He reached his arms around her, pulling her into a hug, but she stiffened against him. “Mireille, I didn’t mean it. You can be whatever you want, d’accord? A bird, a gypsy, a crazy girl flying around la place, anything.”

She nodded, her body relaxing against his, and he sighed into her hair.

That was the last time she went to the grotto, to the Palais des Papes, with him.

* * * * * * * * * *

Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

If you’re a writer, sign up to be a Friday Five author, which gets you and your latest work featured on my blog.

And then sign up for my mailing list to get a FREE ebook short story, “A Place to Die,” about a guy in hospice who’s in denial about his illness.

Weekend Writing Warrior 2/14/16 #8Sunday

This month’s excerpts will be from the next stand-alone short story I plan to release (still working on the title). I don’t have a blurb yet either, but it’s about an American guy’s up-and-down relationship with a French girl.

While leaving France to return to the States, he reminisces about time spent with her.

* * * * * * * * * *

“I want to be one of them,” Mireille said, pointing across the plaza at a man strumming unrhythmically on a guitar.

“Mmhhm,” Daniel murmured noncommittedly, engrossed in a newspaper someone had left at their cafe table.

“Or one of them.”

Daniel’s gaze darted upward; this time she’d pointed at a Roma woman surrounded by shopping bags and children. “You wouldn’t be able to paint your toenails as often as you do now.”

Mireille’s brow furrowed until finally she nodded and said, “You’re right – it would be much better to be one of those.”

“A pigeon?”

“To be able to fly, Daniel, to not think of anything but the wind and pieces of baguette on the ground.”

“You definitely wouldn’t be able to paint your toenails.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

If you’re a writer, sign up to be a Friday Five author, which gets you and your latest work featured on my blog.

And then sign up for my mailing list to get a FREE ebook short story, “A Place to Die,” about a guy in hospice who’s in denial about his illness.

Weekend Writing Warrior 2/7/16 #8Sunday

This month’s excerpts will be from the next stand-alone short story I plan to release (still working on the title). I don’t have a blurb yet either, but it’s about an American guy’s up-and-down relationship with a French girl.

This is the opening.

* * * * * * * * * *

Daniel looks around his apartment one last time. All personal signs of his life here are carefully tucked into his duffel bag, into the small backpack that serves as his carry on. A few things remain: the bed he shared with Mireille; the kitchen pans that belong to the apartment’s owner, the ones that Daniel used to cook Mireille dinner because most of the time she forgot to eat unless he reminded her. She cooked for him in that kitchen too, a few times, but she was a horrible cook, always burning things, using her own combinations instead of following recipes. France was supposed to be known for its culinary prowess, and yet Daniel had the fortune to fall in love with the only woman in the country who couldn’t even boil water without filling the apartment with smoke.

He memorizes the apartment, filling in Mireille. She’s been gone for months, and now he’s leaving too. He takes a deep breath to clear his mind of the past, to focus on his future back home in the States – a future strangely empty, after years filling it with plans and goals. Now he isn’t sure what he’s going back to or what he’s going back for.

* * * * * * * * * *

Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

If you’re a writer, sign up to be a Friday Five author, which gets you and your latest work featured on my blog.

And then sign up for my mailing list to get a FREE ebook short story, “A Place to Die,” about a guy in hospice who’s in denial about his illness.

Media Monday: Dragons

The book: Cora and the Nurse Dragon by H. L. Burke

The music: “Kill Your Heroes” by AWOLNATION

H.L. Burke is well on her way to becoming the next Dragon Lady. Her first series, The Dragon and the Scholar (first book is free here), followed the relationship between a cursed dragon and the woman he loved.

Cora and the Nurse Dragon is a fun read. Cora lives in a world where dragons are common pets – for those who can afford them. She dreams of racing dragons one day but is stuck raising cheap, tiny mayfly dragons who only live a few months. Her luck changes when her nemesis throws an egg at her, which hatches into a rare nurse dragon with a very unique ability.

While I enjoyed this book as an adult, it’ll definitely appeal to its target audience of kids. Cora and her best friend Abry strike a fine balance between following and breaking rules, between independence and reaching out to the adults in their lives for help. They find a way to deal with bullies, as well as higher issues of what makes a law moral. The climax is darker than I expected, but nothing kids can’t handle. Overall, it’s a great clean read for kids with some good messages along the way.

Even though the story only takes place over the span of a few months, Cora manages to grow quite a bit throughout the story, as evident by the choices she makes at the end and her reasoning for them. Because of this, the song this week is AOLNATION’s “Kill Your Heroes.” Because sometimes, what you thought you wanted isn’t the right choice at all.

Weekend Writing Warrior 1/31/16 #8Sunday

The short story I posted from in December, “A Place to Die,” is getting great reviews on Amazon, so I’m going to use it for today’s excerpt. And because it’s one of my favorite stories I’ve written.

When Libby Starr spends a summer helping out at her mom’s bed and breakfast-turned-hospice, she doesn’t expect to spend her time babysitting someone like Mr. Calloway – a young, vibrant financial planner with a mischievous streak. But Mr. Calloway is sicker than he seems, something neither he nor his family want to acknowledge. Can Libby help him accept his fate without losing her heart?

While stargazing earlier in the summer, Mr. Calloway brought up the Big Dipper (right before a seizure sent him to the hospital – but he was okay!). They’re back on that subject in today’s scene.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Remember that myth about the Big Dipper?” he asked.

I nodded against him.

“Think of me as that nymph. As Callisto. I stole away here and now the jealous Wall Street gods are after me for not maximizing their profits, so Zeus is going to turn me into a bear and stick me up in the sky, waiting to swoop down as a net to rescue you from….”

He trailed off as I burst into laughter. “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, it was pretty stupid.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Get the rest of my story FREE when you sign up for my mailing list or for just $.99 on Amazon. Then post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

And if you’re a writer, sign up to be one of my Friday Five authors, which gets you and your latest work featured on my blog.