Amber Turner's Blog, page 4

Free Fiction: Dialogue Only Shorts

Recalling Past Lives

by

Elle Chambers

Thank God you came. He’s been asking for you.

 

No problem. How’s he doing?

 

He’s better now, more lucid, but…

 

What?

 

I’m not sure how much longer he has. He could go any day now. You should call your parents, let them know so they can make arrangements.

 

I will. Thanks, Barb.

 

***

 

Hey, Pop.

 

Carl – what’re you doing here?

 

Barb called, said you wanted to see me.

 

Oh, yes. I did. I’m glad you’re here.

 

What’d you want to see me for?

 

Why are you standing all the way over there like a stranger? Get the chair in the corner and come sit beside me, son.

 

Okay.

 

***

 

Are you comfortable?

 

I suppose. What’s going on, Grandpa?

 

What do you mean?

 

I’ve tried to come see you before and you always told Barb to tell me that you weren’t having visitors.

 

Now you call me here – what gives?

 

“What gives” is that I wanted to see my grandson before I…well, before I was no longer able to.

 

Don’t talk like that, Pop. You’ll be around for-

 

Don’t patronize me, Carl. I know what Barbara told you. I know it because I can feel it. I’m dying.

 

…Yes.

 

I wanted you here because I couldn’t leave without anyone knowing what I did.

 

What you did? What’d you do?

 

Your father and I never got along. I’m sure you know that. It was my fault.

 

Dad has a lot of idiosyncrasies, Pop. You can’t blame yourself for everything.

 

No. Still, I think he sensed it in me. The darkness. It scared him.

 

You’re not making any sense. I’m gonna go get Barb, see if she can get you something to help you sleep.

 

I’m not tired or crazy and I’d appreciate if you’d stop talking to me as if I were.

 

Sorry.

 

Now sit back down and listen.

 

***

 

There were girls, before I met your grandmother. A few of them. All very pretty and very young. I didn’t know them well. The first girl, Noreen Hodge, had just turned thirteen. I saw her walking home from school one day and offered her a ride in my daddy’s car. I’d just gotten my license and was ready to show off. She’d had the nicest pair of legs I’d seen on a girl. I drove up beside her and rolled the window down. Back in those days, people weren’t so jumpy about getting into a stranger’s car, especially when it was raining out and God, was it pouring that day.

 

I drove past where she said she lived, told her I wanted to take her to Griffith Park over by the lake. I was a good-looking boy back then, like one of them matinee idol types, and all I had to do was smile at her and she blushed and said she’d go with me. I drove to the park with my hand on hers and felt how soft her skin was. It was like a newborns, smooth and unblemished. When I parked the car in the park by the lake, I looked her straight in the eyes – she had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen on a girl – and I asked if I could kiss her. She blushed again and put her head down, but I heard her say yes. So I lifted her chin and kissed her, soft at first, since she didn’t seem to know what she was doing, then faster, more insistent as my hands trailed down her bare legs. She was so wet from the rain. When she shivered, I wasn’t sure if it was because she’d never been kissed before or if she was still cold.

 

I turned the heater on. Just in case she was cold, you see. I turned that heater on and I reached up to unbutton her sweater – she was going to get real hot sitting up under my daddy’s heater with that cotton shirt on. She broke the kiss and pushed my hands away. I asked what was wrong – I thought she liked what I was doing – but she frowned at me and said she needed to go home right away. She forgot that her mother was expecting her to do something or other, I forget now, and if she was late she’d be in trouble.

 

Well, I asked her if she could stay a while longer. I was raring to go and my pulse was beating so loud I could hear it over the sound of my own voice. I was hot and I wanted to keep touching her, keep kissing her.

 

She told me no. She said she had to go and I needed to take her back immediately. She straightened her sweater – I remember it was blue – and I don’t know what came over me, but I reached out and grabbed the bottom of it and pulled the sweater so hard, the bottom two buttons popped off and it tore. She yelled, but I put my hand over her mouth and pulled her close to me. With my right hand, I ripped open the top of her sweater and saw the plain t-shirt she had on underneath. And I don’t know why, but that shirt made me angry so I snatched that two. She struggled against me, trying to bite my hand, so I hit her twice in the mouth to keep her still you see – not to hurt her. She screamed again so I had to climb on top of her and lay my body across her to muffle the sound. There wasn’t any other cars out that I could see, but I couldn’t risk it.

 

Pop, what are you talking about? Are you saying you raped somebody?

 

***

 

I put my hands around her neck to get her to stop screaming. She stopped squirming after a while…just laid there and looked up at me with her big, blue eyes. I put a hand over her face. I didn’t like the way she looked at me. I guess with my hands on her throat and over her face, she couldn’t breathe. When I was done, I looked down at her and her eyes were blank. Her lips weren’t moving and she wasn’t really looking at me anymore. It was quiet except the sound of my daddy’s heater going and my breathing.

 

I panicked. I hadn’t meant to hurt her – she was just so pretty. I got out of the car and went over to her side. I opened the door and pulled her out by the arms. She was heavy and I couldn’t carry her. My arms were too tired. I dragged her into the woods by a bunch of rocks. When I hit her with the first one, I was trying to cover her face. Someone could have seen her getting into my daddy’s car and they’d send me to the chair once they found the body and connected the dots.

 

Hold on – stop. Dad told me this story back when I was in high school. That wasn’t you, Pop. It was your dad who did it. He got arrested for it and everything – it was all over the papers.

 

It wasn’t. Someone saw his car pick her up, but they didn’t see who was driving. When they found her body, it was so badly beaten they couldn’t tell much of what happened to her. Daddy didn’t have an alibi so they locked him up.

 

No, Grandpa, that’s not what happened. Your father confessed to the crime. He’d been following Noreen for weeks. He’d abused your younger sister, Kate, and that’s why your mom sent her to live with your cousins. That wasn’t you.

 

I know what I remember doing, Carl. Noreen wasn’t the only one either. There were probably dozens after her: Phyllis Campbell, Moira King, Ruth Tuttle – they were all like Noreen. The other girls…well, their experience was different. I got angrier the older I became. Accidents stopped being accidents and were planned. I don’t remember the other girls’ names or faces, but I do remember the screams. They were always so loud, so perfect, that I’d get beside myself.

 

Okay, I’m going to go get Barb because this is nuts and I can’t listen to this anymore.

 

Sit down, Carl. Now. I’m not finished. People need to know what I did. Your father needs to know.

 

Know what? That you think you killed a bunch of girls a long time ago?

 

I don’t think – I know. I know because of what I did to Pam.

 

And Pam is who?

 

She was a girl your father was sweet on in school.

 

Wait, you mean the girl who went missing?

 

Your father told you about her?

 

Yes. They were twelve and dad had a crush on her. Someone kidnapped her on the way home from her dance class.

 

She wasn’t kidnapped.

 

Pop? Stop this. You didn’t do anything to her. The police arrested someone in connection with her disappearance. The guy confessed after the cops found her hair tie on him.

 

He may have found her body in that quarry, but he didn’t put her there. He didn’t feel her writhing against him, digging her nails into his skin; he didn’t see the way her lips curled up into a grimace. He didn’t hear the screams.

 

That’s enough. I don’t know why you’re saying this, but you are very sick and you need help.

 

I’m telling you the truth and you refuse to hear it. So which one of us needs help?

 

Barb?!

 

Yes, Mr. Willis?

 

Can you please get my grandfather’s medication? He’s delirious.

 

Yes, sir.

You can drug me all you want, boy, but it doesn’t change the past. I did what I said I did. I’d like your father to know so he can have some peace.

 

I’m not telling dad anything. If you murdered these girls, where’s the evidence, Pop? Huh? You keep saying that these guys who were arrested were falsely accused even though there was evidence linking them to the crimes. What proof do you have?

 

My word.

 

Yeah, ‘cause that’s real reliable right now. You’re dying, Pop. You’re delusional. Your mind is halfway gone-

 

On the contrary. My mind has never been more clear. I remember the night I took her. I hadn’t done anything like it in fifteen, sixteen years. I came home with scratches on my arms. There was blood on the hem of my shirt. It got in the way. Your grandmother saw me. She didn’t say anything. She took me into the bedroom and helped me out of my clothes. They were wet with perspiration, among other things-

 

Stop.

 

She ran me a bath. I cried when I stepped into the warm water. She picked up my clothes and narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t do it again, Joe.” That’s all she said. “So help me God. Don’t do it again.”

 

She burned my clothes while I scrubbed that girl off my skin.

 

Mr. Willis? Here’s your medicine.

 

Take your pills, Grandpa. Get some rest.

 

I can’t rest, son. And now…neither can you. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween and Dark Tales: What Inspires You?

Here we are in October, my favorite month of the year. Soon the leaves will be turning that crisp brown, gold, and/or burnt orange color and will be falling off the trees into large, inviting piles just waiting for some giddy child (or a silly adult such as myself) to jump on in ‘em.

But the best part of October is Halloween. The costumes, the candy, the haunted houses and hayrides – I love it all. Even better, most stations this month will be running horror movie marathons leading up to the 31st so there will never be a shortage of things to watch to send a subtle chill up your spine and keep you up at night.

I’m working on my next micro collection of dark tales for release around Halloween and while brainstorming ideas, I realized something I hadn’t thought about before: most of my stories are inspired by film or television, not by the horror fiction I grew up reading.

As my bio stated, I lived for Stephen King novels as a kid. I remember being six-years-old going to the library every weekend with my mom and brother, heading straight back to the horror section and bypassing all the children’s and middle grade literature. I’d read the back cover copy on his older books in the section, read the jacket flaps, and if the cover was frightening or strange, I’d put it in my “to read” pile.

Once I had an armload of books, I’d head on over to the librarian at the circulation desk and plop my bounty up on the counter, sliding her (because it was always a female working the desk) my library card. She’d look at me, then up at my mother, then back down to the titles I’d laid out for her, then back at mom.  Mom would just shrug and say, “She likes scary stories.”  The librarian would sigh, shake her head, and check out the age-inappropriate material, handing the books to me with a concerned and bewildered expression on her face. I’d smile, thank the judgey librarian, and happily jog out to my mother’s car, cracking open one of the tomes to read on the short ride home.

Movies, however, seem to have had a greater impact on me and my sensibilities as a writer mainly because they operate on a visual level. I’m a visual person. Images I see get burned into my mind and never leave (seriously – I have almost perfect recall of things I’ve seen, and been horrified by, as a child) and while I’m writing, these images come to the forefront of my mind and inform the tone of whatever it is I’m working on.

For example, in Dark Tales: eVolume One there’s a story called “Child’s Play” about a young boy and his imaginary friend who might not be quite so imaginary. After I wrote it, I came upon Thomas Ligotti’s short story “The Frolic” and was surprised by how similar my ending of “Child’s Play” was to his – but not very. Because ultimately, my ending was a take off a Tales from the Crypt episode I’d seen as a kid called “And All Through the House” (and I hadn’t consciously intended to do that when I sat down to write the story by the way).  I won’t spoil the endings of any of the three stories mentioned here, but needless to say, I think Ligotti and I must have been inspired by the same story (remember – Tales  was a popular comic book series in the ‘50s and ‘60s and “And All Through the House” was taken from the source material). The image of a deranged serial killer standing in your house dressed as Santa, drenched in blood is a powerful (and chilling) one. As is a woman screaming. These images are perfect jumping off points for a horror story.

I don’t have any hard proof Ligotti ever read the comic (and his short story was written before “And All Through the House” was filmed for the Tales HBO series) but it wouldn’t surprise me if he had seen the comics as a boy and had been partially inspired to write dark fiction because of it. Since I know now that I create based off things I’ve seen, TV shows and films that have stuck with me, I wonder – does anyone else do this? And I’m not talking about writing fanfic; that’s a whole other issue.  What I mean is, does anyone else unintentionally write a story and then go back, read a book or watch a movie and think, Gee, I think I might have cribbed that totally awesome idea I had earlier from here? I’d love to hear from writers of any genre on this, but especially horror/dark fiction writers since the genre we write in oftentimes tends to be a bit more graphic and atmospheric than others.

Related articles

31 Days of Halloween: Day 23: The Craft (1996) – A Dark Tale about a Group of Teenage Witches (simonsayswatchthis.wordpress.com)
Happy October! Get in the Halloween Spirit with Dame Darcy’s ‘Frightful Fairy Tales’! (bookhubinc.wordpress.com)
Halloween Haikus (Samhain) (guilfordhunter.com)

Writers and Validation

I’m involved in a fairly active writing community online and I keep seeing writers saying the same things over and over again:

I want to get published by a traditional publishing company and self-publishing is a last resort.

I will never self-publish and if I write twenty novels and none of them find a home at a Big Five publishing company, I still won’t self-publish.

I won’t publish with a small press because I might not get an advance and they can’t market my work.

Now, every writer is different. Some writers are not cut out for self-publishing. They just aren’t. Self-publishing is a business (actually, all publishing is a business, but many writers don’t see it that way and that’s another post for another day) and some writers don’t want to be business owners. Essentially, if you go the indie route and do-it-yourself, you are effectively a small business. There are writers who don’t want to deal with everything that that entails and that’s their choice – the purpose of this post isn’t to persuade anyone to this side of the business, but to ask why this is.

Why do writers cling to the traditional publishing model despite the steep odds of breaking in? Why are so many writers closed off to other avenues of getting their work into the hands of readers? I mean, presumably if you’re trying to be a career writer and not just a hobbyist, you’re writing with the intention of getting an audience. So why limit your ability to do so by sticking to one way of publishing?

I started thinking about this, thinking about why I used to want to be traditionally published, and it came back around to validation. I wanted to be able to say, “Big Time Publisher X just gave me a three book deal. That must mean I’m a good writer.”

Well, no, not exactly.

Publishing is a business after all so that means the bottom line of a given company is first and foremost the concern of the people running it. That means that if they come across a writer who is only so-so when it comes to the actual mechanics of writing, but is writing on a subject that’s currently hot in the book market and can make them a lot of money, they’ll publish that writer, shitty prose and all.

You can write the most beautiful sentences in the world, but if your story isn’t considered salable by the marketing department of Big Time Publisher X, you’re not going to get a contract for your book. At least not from that particular publisher.

Now, I’m not saying my teenage rationale for wanting a traditional publishing contract is the rationale for all aspiring writers who go the legacy route. I’ve had many writer friends say to me, “I want a traditional book contract so I can get my work edited.” I don’t bother pointing out that more and more publishing houses are cutting editorial positions and outsourcing the work to freelance editors and I won’t get into that now – that’s for another post and another time.

Another one I get is, “I want a traditional publishing company to sign me so they can market my novel since I’m not good at self-promotion.” I have on occasion pointed out to the writers who say this that even if they score a contract from a New York publishing house, they’ll still be doing the majority of their book marketing themselves (especially as a newbie), but that always falls on deaf ears so I’ve stopped saying it. Let them believe that all they have to do is write the book, turn it in, and sit back and collect the royalty checks – not my career, not my business. They’ll learn soon enough how much self-promotion traditionally published writers have to do just to be midlist. (Hint: it’s pretty much the same amount of work indie authors have to do to be midlist.)

These are legit concerns that aspiring writers have. They don’t seem driven by ego or crippling insecurity. But I’ve seen writers say stuff like this:

·         I want a traditional publishing contract because I need the validation that someone besides my family and friends thinks I’m talented

and it saddens me. I am a firm believer that the only validation a writer should need is the validation they get from readers. Readers are the ones who spend their hard earned money on your work – not agents, not publishers, and certainly not other writers – and, therefore, their opinions are the only ones that should matter.

Talent is subjective. There are even many people who don’t believe talent exists. (I am not one of those people, but that too belongs in another post.) But if readers are buying your books and enjoying them, and you’ll know they’re enjoying them if they leave glowing reviews on all the online retailer sites and Goodreads or they’re blogging about your book, then those people think you’re talented or entertaining or something and that should be enough.

Again – if you’re a hobbyist writer, then this probably doesn’t matter to you, but if you’re trying to do this as a career, you have to get past the notion that only a legacy publisher can tell you if you’re good. Readers are the new gatekeepers in this digital age and they’ll let you know if something you’ve written is good or not by either buying it or ignoring it. (And yes, sometimes good books get ignored due to obscurity or bad covers or crazy pricing and quality of the project has little to do with it. I know.)

This publishing dilemma reminds me of a situation I found myself in after college. I couldn’t get a job at any newspaper in the country and I couldn’t pay magazines to run one of my freelance articles. I felt like a complete failure, not to mention angry at the amount of money I spent on a useless degree. So I applied to grad school for creative writing and when I was accepted into Sarah Lawrence’s Graduate Writing Program for Creative Non-fiction, I was thrilled. Somebody thought I could write! I wasn’t a hack after all – I was good.

Well, again, not exactly.

See, I believed this to be true when I deferred my acceptance so I could try and get enough money in scholarships and grants to attend and the school held my spot without question when I explained to them, nicely, that their financial aid package for graduates wasn’t going to “aid” me in doing anything other than accumulating more debt than I already had from my undergrad studies. I thought, “Gee, these people must really believe I’m a good writer if they’re willing to wait for me. They must really want me in this program.” I kept thinking it when I asked for a second deferment and was given it with no fuss. But if they’d really wanted me in the program because I was good, wouldn’t they have tried to adjust my financial aid package so I could afford to attend the school without going bankrupt in the process?

They wanted my money. That’s all. It had nothing to do with whether or not I was “good.” But I bought into that idea because I was naive about how MFA programs, and university admissions in general, actually work.

That same lack of understanding of the business side of publishing is what I believe makes people say the things I’ve mentioned above. These writers are operating under the assumption that the business still works the same way it did a decade or more ago – it doesn’t. And sure, you can tell writers to research the industry for themselves before committing to any particular path, but the problem with this is that every writer’s experience in the business is different so for writers who need clear, step-by-step instructions on how to go about doing this professionally, they won’t get it. The path to publication is not one size fits all. For every former traditionally published writer who now publishes his own work via Amazon and swears he will never go back to a New York house because of how horribly he was treated, there’s a former traditionally-pubbed author self-pubbing who’d gladly go back to a traditional contract if offered one.

Is it for validation’s sake? Advance money? It’s certainly not for rights and royalties because when you self-publish, you keep all of your rights and you get a higher royalty rate than if you were to go through a publisher.

I don’t know. All I know is that my first book just recently received its first review on Smashwords after months of radio silence and it was lovely. The review made me smile because the reader loved the characters, loved the setting, and said if there’s a sequel, he (she? The name was gender neutral) will most likely be getting it – and “most likely” is way better than a “probably.” It’s practically a “yes.” That’s the reaction I was hoping for and I now have at least one confirmed reader for the next book in the series.

Seriously – besides making a boatload of money, what other validation could be better than that?

Free Fiction: Dialogue Only Shorts

This story was originally submitted to the Bartleby Snopes Dialogue Only contest at the end of last month and it was probably the fastest rejection of a story I’ve ever received in my writing career. The turnaround time was the next day after the deadline – pretty sweet if you ask me. People ask me why I think it’s a good thing when stories are rejected quickly. I respond that it’s like the Band Aid thing – if you pull it off quickly, it hurts but the pain subsides just as fast. If you pull it off slowly, however, you’re just prolonging the hurt and who wants that? Plus, when a story’s promptly rejected, you can send it off to another publication for consideration or slap a cover on it, put it up on Amazon KDP and/or Smashwords, and start making money off it.

I chose not to do the latter because the story doesn’t really fit into the Amber Turner brand (though I do seem to keep coming back to the same subject matter of BDSM and dominatrix dens for whatever reason – maybe I was a Dom in a past life) – I’m making a name for myself as a humorous mystery writer so this story would be a little out of left field for the two readers that I’ve acquired since Preppy Little Liars debuted. I didn’t chose the former option because, well, there aren’t that many paying fiction markets that would accept a dialogue only story so I’m posting it here for free so people can see what not to do when submitting to these kinds of contests. If you like the story, feel free to comment, favorite it, tweet it – whatever. If you hate it, same thing.

 

 

Stop Talking

by

Amber Turner

 

Take your pants off and have a seat.

Okay. Thank you.

…

Lose the shirt and jacket too, Armani.

My name’s Cliff actually.

Don’t speak unless spoken to.

Oh, sorry.

…

Am I allowed to talk?

What do you want to talk about?

…I don’t really know. I’ve never done this before. I’m kinda nervous.

Well don’t worry, Virgin – I’ll walk you through it.

Oh, I’m not a virgin.

I was being flip.

Oh, right.

…

Is Mistress Payne your real name or is it like a pseudonym?

Did I give you permission to speak?

Sorry.

You don’t follow directions very well do you?

Am I supposed to answer that?

You might as well.

I don’t know. I guess not. My girlfriend claims I never really listen to anything she says because sometimes when she asks me to pick up something from the store, I’ll get there and forget and so I come home with a bunch of stuff she didn’t ask for. So I guess that’s like not following directions.

I zoned out somewhere around “girlfriend.”

Right. My bad. I tend to ramble when I get nervous.

How do you want to start – you want to stand and get shackled or stay seated?

I think I’ll stand. This seat’s kinda cold.

Do you want to be blindfolded or would you prefer to watch in the mirror?

I’ll try the mirror. I haven’t done that before. I haven’t been blindfolded either, but-

That question only required a one-word response.

Right.

…

Tell me what you want me to do to you.

…I guess whatever it is you do. Hey, these shackles are tight.

So are you. Unclench.

What?

Unclench. If you don’t and you stay tense, this isn’t going to be the pleasure/pain experience you’re hoping for. Relax.

Got it.

I’m going to start by using this riding crop. What safe word would you like to use?

Safe word?

Please don’t tell me you’re this vanilla. A safe word: something you say that lets me know that what I’m doing to you is too intense and you’d like me to stop. What do you want yours to be for this session?

Gretchen.

“Gretchen” is your safe word?

It’s my girlfriend’s name. Well, ex-girlfriend. We kinda broke up a week ago.

I can’t imagine why.

She didn’t dump me if that’s what you’re thinking. It was mutual. Okay, maybe more so on her end, but I agreed with her decision after I thought about it. We hadn’t been happy for a while-

Again, you’re speaking as if I care about your personal life. I only care about your sexual one. Now – do you want me to asphyxiate you while I work you over with the crop?

No, thank you. Do people really do that? Like, put bags over their heads or ropes around their throats while doing it? Ow!

Every time you speak without being spoken to first, I’m going to bring this crop down on you, is that clear?

…

Answer me.

Right. Yes.

Yes, what?

Yes, ma’am? Ow!

Yes, what?

Yes, Mistress Payne.

Very good. Now look at me and hold still.

…Ah…ow!

Do you like that?

Yes, Mistress.

…

If Gretchen saw me right now, she’d be pissed.

One more unsolicited word and I’m bringing out the ball gag.

…

Why are you looking at me like that? Yes, you’re allowed to answer.

It’s just that you kind of look like her from certain angles.

Oh dear God.

Sorry, it’s just throwing me a bit. Obviously she’d never dress like you or do stuff like this, but you kind of wear your hair the same way. And you’ve got the same scowl. Man, I miss her scowl.

Maybe you’re confused about where you are. Is there a shingle on my door that says “Dr. Payne?” Maybe I should pull up a couch from the hall and you could lie down while you’re at it?

Is that sarcasm? Ow! God, it was just a question.

You don’t get to ask questions, Cliff. You are the sub which means you shut up and do what I say and only speak when I allow you to, is that clear? Good. Now that that’s out of the way, I’m going to unshackle you and you’re going to kneel down over in that corner. Normally I’d have you kneel on bags of rice, but since you’re a novice, I’ll start you off slow with just the concrete. Use your safe word if you need to.

Gretchen.

I didn’t even unchain you yet.

Yeah, I know, but I have bad knees from falling a lot as a kid so I don’t think this is going to work…Why are you sitting down?

I’m waiting for you to regale me with the fascinating tale of why you kept falling as a child. I figured it may take a while so I’d better get comfortable.

Well, it really was an interesting story. See, I grew up in a house on a hill and the way it was built, there was kind of a slope in the floor in some rooms in our house so since I wasn’t the most coordinated kid in the first place, whenever I’d run or walk real fast, I’d trip on a small mound and land on my knees…That was sarcasm again, wasn’t it?

Do you have Asperger’s?

Not that I’m aware.

Get tested immediately.

…

Do you even want to be here, Cliff? I mean, really – it’s your hour, you could spend it doing anything you’ve ever desired, and you’re standing here babbling about faulty limbs and your evil ex.

I didn’t say she was evil.

Whatever. The point is, you paid me to take you away from reality and yet you seem reluctant to leave it. So why bother?

…

Now you have nothing to say?

I don’t know why. I guess…maybe I wanted to be close to someone. I didn’t realize how much I needed that connection until I didn’t have it anymore. She was everything. She was the first person I saw in the morning and the last thing I saw at night. She was in my head when I was at work or with my friends and even now with you here looking like her, I can’t stop thinking about her. I feel like she ripped part of my chest out, threw it on the ground and stomped it to a pulp.

…

I’m being annoying again, huh?

No. I’m sorry.

Why? You didn’t dump me.

I’m sorry you’re hurting.

That’s funny coming from you.

I’m a funny girl.

Have you seen that movie? I love it. I know it’s not manly to admit, but Streisand, God-

Cliff? Go home.

Excerpt: Dark Tales: eVolume One by Elle Chambers

                 WHEN DADDY COMES HOME

 

Opal Brown spit-shined the forks for that evening’s supper. She buffed out all the water stains with a crisp linen napkin. Her silverware needed to sparkle; dinner would be special.

Daddy was home. He’d been off living with some hot-butt trollop for three months. It didn’t last. He’d called that morning asking to come by and “see the girls.” Opal had told him to come around six.

He didn’t know she would make his favorites: pork loin, fried okra, and biscuits. She’d wanted to surprise him. She would put out the special dinnerware, not the cracked and discolored dishes they’d been used to. He’d get the plates and bowls with the silver trim finish – nothing but the best for him, see. She’d even do her hair up all fancy; dab on a little perfume. Just the way he liked.

Opal dressed the girls in their matching Sunday best even though it was a Tuesday.

They’d said they wanted to go live with Daddy, their lips poked out, wounded to be left behind. Opal had stroked their cheeks and said, “He’ll come back. He always do.”

She sat the girls one on either side of the table. Daddy sat at one end and Opal sat opposite.

The smell of peppery-lemon zest with an undertone of seared fat dripping in juices enveloped the room. Opal inhaled the aroma, satisfied. Dinner was done.

She donned her favorite oven mitts; the ones Daddy had given her on her birthday with little frosted cakes along the top, and took out the meat. She set the baking pan in the middle of the small table.

“Mmm,” she said. “Don’t that smell good, y’all?”

The girls and their Daddy stared at one another.

Opal pulled out her chair. She turned on her husband and winked. “Aren’t you glad you came back to us? The house just wasn’t the same without you, was it girls?”

She reached out and grasped one of each of her girls’ hands. The girls’ free hands rested inside their father’s open palms.

Opal wriggled in her chair to get comfortable.

“Now. Let’s all say grace.”

She bowed her head and thanked the Lord heavenly father for the meal they were about to receive, for each of her girls, but most of all, for the return of their daddy. Without him, there was no telling what Opal might do.

She ended her prayer with an “Amen”, then went around serving the food. When finished, she took her place back at the head of the table.

“I don’t want to boast you know, but I think this may be the best dinner I done made yet,” Opal said.

She smiled at her family. Their hands remained joined, but unfeeling; their full plates of food untouched; their eyes glazed over and unseeing.

She’d done good.

Opal stabbed up a forkful of moist meat and popped it in her mouth. She grinned.

Daddy was home. Just like she said he’d be. And that’s where they’d all stay.

Forever.

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Free Fiction: Dialogue Only Shorts

Flash fiction and short stories are quickly regaining popularity with reading audiences. Whether it’s a response to our collective shortened attention spans or new e-reading devices that make it easy to gobble up stories during daily work commutes, lunch breaks, or even before bed, these stories provide ample entertainment at a fraction of the time needed to devote to a novel.

Many short story markets, online and in print, accept experimental forms of fiction. There are also many contests for writers of short fiction, one of which is the Fifth Annual Bartleby Snopes Writing Contest: Dialogue Only, that had a September 15 deadline. The rules of this particular contest were simple: compose a short story under 2000 words entirely of dialogue using as many characters as the author would like without using narration or tag lines.

In honor of this contest, which Indie Spirit Press author Amber Turner has entered, our writers will be posting free, dialogue only flash/short fiction over the next week. The first story, “Stiletto to the Heart” by Amber Turner,  author of Preppy Little Liars, is a mystery that deals with the murder of the proprietor of a dominatrix den. The second story will be by dark fiction author Elle Chambers who promises to deliver a spine-tingling tale of terror. Finally, we’ll introduce our newest author, erotic novelist Lili St. Clair, with a steamy one shot that will titillate and inspire.

We hope you enjoy the stories and if you do, please leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you. Happy reading

 

 Stiletto to the Heart

by

Amber Turner

 

 

Who found her?

I did.

And she was alone?

Of course. She doesn’t let anyone in her office.

How’d you get in?

The door was slightly open. I thought it was strange ‘cause she never keeps it open so I went in to see if she was okay.

So she was in her office when you found her?

I just said that. What do we do?

Nothing. Call the cops. Let them handle it.

Deacon, you know we can’t do that.

Because it’s a brothel?

We’re not a brothel.

Brothel, dominatrix den – same difference.

Your flippancy aside, you know the police won’t make the distinction. The cops come here and we’re fucked.

You’re fucked regardless. You have a dead body in the building – what are you gonna do, stuff her in a closet and hope none of your clients notice?

I’m really considering it right now.

She’ll start to smell.

Jesus. I can’t believe I’m standing here having this conversation.

You have a bigger problem.

…Which is?

If she was alone and no one is allowed in her office, who killed her?

…

Could it have been one of your clients?

No. No way. There was no one here.

How do you know? Did you check?

We close at midnight. She had to have died after that because I saw her go in her office when I showed out my last appointment.

What about the other Doms? Did they have appointments tonight?

Yes. And they all left before midnight. At least I think they did. I’m not sure.

So if it wasn’t a client who did it…

What?

…It was someone who works here.

No. Absolutely not!

How can you be sure when you just said you weren’t sure if everyone had left?

I just don’t see it.

Well, either someone here is the murderer or the place is haunted and a spirit offed her.

Very funny. Any second I’m bound to laugh.

I’m trying, but I don’t know what you want from me. You won’t consider the possibility that one of your coworkers killed your boss so what other option is there?

Maybe it was suicide?

She stabbed herself in the heart with a shoe?

…She could have fallen on it.

On the heel?

Okay, maybe not.

Look, Raven – I don’t know what you want me to do. I’m a reporter, not a lawyer, which is what you need right now.

Why would I need a lawyer?

Because you were the last person to see Adele Goodman alive and now she’s dead. You found her body and you didn’t immediately call the police. It’s going to look bad for you when the police are finally called in.

But I didn’t do anything wrong….Why are you looking at me like that?

Did you kill her?

What?!

Hey, I had to ask. You did find the body…that looks suspect.

I can’t believe you. I’m your sister – not a murderer. You should know me better than that.

I never said you were a murderer. I just had to know if you knew more than you were saying, that’s all.

Well I don’t. So are you going to help me or not?

Do I really have a choice? If I don’t and you get clinked, it’s gonna make for a very awkward Thanksgiving dinner with mom and dad.

…So where do we start?

We interview your colleagues. Has everyone gone home for the night?

Yeah.

Then we need to make some house calls. Get everybody back here.

I don’t like this, Deac.

You don’t have to like it, but it needs to be done. One of them killed your boss. If we don’t find out who did it before morning, you’re dead.

…

Sorry. Poor choice of words.

***

 

Why are we here, Raven?

Good question – I was in the middle of a soak in my hot tub.

And I was a seconds from sleep. You know I’ve got insomnia, girl. This better be good or I’m gonna be pissed in the morning.

Relax everybody. I’m going to explain why you’re all here in a minute, but first, I need to introduce you to my brother. This is Deacon. He’s a reporter for The Enquirer.

That’s nice. What’s that gotta do with us?

…

My sister found your boss in her office. Dead.

What?

How is this possible?

My God.

Is this a joke?

I knew I shouldn’t have got out my tub.

 

Everyone, please!

…

Thank you. Now, as I was saying. My sister found your boss dead and we called you all here because we believe-

Actually, my brother believes – I said I couldn’t see it being any of you.

Thanks for the clarification, Ray. Maybe you want to take over here?

No.

Then please – let me do my job without undercutting me.

I wasn’t undercutting you, I was just making a point.

Yeah, in front of the people you asked me to investigate.

Wait – we’re being investigated?

No.

But you just said we were. So either we are or we ain’t.

Do I need to call a lawyer?

You see what you just did?

…

Everybody, please calm down and listen.

…

This is not an official police investigation. I merely have a hunch and I’m examining it from every angle. It could be that this is a huge misunderstanding, a freak accident that can be easily explained once the cops get here and sift through the evidence. I just want to talk to all of you before this situation escalates – that’s all.

How’d she die?

Beg pardon?

You said Adele’s dead. How’d she die?

Well…

Geneva. My real name’s Geneva.

Well, Geneva, it looks like…it appears as though someone stabbed her with one of those heels you all wear.

A stiletto? How do you stab someone with a stiletto?

We don’t know, Gene. Deac’s going to look into that soon though, right?

Right. Though I want to stress that I’m not a detective – just a writer.

So Mr. Writer – are you gonna question us separately or is this gonna be a group trial?

I think it’s best to do individual sit downs.

So who’s first?

***

 

And your name is? For the record.

Shonda.

Hello, Shonda. Apologies again for pulling you out of your hot tub.

Eh.

So I guess I’ll start by asking when your last client left tonight. Or, last night rather.

I don’t know. I guess around eleven-fifteen. Maybe quarter after.

And did you go home immediately after your client left or did you stick around for a while?

I stayed to pack up my things and change out of my outfit. I’m not walking to my car in the middle of the night dressed like Tina Turner in Beyond Thunderdome, you know what I’m saying?

Yeah, that might be dangerous. So what time do you think it was when you left?

Probably about five minutes to midnight.

And did you see Adele at all between the time your client left and when you left?

Yeah, I check in with her every night after a client’s gone just to give her the rundown of what was up.

Is that standard with all employees or that just something you do?

Some of us do it. It’s not mandatory or nothing.

Is my sister one of the ones who stays behind to see Adele?

Not really, but she had a late one I think so that could be why she was still here.

…

You don’t think she did it, do you?

What?

Raven. Do you think she killed Adele?

I can’t really say.

Why not? She’s your sister. If her own brother thinks she’s a killer, that’s fucked up you know.

I don’t have an opinion one way or the other. I need to get all my facts straight first, then, I’ll be able to put the story together.

Whatever.

Do you know if Adele had enemies either external or internal?

Did she have enemies? Of course she had enemies. She was a successful woman in a male-dominated trade. Most of the businesses around these parts that do business like ours are run by men. She didn’t take shit from any of ‘em and she certainly never had a problem telling people what was what.

She pissed off a lot of people?

All the time. But that’s what happens when a female tries to assert herself in the world. People are always looking to shut her down.

What about here? Did anyone who worked for her hate her?

I don’t know. I keep to myself for the most part; I don’t get into other people’s beefs. They handle they business and I handle mine.

I see. One last question – what size shoe do you wear?

…Eight and a half.

Thank you. You’ve been a lot of help.

 

***

 

Hi. What’s your name for the record?

Real or handle?

Beg pardon?

Do you want my real name or the name I use with my clients?

Oh – your real name’s fine.

It’s Idina.

So Idina, what time did your last appointment leave and when did you leave?

Do you mean what physical time we left?

Uh…is there another kind of time?

Yes. The metaphysical.

Then I meant, the um, original physical.

And are you asking if we left together or whether we left individually and at what physical, individual times we left the den?

I…think I was asking the latter.

Haha! Okay, that makes sense since I believe he and I both left here last night on a wholly different spiritual plane at different times. For him, it’s usually right before he climaxes, but for me, it’s usually when he’s at the height of his pain.

…Right. So, what time was this again?

The spiritual departure or the regular one?

Thanks, Idina. You’ve been…interesting.

 

***

 

You’re cute.

Well, thank you. Hm.

You don’t look like Raven. Are you sure you’re related?

That’s the story mom’s been sticking to the last thirty years.

Nice personality, too. You know, I know a guy who’d pay top dollar to get his hands on a man like you.

Oh, well, I prefer to be hands free these days.

He can do that, too.

Uh…let’s talk about your boss, shall we? I heard she had enemies – did you know any of these people and, in your opinion, would any of them hurt her?

Probably. But I’m guessing you think one of us did it, otherwise you wouldn’t have called us here in the middle of the night so what you’re really asking is, would any one of us hurt her? Maybe. If given the right circumstances.

And what would be the right circumstances to murder someone?

If they were stealing from you or blackmailing you for instance. If they were sleeping with your spouse or hurt your kid…some people would consider those murderable offenses.

Was Adele stealing from anyone or blackmailing them?

Maybe. I don’t know all the details, but I’ve heard some things.

Things like what?

That she was manipulating a few of the Doms here. To what end, I’m not sure – it wasn’t happening to me so I didn’t worry about it.

If you had to guess which one of you killed Adele, hypothetically speaking of course-

Of course.

But if you had to guess who did it, who would be your killer?

Nelson, definitely.

 

***

 

She said me? That bitch. She only said it because I’ve been pulling more clients lately and she’s a jealous, sour-faced hag trying to get me out of the way. Devious gash.

I didn’t say Pam accused you of murder exactly-

No, she just “hypothetically” threw me under the bus. I feel much better knowing that I just might be going to “hypothetical” prison. Bitch.

No one’s called the cops yet and there’s no evidence linking you to the crime yet, either.

Oh, but you think there will be? I thought you were supposed to be impartial while investigating.

I am impartial.

Please. I can see the accusations swirling in your beady little eyes.

My eyes aren’t beady.

Whatever helps you get through the day.

Anyway – back to the dead body in the building.

Ugh, don’t even remind me. You said Raven found her in her office on the floor?

Yeah.

That’s a damn shame. You know she had this brand new Persian rug put in about three weeks ago? Blood is a bitch to get out of carpet.

Yeah, that’s the worst part of somebody being murdered in cold blood – ruining the carpet.

So true.

Nelson, are you the only man who works here?

Yes sir I am.

And you’re a Dom, too?

Yes, for our female subs and the men of a certain…persuasion.

You mean gays?

No, I mean cyclists. Of course I mean gays. Honey, I’m gay if you hadn’t noticed.

I try not to prejudge.

Well, you’d be the first.

How much do you weigh?

What the hell kind of question is that? You can’t be asking about my weight!

Why not?

Because it’s inappropriate.

Everything’s appropriate to ask in a murder investigation. And if you don’t answer now, I’ll just find out anyway when they cart you off to jail and I sneak a peek at your driver’s license.

You have no decency. Fine. I’m about one ninety, give or take a few extra pounds.

Good. And how tall are you?

Tall enough.

…

Okay, I’m about six feet even.

What size shoe do you wear?

An eleven, twelve. Depends on the make of the shoe.

Did you have any issues with Adele Goodman?

Sometimes, but she was a pain in the ass to a lot of people. That doesn’t mean I killed her.

Yeah, I know. Why was she a pain in the ass?

Do you have five hours?

Give me the Spark Notes version of events, please.

Sure. She and I occasionally sniped at one another because she was a bitch and game recognizes game, Deacon. Don’t ever forget that.

I wrote it down in my notebook.

Adele had the type of mouth that could get you in trouble if you ran it off to the wrong person. I didn’t hold grudges against her, we said our peace and moved on from our little tiffs, but some of the others couldn’t let shit go.

Who were the others?

Uh-uh. I know what you’re trying to get me to do, but unlike Pam, I’m a classy bitch – I don’t sell other bitches out.

Right. What about Pam’s other claim? That Adele was manipulating some of the girls? Can you talk about that?

Not too much because I don’t know all the ins and outs of it, but a couple months back she started taking big cuts from some of the girls’ side business.

Side business?

Yeah. See, the thing about us is, we used to be a club that was sex free for the most part. When I got here, it was purely power play that was happening. Sex was something other dens were doing, but it was a big no-no here.

When’d you start working here?

Five or six years ago. About three years into it, some of the girls decided to up the ante so to speak to compete with the other businesses that provide our kind of entertainment with a lot less regulation. Adele turned a blind eye to it at first – we had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when the money started coming in – but when she saw how lucrative the side stuff was becoming, she wanted a cut. So she took a small percentage of fees for the use of her den and that was that. Everybody was happy. But then a couple months ago, someone was shaking her down for cash, I don’t know why, and she started demanding seventy percent of the revenue from the side shows.

That’s a lot of money.

Who are you telling? A lot of people were not pleased with that and Adele just wouldn’t budge. She said they either paid their cut or she’d cut ‘em loose.

So, uh…who all was getting money taken?

Don’t worry – I don’t think Raven was one of ‘em. She seems old school to me – purely into the power play stuff, nothing extra.

Out of all the disturbing things I’ve heard and seen tonight, that was most comforting, thanks.

I like to be of service…Say, you have wonderful bone structure. Have you ever considered “gay for pay?

Thanks, Nelson. Send in Geneva, please.

 

***

 

This is so surreal.

I guess it would be. I’m sorry for your loss.

Thank you. I still can’t believe she’s dead. Are you sure?

Quite sure.

Did you see the body?

Not yet, but my sister did and I doubt she’d drag me here on a lark.

Maybe…

What?

Maybe Raven did it? She did find the body after all.

Maybe. I talked to her before everyone got here.

And did she say she was innocent?

Yeah, but so did everyone else. And I bet you’re going to say the same thing.

Yes, because it’s true. I loved Del, she was like a mother to me.

In what way?

She took care of me – all of us – but we had a bond that was deeper than that. I trusted her and she trusted me.

I see. What about enemies? Do you know if any of the other Doms had reason to want Adele dead? Besides my sister, of course.

No. Well…

What?

…

Geneva, what is it?

I don’t want to say anything, but I can’t not speak up if I know something that might help catch Del’s killer right?

Right.

Okay. Well, yesterday I heard her and Nelson arguing about money. I only heard snatches of the conversation so I couldn’t tell you what it was about, but I know Pam’s name was brought up…I think she may have complained about him to Del and Del called him on the complaint.

Did Nelson argue with Adele a lot?

Oh yeah. Those two were constantly going at it. They’re both really strong personalities.

How so?

Nelson doesn’t back down when he thinks he’s right and neither does she.

So in your opinion, was Adele difficult enough to want to kill?

No. She wasn’t the most pleasant person and she did things that weren’t always decent, but you’d have to be a pretty twisted person to think that was a reason to kill someone.

What size shoe do you wear, Geneva?

A seven. Have you checked the size of the murder weapon? Is that why you asked?

Not yet, but I was going to. You’re very observant.

Not really, I’ve just seen a lot of Law & Order reruns so I kind of know how interrogations go.

This wasn’t an interrogation. It was just two people talking.

Oh, I know. I’m only saying that the circumstances are similar, that’s all.

…

Do you think you know who did it yet?

Sorry, what?

No, I’m sorry. I saw you reading your notebook just now and I thought maybe you were piecing together the mystery and had a name.

Oh. I have a theory, but it may be way off base. Won’t know for sure until I see the body.

Have you called the cops?

Not yet, but I will once I get an idea of who did it. It’ll have to be a discreet call to my friend Tom.

Is your friend a cop?

Yeah, he works the Vice beat.

Vice? You can’t call in Vice.

Relax – he’s not on duty tonight. He’d come, but he’d only bring one other cop to back him up so it doesn’t turn into a circus out here.

And he would do this for you just because you’re friends?

We’ve known each other since high school. He knows Raven – he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her and getting her workplace raided would fall into the hurting her category.

I see. Well, that sounds like a pretty good idea then.

Yeah, don’t worry, Geneva. I’ve got everything under control.

 

***

 

So who did it, Deac?

What? You can’t be in here. Get out.

Why? I found her, remember?

Yeah, but you’re also a suspect, or at least you’re supposed to be, and how’s it gonna look to everyone else you being in here with the dead body talking to the guy who’s supposed to be impartially questioning them about the murder?

Who cares what they think? One of them’s a murderer and I don’t want to be left alone to get killed with another shoe.

I don’t think the shoe did it.

What do you mean?

I mean, I don’t think it’s the real murder weapon. Come here.

What am I looking at?

This. It’s a hole in the chest bigger than the size of the heel.

So?

So, whoever killed her shot her first and then put the shoe in the hole to make it look like that’s what killed her. See?

I’m not touching that stiletto.

Did you hear a gunshot after your client left?

No, but our changing rooms are down in the basement and Adele’s office is soundproof. She wanted pure quiet when she was doing the numbers.

Did she keep a gun in the office?

I think so. But she never used it, it was mainly to scare off some of our more disturbed clientele that couldn’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy and wouldn’t leave. I never thought it was loaded.

Where would she keep it, in her desk you think?

Maybe. You can look.

…

It’s not here.

Shit.

This is bad.

No kidding.

No, this is very bad. Look – this stiletto is a size twelve. Nelson wears a size twelve.

Oh my God, I recognize it now. Nelson killed her?

That’s what it looks like, but I don’t think so.

Then who did?…Who are you calling?

Tom.

 

***

 

My friend from Vice is on his way here with backup.

You called Vice? Have you lost your mind?

Calm down, Shonda. He’s a good friend. He’ll get the coroner over here to pick up the body and he’ll discreetly arrest the killer of Adele Goodman.

So you think it was one of us?

I know it was.

Who was it?

The stiletto found in Adele’s chest belonged to Nelson.

That ’s bullshit!

I knew he did it.

Oh my God.

I never liked him.

I knew I shouldn’t’ve answered my phone.

 

Everyone, listen!

…

The shoe was Nelson’s, but it wasn’t what killed Adele. And I don’t think he put it there.

So then what the hell happened? Don’t keep us in suspense, fool. We got a murderer up in here!

Thank you, Shonda, I wasn’t aware of that fact. Anyway, whoever really killed Adele wanted it to look like Nelson did it to throw anyone off their scent. But when going over all of the interviews, something stood out to me. You were the only one with familiarity to the victim.

Excuse me? That’s absurd.

No, Geneva, it’s not. See, when I got here and asked Raven where she found the body, she said she found Adele in Adele’s office and that your boss never let anyone into the office. The door was ajar so either someone busted it open or Adele let the murderer in. And since the door-jamb wasn’t broken and the lock wasn’t picked or locked I might add, that cemented my theory that the murderer was someone Adele trusted. You said it yourself, Geneva – you and “Del” as you called her had a deep relationship. She trusted you and you trusted her. The fact that you were the only one to call her by a nickname also lends credence to your assertion that your relationship with her was much deeper than her relationship with anyone else’s. But how deep exactly?

I don’t have to listen to this.

Yeah, you kind of do. Nelson?

What are you doing?! Get out of my way!

You took my shoe and put it in somebody’s chest? You ain’t going nowhere but to jail and if I find out it was one of my Bottega’s you stole, we just might have another dead body on our hands, y’all.

I know that’s right.

Don’t encourage him, Shonda.

Whatever.

Hey, settle down! There will be no more murders here tonight. My friend’s on his way – please don’t make him have to call in more police.

Why’d you do it, Geneva?

Don’t ask questions you already know the answers to, Raven.

But I don’t.

I trusted her. She promised me when I got here that she would take care of me. I gave her everything I had…everything. And she used me; played me for a fool. I wasn’t bringing in any of the side business money so she had no more use for me. She said she was dumping all of us who weren’t involved in bringing extra revenue to the den.

What? She said that?

She didn’t tell you? Well, she was a liar to the end I guess. She said you already knew that she was dumping us. I tried to reason with her, to get her to see that this club is all I have, that she was all I had, but she wouldn’t listen. She tried to throw me out. She pulled that gun out on me that she kept in her desk. I couldn’t believe it. It’s one thing to tell me to leave, but to treat me like I was just some stranger on the street that she didn’t give a shit about? After everything we’d been through…I snapped. We struggled for a minute and I don’t know how it happened, but I heard the gun go off. She hit the floor. I panicked so I took the gun and ran out of the room. I was going to leave, but I saw Raven’s car outside and I couldn’t leave her alone with the body. It was an accident. I didn’t want you to get blamed for it.

But you were going to let me take the fall?

Well, yes – no one really likes you so it made the most sense.

You bitch.

I snuck into the basement and Nelson’s cubby was the first one there. I grabbed his shoe, the pink one with the rhinestones on the heel-

The Louboutins?! Oh, you need to go under the jail!

I took it back to her office and stuck it in her. I knew if the cops were called, they would notice the difference in size between the wound and the shoe heel. I just didn’t think you would.

But you thought I’d see the shoe, know that it was Nelson’s because I was asking about sizes, and just assume it was him?

Why’d you come back here? If you went to all that trouble to frame someone else for Adele’s murder, why come when I called you?

Because if she didn’t, then it would have been obvious that she was the real killer. She couldn’t risk being exposed so soon. Am I right?

…

Hey, the door was open. Deacon, what’s going on? You said there’s a dead body here and murderer?

Yeah, Tom – in the back office. My sister’s boss. She was shot. And that’s the killer.

…Her? Is this a joke?

Lover’s quarrel gone wrong. You can take her.

Jesus. Okay, let’s go. Chris, go to the office and check the damage.

Right.

So, what do we do now?

I don’t know, Ray. I guess I’ll go write a story about this, changing names and vaguing up some of the details so you guys don’t get busted, and you’ll go find a new job and hope your next boss doesn’t get killed.

…Sometimes I can’t even believe we’re related.

 

Book Editing Services Now Available!

Indie Spirit Press is now accepting manuscript submissions for professional editing. Our aim is to help independent authors increase the quality and salability of their work prior to publication and to save money that could be used in other areas of book publishing such as cover design and marketing. Two cents per word is too high for most indies, especially those just starting out, and hourly rates can get costly depending on the speed of the editor. Indie Spirit Press has come up with five affordable à la carte packages for novels and novellas that are guaranteed to keep authors within a reasonable budget:

Content/Developmental Editing (1 Round)

This is the first step in the editing process, and possibly the most important, as the purpose is to check the content of a story for structure, flow, style, consistency, and clarity. Some of the questions that content editors will ask while reading a manuscript are:

                Are events happening in the right order?

                Would Character A really behave like this?

                What is driving Character A’s decision making process?

                Are the characters believable within the story world that has been created?

                Is each character in the story necessary or could a few of them be combined or eliminated?

                Are all five senses being used in the narrative and if not, can they be?

                What is the theme?

                Does this character or scene progress the story?

                Is this story told from the right POV?

Once the story has been edited, you will be able to accept or reject the edits at your discretion. Turnaround time for this is estimated at 10 business days from the date of receipt of full payment.

Cost of this package: $10 for every 5,000 words

Basic Copyediting (1 Round)

The second step in the editing process, you will receive notes on the following:

                Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax

                Errors in sentence structure and language usage

                Errors in facts

Once the story has been edited, you will be able to accept or reject the edits at your discretion. You will also be provided with the style sheet used to copyedit your manuscript so you can see why certain changes were suggested. Turnaround time for this is estimated at 20 business days from the date of receipt of full payment.  Please note that manuscripts exceeding 80,000 words may require additional editing time.

Cost of this package: $15 for every 5,000 words

Basic Proofreading (1 Round)

This is the last step in the editing process. For this package, you can either submit your final typeset manuscript for editing or a Word/RTF document. Proofreading includes:

                Eliminating typos that remain from the manuscript or were introduced in the production stage

                Fixing esthetic issues such as having too many end-of-line hyphens in a row

                Checking page numbers, headers, footers, and chapter titles for consistency

Turnaround time for this is estimated at 15 business days from the date of receipt of full payment. Please note that manuscripts exceeding 80,000 words may require additional proofreading time.

Cost of this package: $11 for every 5,000 words

 

Premium Copyediting (2 Rounds)

In the first round of this package, authors will get what’s outlined in the basic copyediting package above. In the second round, you will get everything listed in the basic proofreading package. If new text was added in your revision process between rounds, we will copyedit the new text as well.

Turnaround time for the first round of this package is estimated at 20 business days. Once you have made your revisions, you will submit your manuscript to us again for round two. Turnaround time for this round is estimated at 15 business days from the date of receipt of full payment.

Cost of this package: $26 for every 5,000 words

 

Comprehensive Editing (3 Rounds)

This package is the most expensive, but also the most intensive, of our packages. In the comprehensive editing stage you will get three rounds of edits.

            Round One: Will include everything in our developmental package plus some light copyediting

Round Two: More content editing to make sure that any new material added after the first round of edits fits the story, plus everything included in the basic copyediting package

Round Three: Will provide everything in the basic proofreading package

Due to the amount of work that goes into the comprehensive package, the estimated turnaround time for your completely edited manuscript is 45 business days from the date of receipt of full payment.

Cost of this package: $45 for every 5,000 words

 

Writers interested in any of our editing packages should use the contact form on our page giving as much detail as possible about your manuscript. Once your manuscript is selected for editing, you will email the full document (front and back matter included if you want those edited as well) in either a Word or RTF format to the email address provided you. An invoice from PayPal will be sent to you and editing will begin once full payment is received. The manuscript types we are currently accepting are novels, novellas, short story collections and yes, novel or novella length fanfiction. The fanfic we edit are in the following fandoms:

                Glee, Gossip Girl, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood, White Collar, Sons of Anarchy,

                Friday Night Lights, The Good Wife, Supernatural, Parenthood, and The West Wing

Please note we also offer very basic e-book formatting for Smashwords and Kindle for $35. We will not upload your e-book to either digital platform for publishing, but we will give you your original file with easy-to-follow instructions on how to go about uploading your book to their conversion systems yourself.  If interested, please use the contact form on the site and we will be happy to talk with you about your project.

Happy writing!

Where Do We Go From Here? Glee’s Season 5 Tribute Episode to Cory Monteith and Ideas for Saying Goodbye to Finn Hudson

by Amber Turner

It’s official: per Ryan Murphy, creator of Glee, the writers will kill off the character of Finn Hudson from the Fox musical dramedy in the wake of actor Cory Monteith’s death. The tribute episode to Cory will be the third episode of Glee’s fifth season and as Ryan stated in the article linked above, they are in the process of writing it at this time.

Though a lot of Finn fans in various sectors of the internet were hoping the writers would give the character a happily-ever-after offscreen, I think the decision to kill him in show was ultimately a good one. I understand the reasoning behind why fans would have preferred the former option: Cory didn’t get to have a happy ending in real life so why not give it to his fictional character? I mean, isn’t that the great thing about fiction, that we can make things happen that don’t necessarily happen in reality? Here’s why I think the writers’ decision makes more sense in the long run:

It keeps Finn in character. Having Finn suddenly leave Lima, OH without saying goodbye to his friends and family, and never speaking to the characters in New York again, would be completely OOC for Finn as he’s been portrayed for the last four seasons of the show. Think about it: Rachel’s opening night on Broadway and Finn doesn’t show to give her a pep talk before the curtain goes up? Kurt gets married and Finn doesn’t make an appearance at his own brother’s wedding? It wouldn’t make sense. Not to mention the cognitive dissonance the audience would feel every time someone mentioned Finn calling or emailing or tweeting when we know the actor who played him is dead and gone. And having Lea Michele, Cory’s onscreen lady love as well as his real life girlfriend, constantly name dropping the character as if he were coming back, when Lea knows he isn’t, would be too cruel for words.

Killing the character will be sad, but the catharsis is needed for both his friends and colleagues and the fans of the show, all of whom never got a chance to say goodbye to Cory and never got definitive closure from his character’s storyline on the show. This gives everyone the chance to mourn the loss and to close the book on this incredibly sad chapter of his life. Finn Hudson, and Cory Monteith, was too integral to the show’s early success to just write him off as if he were some lowly secondary character who didn’t matter. He did. And giving him a memorial shows how much the people behind the scenes realize that fact and it acknowledges all of Cory’s hard work in a poignant way.

All that said, I am very concerned about how this tribute episode is going to play out. I stopped watching Glee after season three because the writing took a turn for the worse in season two and never recovered. Instead of being the dark comedy it set out to be in the first season, the writers decided that doing weekly after school specials with music was the best direction for the show to take going forward. I am so scared that Ryan Murphy and Co. are going to turn Finn’s death into yet another one of their heavy-handed PSA’s, ruining what could be a beautiful farewell to a guy who by all accounts was a lovely person in real life and deserves an equally fitting send off.

Finn was not Cory. This is what I hope these writers remember when they sit down to write this episode. I know the inclination to want to warn kids about the dangers of drugs will be at the forefront of their minds, especially considering that Cory’s own substance abuse struggles began when he was twelve or thirteen, but mirroring Cory’s life in Finn’s is not the way to go. If the young fans of the show didn’t get that drugs are to be avoided at all costs after hearing the news about Cory’s death, beating them over the head with a message episode certainly won’t get through to them. The teen years are all about pushing boundaries and experimenting with shit you have no business doing just to see how much (or how little) you can get away with. I’m not saying that we adults should never try to steer kids in the right direction, but I am saying that I don’t think now is the time to try and do it. Honoring Cory’s achievements, not highlighting his shortcomings, is what a tribute episode should be about.

So how do they do this? How do the writers tackle such a delicate situation while remaining true to the character and the spirit of the show? Here are some ideas I have on how the show can move forward with Finn’s ending:

 

Have Finn’s death in no way mirror Cory’s. Instead, if they really want to have a dialogue about substance abuse after this episode airs, have Finn’s character killed by a chemically impaired driver either indirectly (he’s hit at a red light by someone who was drunk and/or high and ran through a red light) or directly (he got into a car with someone who was “buzzed driving” and they ran off the road and neither survived). This way, the writers can show how dangerous drugs and alcohol can be without making Finn’s character wildly OOC. I would throw a shoe at my TV if we got a storyline where Finn OD’d as the character was never shown as having a substance abuse problem and in fact, was one of the only characters who didn’t get drunk during “Blame It On the Alcohol” back in season two. I beg the writers to please remember his characterization at this time.
Have Finn die a hero. This show loved to make the character of Finn come off as the defender of the underdogs, the reluctant leader of the core group of McKinley kids. Maybe to honor that characterization they have him save someone else’s life while losing his own in the process? For example, the writers can have him be at a late night convenience store when it gets held up. Finn, being a former football player decides to tackle the robber, who had a gun pointed at the store clerk, and gets shot and killed.
Make this a music free episode. Since this show is a musical, eliminating the singing would be jarring, which is exactly how the death of Finn Hudson will feel for everyone who knew him. It would make the episode feel empty; kind of cold and surreal. But let’s not make this episode completely maudlin.
Steal a page from The West Wing. When John Spencer, who played chief-of-staff Leo McGarry, died while they were in the middle of filming the final season of that series, the show did a very moving two-part memorial episode that showed his funeral and ended with the White House staff sitting around and reminiscing about all the great times they had with him. It was emotional, but also uplifting, with all of the humorous stories they told about Leo – they didn’t wallow in the sadness of John’s real life passing; instead, they wound up celebrating all of the good times they had with him and his character.

Glee could do the same with Cory/Finn.  Have the characters meet up in the choir room and spend most of the episode recalling their favorite Finn moments. Smash cut after each recollection to footage of Cory as Finn acting out the moments the cast recalls. For example, Kurt could remember how Finn dressed up in his Lady GaGa inspired red spandex outfit to save Kurt from the school bullies – smash cut to a clip of that scene. Smash cut back to the choir room where Mercedes could quip about how it was the platforms that really made that outfit. Then she could remember the Pucky Puck and Finny D performance of “Good Vibrations” – smash cut to footage of Finn, Puck, and Mercedes rapping and singing the Marky Mark classic (one of the funniest performances on this show). And they could do that with all of the major characters from the first three seasons. Because I absolutely think the show needs to bring back the entire original cast for this episode. They were all Cory’s real life friends and it might be therapeutic for them to get together and laugh about all the goofy moments his character had on the show. (I definitely need to see the scene from the pilot again when Carole Hudson, played by Romy Rosemont, is teaching Finn to drive and he runs over the mailman – her freakout, and his panicked reaction to her freakout, was comedy gold.)

The newbies need to take a backseat for this one – they can be included in the background, but the heavy lifting acting-wise should definitely come from the vets.
If the episode does end up having music in it, keep it sparse and again, keep the heavy lifting of the vocals to the original cast.  If I see Marley singing a solo that episode, I may just toss my TV out the window. For real. Yes, Finn was a mentor to the new kids for a year, but again, he spent three years with original recipe New Directions: Lea (if she’s up for it), Chris, Mark, Dianna, Amber, Kevin, Jenna, Naya, Heather (if they can somehow obscure her baby bump), Harry, Chord, and Darren should be the featured acts – these people were not just Finn’s friends, but Cory’s friends too. These are the people who were with him on the tour buses when they did the mall tours before the show premiered four years ago, they were the ones who spent hours upon hours with him during dance rehearsals for both the show and their summer tours. To have them only get cameos in this episode would feel almost insulting to the character and to the actor who played him.

As for music suggestions, I think opening the show with something like “Old Irish Blessing” would be beautiful. It would get the show back to the actual choir aspects of the series having both the original cast and the newbies singing as one. We used to sing this every year at graduation time when I was in high school and every year, without fail, I would be in tears.

If they want to re-do a song they’ve done in the past the way they redid Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, they could have Rachel (again, if Lea’s up to it), Mercedes, and Artie reprise their cover of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile,” with Puck filling in on the parts that Finn originally sang. The lyrics are especially poignant for this situation:

 

Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though it’s breaking

When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by

If you smile through your pain and sorrow

Smile, well maybe tomorrow

You’ll see the sun coming shining through, for you

Another song that would be fitting and equally beautiful if they can’t or don’t want to reprise “Smile” would be Jeff Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. I always wanted Amber Riley as Mercedes and Kevin McHale as Artie to do this cover together and I think it could be lovely with Mercedes’ choir backing them in a funeral scene where Puck, Kurt, Mr. Schue, Mike Chang, Blaine, Sam, and maybe Burt Hummel act as pallbearers, carrying Finn’s coffin out of the church.

Then, close to the end of the episode, they can have Matt Morrison sing a song that was close to Cory’s heart that he desperately wanted to sing on the show: Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is.” I’d love it if they did the version Terry McDermott did on The Voice a couple seasons ago. They could have Matt as Mr. Schue perform the verses with Puck and Artie coming in on the chorus.

But here’s where things get tricky for this episode: how much involvement will Lea Michele, and subsequently Rachel Berry, have in the tribute? I will not begin to act as if I know what Lea’s feeling or how she’s coping with all of this. From what Ryan Murphy said in his interview, it sounds as if she’s ready to get back to work because she wants to be around people who knew and loved Cory and that she’s handling a lot of the planning of things like memorials and scholarships in his name behind the scenes. I give her all the credit in the world because I know I couldn’t handle any of this, especially while being in the spotlight, with the amount of grace and dignity she’s shown. It’s a lot to ask of a person.

So I don’t know if she’d want to be heavily featured in a Finn tribute episode, but the writers need to be very careful about how they go about writing Rachel into the episode if Lea does want to be in it. This is a delicate line they’re straddling here. I know for my own personal comfort (yeah, like that really means much to the cast and crew, I know) I would not want to see scenes of Rachel Berry crying over Finn’s death. It crosses the line from fiction into voyeurism given the real life romance between Lea and Cory. I don’t need to see Lea Michele grieving – that’s private. We can infer that Rachel would have broken down upon hearing the news of Finn’s death – we don’t need to see it. And the last thing the writers want, I’m sure, is for people to accuse them of exploiting Cory’s death for Emmy reel material because you know that’s what detractors of this show will say.

My hope is if Rachel is included in this episode, that they devote very little screentime to the character. If they go the funeral route for Finn, then show her briefly in the pews with Finn’s mom and step-dad, but no lingering camera shots on Rachel’s tear-streaked face; no wrenching, half-sobbed solos at the church or anywhere else. Glee really does not need to do anything that would overshadow the message of this episode, which is to pay respects to a talented actor who was in the prime of his life when it was cut short tragically and unexpectedly.

A classy way to end the episode, I think, would be to have Rachel go back to Finn’s house with his parents and have Carole tell Rachel that she’s welcome to take anything of Finn’s from his room if she’d like. Rachel could go into the bedroom and we can get wide shots of all the things in the space that remind us of Finn and the person he was: his football jersey on the back of his closet door, his drumsticks sitting on the dresser, the cowboy sheets on his bed, etc. She can go and sit on the bed, running her hands over the comforter and the show can smash cut to the scene in “Grilled Cheesus” when Finn and Rachel were making out in that room and she tells him he can touch her boobs and nothing else (a hilarious scene in context, I assure you), then smash cut back to Rachel picking up the jersey or the drumsticks (whichever), standing at the door of the room and giving it one final glance before switching off the lights and closing the door.  Fade to black. This gives Lea as Rachel a chance to close the book on the Finchel ‘ship without crossing the line too much into the personal. The show can intersperse some other Finchel flashbacks while she’s in the room so that Lea doesn’t even have to spend much time filming this scene and the previously aired material can fill in the emotional blanks.

Whatever the writers ultimately decide to do, my thoughts are with them. This is not going to be easy. I imagine that they are all grieving the loss of Cory Monteith just as much as his co-stars are and that they want to do the best damn episode they can to honor their friend. It’s a shitty situation that none of them could have foreseen and they’ll try to make the best of it. I want to reiterate that these are only my thoughts and opinions on how they should handle the Finn situation – no one else has to agree and the writers certainly aren’t wrong if they go and do something entirely different. Like I said, this situation sucks all around and any option they go with is inevitably going to feel “wrong” somehow or not adequate enough because it’s wrong that they even have to do this episode in the first place.

I haven’t watched Glee in over a year, but I will be back for this episode, one last time, to say farewell to Cory and then I’m out again. I never liked the character of Finn and thought he became a total tool from season two onwards, but I liked Cory in all the behind the scenes interviews I saw of him. He always came off so sweet and just so happy to be there. It was nice to see an actor so unaffected and so un-jaded. I’ll miss him. Here’s hoping the writers knock this one out of the park and that everyone affected by this loss can find some peace.

Lessons Through Life and Loss

I was going to write a blog post Sunday wrapping up and recapping Week 2 of Camp NaNoWriMo , but I made the mistake of going online first and saw the news that actor/singer Cory Monteith, who starred as Finn Hudson on Fox’s hit show Glee, was found dead Saturday. He was 31. I had been a hardcore gleek from Season 1 until I quit the show after its third season ended and though I never really liked the character of Finn, I liked Cory as a person. In every interview he did, he came off extremely down to earth and generous.

It was strange, but I was suddenly overcome with an overwhelming sadness for a guy I’d never met. I watched him every week for 45 minutes; he was only five years older than me. It’s surreal to think about him being gone.

But the harsh reality is this: we all have an expiration date. When our time is up, we die. Fame and fortune don’t change that. No one escapes the inevitable, no matter how talented they may be.

Because of that inevitability, it’s extremely important that every one of us makes the most out of every chance, every opportunity and gift we are given. One day you’re here and the next you’re not and everything that you meant to do and didn’t, well, it will be too late to do anything about it.

It put things in perspective for me. I’d been whining and feeling sorry for myself that my book wasn’t selling the way I hoped it would. I worked my ass off on that book, put all of my free time and passion into it, spent money that I didn’t have to buy the perfect cover for it so the outside would be as wonderful as the story I’d put inside it, and none of it mattered. In the end, it felt like a big failure. But you know what? I wrote a damn book. And that’s pretty freaking amazing if I do say so myself. Most people only dream about doing what I just did and yet never do – usually out of self-doubt or lack of ambition. I beat those odds. I said I was going to do something and I did it. For a lifelong flake who has a bad habit of starting stuff and then not following through, this was a feat of epic proportions – even if I didn’t sell 700 books in a few weeks (my cover designer’s friend just did that and damn…I’m impressed. And slightly jealous). Hell, I’ll be lucky if I sell 7 books in a few weeks.

Still, I had a dream and I went for it. It was crazy and a long shot, but I did it. And because I’m now reminded of how fleeting life is, and how quickly everything can be taken away, all of the things that I’ve put on the backburner are now being brought to the fore again: my acting, my music, my decorating business plans, all of it – it’s now my main priority. I was put here on this Earth to make art. If I never get an E! True Hollywood Story or a star on the Walk of Fame (two more dreams, by the way), at least I can say I did everything I could with the abilities I was given and made things that I was proud of.

So while my heart goes out to Cory’s family and friends after his untimely passing, I’m no longer sad for him. In the short time that he was with us, he accomplished so many incredible things, things most people could never imagine. He struggled with addictions, yes, but through that pain he created a character that resonated with so many people around the world and inspired countless kids to dream big.

He lived. Truly. And that’s a lesson we can all take from this terrible tragedy. To go after what we want, to live every second of our lives to the fullest, and to make art that speaks to us because when we’re long gone from this world, our artistic imprint will be what remains. And that’s beautiful. RIP Cory. You’ll be missed.

Preppy Little Liars by Amber Turner 50% Off at Smashwords until July 31st!

Preppy Little Liars Smashwords Page

Short description

Meg Little is determined to find the culprit behind Margaret Bean’s horse jumping accident which left the latter in a full body cast. The problem is, no one besides Meg and her best friend Stephen thinks the accident was anything other than it seemed. Worse, Margaret herself tells Meg to let broken girls lie. But Meg can’t – her sleuthing skills will be put to the test to solve this mystery.

Extended description

Meg Little desperately wants to be editor-in-chief of the Haverton Gazette after the former editor resigns to complete a stint in rehab for a raging Adderall addiction.

When Margaret Bean, Haverton Prep’s star equestrian, is bucked from her horse two weeks before regionals, Meg believes she may have found the story that will win her the coveted editorship. Margaret’s a gold medal-winning rider – she doesn’t make mistakes.

But the rest of the school buys her fall as an accident. Even the Gazette’s lead photographer and Meg’s best friend Stephen thinks the fall was innocuous – until Meg shows him a photo of Margaret’s horse sporting a cut saddle after Margaret’s fall. Clearly the “accident” was sabotage.

Meg’s prime suspect: Margaret’s teammate and Meg’s arch-nemesis Kitty Cooper. Kitty’s the only member of the team who was MIA after the fall and she’s acting way too shifty for Meg’s taste. Against Margaret’s wishes to let broken girls lie, Meg launches an investigation into the girls’ private lives convinced her amateur sleuthing will uncover the evidence needed to take down Kitty once and for all.

As regionals approaches and the investigation veers off in unexpected directions, Meg learns the students of Haverton are far more dangerous than their plaid skirts and blazers suggest – and all the little liars on Margaret’s team have something to hide.

If you have a Kindle and want to buy from Amazon’s Kindle ebook store, visit the book’s page here.

The book is also available in print at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Amber’s CreateSpace e-store.

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