Sally Ember's Blog, page 75
March 28, 2015
Cannabis Really Does Battle Cancer
The sad thing about this is that the research isn’t even new; the USA in particular has hidden and denied these positive outcomes for medical uses of #cannabis (and the dearth of negative outcomes for recreational use) for decades. Shameful.
Thanks for posting!
Originally posted on J. Giambrone:
I was skeptical of all the claims, but more and more evidence is emerging:.
Study: Here’s How Cannabis Helps Your Body Fight Off Cancer
Researchers tested the effects of CBD, THC, and an endocannabinoid analogue called methanandamide on two lung cancer cell lines, A549 and H460, along with cells from a lung cancer patient. It found these compounds increased expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) on the cancer cells, which made them more susceptible to white blood cells called lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAK). However, normal cells were not affected this way, showing yet again that cannabinoids can selectively target abnormal cells while leaving healthy tissue alone.
Original study:
Cannabinoids increase lung cancer cell lysis by lymphokine-activated killer cells via upregulation of ICAM-1.
My Posts | Reblogs | Films
Filed under: Writing
Book Re-release: Heart Song by Sam LaFantasie
Mazel Tov to Samantha LaFantasie, who has guest blogged on my site, and thanks to Nicholas Rossis (guest blogger and *CHANGES* guest, too!) for announcing her newest #bookrelease!
Originally posted on Nicholas C. Rossis:
I have a soft spot for Samantha LaFantasie, as she was the very first person to host an interview by your truly, back when this blog wasn’t even a twinkle in the Internet’s eye. She’s now re-releasing her fantasy novel, Heart Song.
Heart Song, you say?
Relena wants freedom, depending on herself and not having to answer to anyone, but a betrayal takes that away. The last thing she expected was the incredibly handsome Marren to free her.
The catch?
She has to fall in love with him, fulfill a prophecy involving their heart song, and rejoin the two realms. But Jiren, the last Ancient of his kind, isn’t convinced and will stop at nothing to maintain his throne, even if it means breaking their most sacred law.
Excerpt
I woke from a fitful sleep with a loud clap of thunder that shook the room. I sat up…
View original 861 more words
Filed under: Writing
Won’t Retweet, Won’t do Review Swaps, Won’t “Vote Up” Reviews: Why I Don’t Automatically Play Along with Many Writers’ Groups Anymore
Won’t Retweet, Won’t do Review Swaps, Won’t “Vote Up” Reviews:
Why I Don’t Automatically Play Along with Many Writers’ Groups Anymore
As Holly Near sings in her iconic relationship-gone-sour song, “Started Out Fine,” it “started out fine; we were moving ahead.” [Great song: go watch her sing it!]
Holly’s “Started Out Fine” on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qhxkd6Gn0E
When I first decided to become an independent author and self-publish after having gone the trad route with nonfiction and made a few attempts to go the trad route for fiction, I knew next-to-nothing about the social media circus I was about to join. I was starry-eyed, optimistic, eager and trusting.
I would get reviewers. I would network. I would make online author friends. I’d become part of communities I would find online. Yippee!
Oy.
Sure, I had a Facebook page, I had opened (and never used) a Twitter account, and I was listed on LinkedIn, for professional purposes (but hardly ever used it).
I had found Authonomy http://www.Authonomy.com and Wattpad http://www.Wattpad.com and decided to post excerpts on these sites, hoping to begin to get readers, reviewers, friends, colleagues.
My niece set up my first website, Sally Ember, Ed.D., and I began to “blog my book,” posting excerpts there and on Facebook for weeks prior to publication (catching up with both excerpts sites, above, before release day).
I researched and decided to go with Smashwords, first, with a pre-order period (several posts about Pre-orders are on my blog, http://www.sallyember.com), then publish to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) when my first ebook went live.
That was the entirety of my social media presence in the summer of 2013, a few months before I hit the “publish” button on my first of the ten volumes in The Spanners Series. Some of these endeavors resulted in my finding exactly what I was looking for: a community of indie and/or self-pub writers, many of whom were also somewhat new, volunteering to review, comment, enjoy my excerpts and then my book! I was so delighted and grateful!
Some of these new connections invited me into groups I’d previously been unaware of, but I happily became quite active in them, for a while. These groups had members who were (and ARE) so supportive, showing me a variety of ways to be involved in cross-promoting one another’s writing.
At first, it was all sunny skies and rainbows. My ebook was gaining visibility, I was making online friends, gaining more reviews and having a good time. Mutual respect, support, encouragement, laughs, tips, ideas and more were flowing around groups and quite helpful to me. I even had some to share back to them. Awesome…for a while.
image from: http://www.dreamstime.com
The clouds rolled in all too soon. Has any of this happened to you?
“Sure! I’ll ReTweet [RT] glowing praise for your book(s) [even though I’ve never read anything you’ve written]!”
“Of course, if you read and review my book, I’d be delighted to read and review yours [until I read a few that were AWFUL!]!”
“Please be assured that, if you vote up my book’s good reviews on Amazon or my book on Goodreads’ Lists or put my book on your “shelves” on Goodreads, I’ll do the same for yours [even though… {PICK ONE: I’ve never read these other writers’ books OR I don’t like the genre and would never read them OR I have started to read them but couldn’t continue because they were AWFUL}]!”
“Oh, great! I’d love to be part of this ‘review each other’s blog’ swap. Oh, what? You’re assigning me to an erotica site when my brand is PG-13?!?!? No can do. Oh, it’s required? Oh, you’re now calling me names, like ‘prude,’ and telling me I’m being ‘judgmental’? ‘Bye, then.”
image from: http://www.artcountrycanada.com
Struck by scolding/lightning one too many times, I dropped out each of those writers’ groups that had absurd or untenable “member responsibilities.” I eventually dropped out of all but a few groups.
Whew! Relieved!
>My integrity has been restored by establishing for myself some great ground rules:
1) I am not on “Tweet teams” which require members to RT every and all Tweets.
2) I do not do “obligatory” reviews or “swaps.”
3) I do cross-promoting only after I’ve gotten to know/read and respect the other person and his/her writing enough to put my name on a public recommendation.
4) I don’t “vote up” any reviews or books unless I’ve read and agree with the votes.
5) I don’t vote for book covers or books for voting-related rewards unless I actually believe they deserve to win.
The best part of being “older but wiser, now” about how writers use social media? If you see my name on a book or blog review, a promotional Tweet, a shared or reblogged post, you can rest assured I believe in what I’m sharing/promoting.
When I haven’t read the work of the authors and don’t know their blog or them at all except as members’ names, I only share or RT general promotions for the GROUP. That’s the way I handle all that social media group cross-promotion pressure, now.
Also, when an individual requests any of the actions I now refuse to take, I gently let them know I don’t do those actions and some I send to the ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors) Ethical Code, which I signed and promote on my blog, GLADLY: http://www.theindependentpublishingmagazine.com/2014/11/alli-launch-ethical-author-code.html Go read it. Sign it. Share it. We all should!
So, however you respect my taste and/or me, you can follow my recommendations or leads as you wish.
All the best to you!
Filed under: Indie or Self-Publishing, Life lessons, Marketing, Opinions, Reviews, Writing Tagged: ALLI, Book review Swaps, Ethical Author Code, indie author, Indie pub, Indie Publishing, review swaps, social media, writers' groups
March 27, 2015
Celebrating an Extraordinary Teacher and Person: Bill Heyde, on April 12, 2015, in St. Louis, MO, USA
Celebrating an Extraordinary Teacher and Person:
Bill Heyde, on April 12, 2015, 3 – 5 PM, in St. Louis, MO, USA
<“Honoring Mr. Heyde” Facebook and IRL Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1571724873114077/
at The Private Residences At the Chase Park Plaza
232 North Kingshighway Blvd, St. Louis 63108
What a great idea! As a grateful former student of Mr. Heyde’s, I’m so glad I’m in St. Louis for this wonderful event, to honor an amazing teacher and person!
Mr. Bill Heyde and students, Ladue High School, circa 1970?
EVENT INFO (Please share!):
“Was Bill Heyde one of your favorite teachers? Were you on the debate team? Did you take one of his English classes? Join us at this reunion to honor Mr. Heyde and his impact on his students at Ladue Horton Watkins High School. We’ll have former forensics team members staging some lighthearted debates, food and drink, and most importantly, the opportunity for you to tell Mr. Heyde just how much he meant to you during your time at LHWHS.
“If you would like to participate in the mini-debates, which will be organized by Benjamin Collinger, current president of the LHWHS Talking Rams, please email lef@ladueschools.net as soon as possible. Mr. Heyde will be moderating/judging these short debates on a variety of fun topics.
“Whether you are able to attend or not, please send any notes, photos, or recollections to Jeff Kopolow: jkopolow@ladueschools.net or 825 Newcastle, Olivette, MO 63132, by April 1. If you would like to participate in the debates on April 12, please email benjamincollinger@gmail.com by April 1. If you know of additional people who might be interested in attending the event, please email lef@ladueschools.net. Thank you!”
We are hereby asking all of YOU for stories, anecdotes, writings, photos, and other contacts!
Deadline to submit items is April 1!
Here is what I sent Jeff, above:
I emailed this to Mr. Heyde about 3 years ago, to thank him, even before he was so honored by your upcoming event and the many people who mentioned him in 2012’s Ladue Educational Foundation’s event honoring about 30 amazing graduates (many of whom credited Mr. Heyde, who was there [as was I]!). He hadn’t yet read this email, below, when I saw him, since he said he rarely checked it, so I told him this was in his Inbox. I don’t know if he ever remembered to go read it, though.
I’ve updated this email a bit. I’ve become a published author and online talk show host and moved back to St. Louis (so I’ll be at his event on Sunday, April 12!) since this was written, but the gist is the same.
Thanks for curating/collecting all this for him. Can’t wait to see the collection, everyone who comes and him.
I also have a copy of the LHS annual literary journal from 1971 in which the essay I wrote (mentioned, below) for his Advanced Composition class (which lucky Juniors got to take) was published. Shall I bring that?
See you then!
Sally (Fleischmann) Ember, Ed.D.
Hi, Mr. Heyde,
I just found out how to contact you and wanted to thank you. You may not remember me, since you have had thousands of students, so let me jog your memory: I was then Sally Fleischmann (Jonathan’s next-younger sister) at Ladue High School (we have 2 younger sibs you may also have taught, Wendy [now, Ellen] and Lauri). I took your Advanced Composition class in 1970-71. I was one of the only students to get a “B+” on a first draft, while most received “D”s and “F”s. So, I suppose I can’t give you credit for ALL of my writing skills and abilities, but please, read on.
Another memory jog: One of the essays written for your class (about game-playing imagery in a short story by William James) was published in that year’s LHS creative writing journal. I then went on to torment Ms. Cannon in the Advanced Placement English class my senior year by never getting less than a “B” on any written paper, while acting up in her class a lot (I did win the vote [along with our class President, Andy Eder] for “Class Clown” in our yearbook’s “Senior Superlatives,” after all…).
Although I had been published, starting as a 4th-grader, in school and camp newsletters, for short stories, articles, poetry and songs, and again as a freshman, in Missouri Youth Writes, for a poem, prior to having your class, I felt that this essay’s being published was my first “adult” placement. As an actual adult, I have had short stories, poetry, articles, nonfiction books, songs and plays published and produced by others, and served as an editor/rewriter/proofreader for many publications.
In 2013, I became a blogger (Sally Ember, Ed.D., http://www.sallyember.com), and a self-published science-fiction author with Volume I, This Changes Everything, of The Spanners Series</strong>; in 2014, I added Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, and I hope to add Volume III, This Is/is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, in 2015 and seven more after that! In 2014, I began hosting my own talk show, conversations between authors, CHANGES, and I often think of you while talking to others about their writing. I also write reviews for Goodreads and Amazon, and while critiquing others’ books, your phrases about what constitutes “good” or “bad” writing often come to mind.
I credit you and want to thank you for modeling for me (and many others, I’m sure) how to teach and inspiring me to teach composition and writing to adolescents and young adults. I went on, after teaching elementary school and middle school language arts, to teach writing: for five summers at Upward Bound; for several years at three community colleges; for five years at two different universities; and, for six years in community education locales, including Corrections Education, in several states. While acquiring my Master’s and doctorate at UMASS/Amherst, I taught writing in Peter Elbow’s peer review process’ domain. I also have had occasional contract work as a researcher/ writer/ editor/ proofreader. I know that your recognition of my writing as “good” (a characterization you did not give out to many pieces) set me on this path.
I think of you often, as a great teacher and someone who inspired me to write more and to teach writing. Even 43 years later, I can picture you perfectly, gesticulating strongly, your necktie blowing about as you passionately enjoined us to become literary critics, not just essay-writers. “Literary criticism” was a foreign concept to me as a junior in high school, until your class. I had learned about symbolism, metaphor and allusion, even how to cite quotations. But, putting it all together analytically, originally, and interestingly? Never even crossed my mind, until you gave us your assignments.
You opened me to a whole new intellectual world. I remember with intense clarity the exact moment when I first “got” what you were trying to convey, and understood (in a very basic way, but still, understood) how to construct a critique. I was astonished. It was as if you had been decrypting a code, helping us to begin using a secret language within English. I really was thrilled to be part of this new “club.”
Yes, I am a geek. I usually read over 250 books a year. Yes; I do. I have, since elementary school, been an avid reader. I was also an athlete: a runner, a cheerleader in 9th grade, a gymnast and field hockey player; also, I am a musician and singer/actor; and, in high school, I was “popular,” including having been elected/selected to that pinnacle for girls in that era, a cheerleader. This is to say to your students that these “identities” are not mutually exclusive: being inducted into the National Honor Society and having lots of friends happily co-exist in many, and I heartily encourage your students to cultivate both their brains and their hearts.You will help them, I’m sure.
I mainly wanted you to know what a great influence and help you were in my professional life, and what warm memories I have of your class. Never think your import was forgotten or unsung, even if we don’t find you to tell you: THANK YOU!
Best to you and your students, past, current and future. Write on!
Take care,
Sally (Fleischmann) Ember, Ed.D.
Do you have a teacher, coach or other mentor you’d like to thank? Start by commenting here and keep on sharing! #thankateacher
Mr. Bill Heyde and student, Ladue High School, circa 1970?
Filed under: G+ HOAs, Gratitude, Life lessons, Personal stories, Support for Good Causes, The Spanners, This Changes Everything, This Is/Is Not the Way I Thought Things Would Change, Volume I of The Spanners, Volume II of The Spanners, Volume III, Writing Tagged: #thankateacher, Bill Heyde, composition class, debate, Gratitude, inspiration, Ladue Horton Watkins High School, mentor, publishing, Sally Ember, St. Louis, thank a teacher
Writing in the Present Tense: A Guest Post By Author Charles E. Yallowitz
To recognize simultaneous time (“timultaneity”) in “The Spanners Series,” ALL of it is written in the present tense, which confounds many readers and reviewers, until they get used to it. My biggest problem, after immersing myself in that for so many years, is reverting to using other tenses while blogging or talking! LOL
Best to you, Charles!
Originally posted on Kylie Betzner:
Author Charles Yallowitz
Thank goodness it’s finally Friday! Am I right? And thank goodness for guest bloggers. After an entire week of laying sick in bed, I would have been hard-pressed to produce an interesting blog post with any content whatsoever. So, lucky for you, I’ve invited Charles E. Yallowitz, author of the fantasy adventure series Legends of Windemere to guest post on my blog today. This time he’ll be speaking about ‘Present Tense Writing.’ And just so you know, I’ve sealed all the exits and windows, so you can’t run away. Haha! Just kidding, you’ll enjoy this.
The reason I asked him to speak on this topic was because his series is written in Third Person Present Tense. What does this mean? That he’s insane? How about I let Charles take it from here:
This style means that you are watching events unfold as they occur through your own eyes instead of…
View original 788 more words
Filed under: Writing
March 26, 2015
Part I: Letter to my Earlier Self, What I Wish I had Known for #Indiepub #Ebooks 1 and 2
Part I: Letter to my Earlier Self, What I Wish I had Known for #Indiepub #Ebooks 1 and 2
This was originally posted on 11/24/14 as a Guest Blogger on http://www.thebookcove.com/2014/11/author-sally-ember-edd-what-i-wish-i.html, when I was still writing Vol III and before I had written enough of these posts to make a series of “Open Letters.”
Now, there is a series, and I am re-posting them in order, one per week.
(The Book Cove posted one per week, November through December.)
This is Letter One of four, total.
As I get ready to release Volume III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, in my sci-fi/ romance/ paranormal/ multiverse/ utopian The Spanners Series, I consider what I wish I had known for ebooks 1 and 2 of this series, my first launch and second foray into being an indiepub author after having been traditionally published.
I decided to write a series of letters to my pre-publication self, since I believe in simultaneous time. I know that this letter and all the subsequent ones are already written and I am already reading them before I publish Volume I, This Changes Everything, and Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever. I’m sharing this information with the public here (again).
Follow that? It helps to be a sci-fi or quantum physics fan, for sure.
Here is Part I of my tips for my earlier self and therefore, all new indie authors who are about to publish their first ebook (or even afterward). There will be a series of such letters advising myself. I need a lot of help!
I appreciate the The Book Cove Reviews for allowing their blog to be the place these letters first appear. My tips had a chance to reach a much wider audience on that site. I hope many budding and newer indie authors besides my earlier self found them helpful when these letters were first published last fall, 2014!
What I Wish I had Known for #Indiepub #Ebooks 1 and 2:
An Open Letter to my Earlier Self
Part I
Dear Earlier Sally,
So, here you are, in December, 2011, writing your first sci-fi novel. You don’t know, yet, that you’re going to become an “indie” author, or even what that is.
Let’s recap what a sorry state you’re in, as an author, and see what, if anything, we can do to rectify this ignorance that could short-circuit your incipient writing career.
You still think you’re going to write query letters, try to find an agent, seek a publication “house” and become a published author the way you’ve seen it happen with your previous nonfiction books and countless others’ fiction books. You haven’t even considered not having a print book and haven’t even read or seen an ebook at this point. You have no idea how much this industry is about to BOOM!
In fact, even though you’ve heard of Kindles and other ereaders, you’ve never seen one and don’t know anyone who owns or uses one, yet. You’ve never heard of or seen anything about Google+, “author platforms,” or blogging by authors. You think those who blog are self-centered, boring, unemployed journalists or stay-at-home workers who have time to surf the net and write drivel about their lives that you can’t imagine anyone wanting to read.
You aren’t on or aware of most of social media. For example, Twitter: you have no Followers except by accident (you now have 7). You never tweet, retweet, or favorite anyone’s tweets. In fact, you never read and respond on Twitter at all. Furthermore, your Facebook activity is conducted strictly to stay in touch with friends and family, people you actually know. You belong to no Facebook groups except those that include people you know and have a specific purpose (your high school reunion group, a meditation group).
Additionally, even though someone told you to sign up for and join Goodreads, you almost never visit it and have no idea what it’s for. You also believe that people who use it are just sharing book lists and books they like. You never read or write reviews there or on Amazon and rarely buy books from online stores; you prefer bricks-and-mortar bookstores when you buy books and mostly use lending libraries.
You don’t consider yourself a book marketer and have not the faintest idea what book marketing entails, nor do you want to know. In fact, you plan to have all that done by your publisher and perhaps your agent (you’re a little fuzzy on who does what and when). You believe that their experienced and intensive marketing efforts will succeed in getting you/your book on TV, radio, and in print reviews and ads which will make your book rocket to best-seller status very quickly, since you’re sure it’s that good.
You’ve ever heard of or used any Google+ Communities, Hangouts, or Circles.
You have never heard of Metadata and wouldn’t know how to apply that to your ebooks, either.
You do not know about most of nor do you belong to any in-person much less virtual writers’ groups, authors’ groups, marketing groups, review sharing groups, or any professional writers’ groups of any kind.
You’ve never heard of ALEXA, Google Page Ranks, Google Authorship or KLOUT scores and you don’t know much about having an online presence. The extent of your knowledge is that you check Google every now and then to make sure nobody else is using your name or is saying bad things about you online.
Oy, vey.
Can your writing career be salvaged? Can you become a published author and have ANYONE know it? How will your book get reviews? How will you acquire any followers, much less readers? Will you sell even one book to anyone outside your friends and family?
How and when will you ever figure out that you need to create and maintain a website, build and improve your author’s platform, join and become active in online and virtual communities/groups, become KNOWN as YOU, your brand, online, as a sci-fi author and blogger, a creator and curator of useful content?
Tip #1: Forget the query letters, hunts for agents/publishers and all that trad pub jazz. Indie is the way to go. Ebooks are rocking the readers. Believe me. I know.
Tip #2: You may have noticed that I’ve actually decided to write these letters to you to offer a kind of road map to your salvation as an author. If you read and research each of the words or phrases I’ve put into BOLD in this letter, for example, those are the dots you have to connect, the work you have to do, to create the best future for your books and for you as an author.
Do a lot of it NOW, before you publish, and then keep doing more. That is key!
Stay tuned for Part II and subsequent Parts to this intraself communication which will contain advice for many indie authors as we continue on this journey of educating this indie author, earlier Sally: YOU!
Get to work!
Present Sally
http://www.sallyember.com
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HEV2UEW
Filed under: All Volumes, Blogging and others' content, Indie or Self-Publishing, Life lessons, Marketing, The Spanners, This Changes Everything, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, This Is/Is Not the Way I Thought Things Would Change, Volume I of The Spanners, Volume II of The Spanners, Volume III, Writing Tagged: author platform, book marketing, ebooks, Indie Publishing, social media, writers' groups
March 25, 2015
Five Star Treatment – Phase Two – Reader’s Picks and a promotion for you.
Thanks for supporting Indie Authors so well, Sally Cronin! I hope many will submit their 5-star books (and maybe someone will submit one of MINE!).
Best to you all,
Sally Ember
Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:
I am delighted that the authors who have featured in this series so far have received such a great response from you. I have found that some authors are reluctant to blow their own trumpets and so I thought that I would widen the submissions to include your favourite books. This also will provide promotion for your own work and blog that will be shared on social media as well as here on WordPress.
The books can be those that you have given a 5 star review to or have read that had great reviews that influenced your buying decision. You can also select a book and do your review in the post itself. The same straightforward submissions guidelines apply.
It is better for me if you attach a word document to an email rather than in the body of the mail. Also please do not insert the images into…
View original 273 more words
Filed under: Writing
Famous Writers’ Insults
AND, if you’d like to know more about the quirky sense of humor, writings and covers of Nicholas Rossis, check out our hour on *CHANGES* conversations between authors, Episode 7 (one of the most popular already!), or other Episodes here: http://goo.gl/qdKiGb
#Authors, learn more about and get yourself on or #Readers, recommend an #author to be scheduled as a guest: *CHANGES* G+ HOA http://sallyember.com/changes-videoca...
Originally posted on Nicholas C. Rossis:
I often say that my favorite thing about my writing journey is how helpful everyone’s been. I’ve met some wonderful people, eager to support and encourage others.
That’s not always been the case, though. Indeed, when authors get mean, the results can be spectacular, as the infographic below by Amy Cowen, found at her AussieWriter blog, shows:
Filed under: Writing
March 23, 2015
More 2015 New Releases in LGBTQ Young Adult Fiction
Thanks for curating this collection, Molly! Will look these up for sure!
Best to you,
Sally
Originally posted on wrapped up in books:
I’ve been working on a presentation for a workshop on collection development and readers’ advisory for LGBTQ YA, and so I’ve been looking for more new titles coming out. Here’s my first round up of 2015 LGBTQ young adult literature. The eight books below are newly released or coming out in Fall 2015.
View original 1,618 more words
Filed under: Writing
Free book alert for paranormal lovers!
AND, if you want to get to know this author better, watch our *CHANGES* conversation between authors, Episode 4 and all Episodes here: http://goo.gl/qdKiGb
#Authors, learn more about and get yourself on or #Readers, recommend an #author to be scheduled as a guest, see upcoming schedule for other guests: *CHANGES* G+ HOA http://sallyember.com/changes-videoca...
Originally posted on Cultural Cocktails:
THIS SAMPLER IS A MUST READ FOR FANS OF THE MYSTERIOUS WORLDS OF GHOSTS, SEA DWELLERS, SHAPESHIFTERS & ENTICING STORIES THAT SPAN THE GLOBE!
Available for FREE through AMAZON March 23rd-27th!
~~~~~
Bound By Blood (A Night Shift Novella)
By Margo Bond Collins
Sometimes the monsters in the night are real.
Sometimes they live right next door.
As a child, Halili Banta ignored her grandmother’s cryptic warnings not to make friends with children outside their Filipino community in Houston. But she preferred to become a “real” American, down to the Americanization of her name, Lili. When many of those other children fell ill, Lili vowed to focus on learning everything she could about Western medicine, ignoring the whispers in her community that a vampiric aswang walked among them.
Now, as an adult and a medical doctor, Lili has returned to Houston to work for the Quarantine Station of the Center…
View original 919 more words
Filed under: Writing
