Artificial Intelligence (AI) is upon us. And whether you are for or against it as a reader or a writer, or among the undecided, I think most will agree we need guidelines and ethical standards to protect all of us and the work we produce.
What do you think? There are endless articles out there right now, both pro and con.
Meantime, here is Neil Clarke’s, editor and publisher of Clarkesworld, official “AI Statement” posted on his website yesterday about what standards should apply in our literary world.
Please read this statement if you have concerns and need to know more.
Bravo to Mr. Clarke for taking the lead. Neil Clarke is a Hugo Award-winning and World Fantasy Award-nominated editor and publisher. He is the owner of Wyrm Publishing and publisher/editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, a digital science fiction and fantasy magazine.
The Writers Guild of America has made this issue a central part of their current strike. There needs to be lots more discussions about AI in the world of writers.
For all the creative writers I know and those of you following my blog …
“Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke
Happy May Short Story Month! To celebrate this month, here is a 10-minute flash fiction read magnificently by Folly Baine, a gifted narrator and writer living in the Pacific Northwest.
Abasteron House was originally published by Everyday Fiction on March 16, 2012. Listen to the audio here:
Come meet Abasteron, the angel of the fifth hour after sunset. She guards night. She visits day. This is a little horror story, one of my first shorts published, and the prequel to Night Sea Journey, A Tale of the Supernatural—the award-winning novel that won an Eric Hoffer Book Award.
Night Sea Journey, A Tale of the Supernatural is available on Amazon.com.
Silver Medal Winner, Global Book Awards, 2021.
An Eric Hoffer Book Award Winner, 2015.
U.S. Review of Books: “Stunning and absorbing plot on par with—if not better than—a Dan Brown novel.”
ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARD WINNER, 2015. “This romantic fantasy is propelled by gorgeous language and imagery…angels and demons…The grime of inner city Chicago, the tranquility of the Rhode Island coastline, and the depths of a phantasmagoric ocean are the stages for this conflict.”
The Firehawk
★★★★★ Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer Gives 5 STARS to Paula Cappa. “A talent that will draw even those who are not keen on supernatural stories into her fold.”
Don’t forget to view the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 250 short stories by more than 150 famous and contemporary storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, horror and ‘quiet horror,’ fantasy, and mainstream fiction.
Follow or sign up to join me in reading one short story every month.
If you wander a graveyard frequently enough, you are bound to sense a ghost or two. In this flash fiction by Peter S. Drang, we have a cemetery keeper, gravedigger, and self-proclaimed “king” who “updigs” the residents. Elenore Heckerson is one such resident, buried only a foot deep.
While death and sadness may lurk above and below the headstones, this story will call you deep into the grave. As ghost stories go, this casts a chilling spell, one that joins life and death into a quiet little horror.
Author Peter S. Drang writes fiction by night. His work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, the Flame Tree Press newsletter, and other fine fiction markets. You can find his blog at drangstories.com, including an analysis of his writing process for this story (https://drangstories.com/authors-notes-on-my-lakeside-graveyard/).
Don’t forget to view the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 250 short stories by more than 150 famous and contemporary storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, horror and ‘quiet horror,’ fantasy, and mainstream fiction.
AUTHOR OF THE WEEK, April 10, 2023 National Poetry Month
Rainer Maria Rilke
(Austrian Poet and Novelist)
“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” Letters to a Young Poet.
“I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.”
“If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence, we could rise up rooted, like trees.” Book of Hours: “Love Poems to God.”
“Think… of the world you carry within you.”
“God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night.” Book of Hours: “Love Poems to God.”
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926) is well known for his rich and lyrical poetry that arouses visual imagery. He is still one of the best selling poets in the United States. His first published work was in 1895, a volume of poetry Life and Songs. He wrote several collections of poetry, volumes of correspondence, and one novel—semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. He is most famous for his ten letters published posthumously, Letters to a Young Poet.
IN APRIL
Again the woods are odorous, the lark Lifts on upsoaring wings the heaven gray That hung above the tree-tops, veiled and dark, Where branches bare disclosed the empty day.
After long rainy afternoons an hour Comes with its shafts of golden light and flings Them at the windows in a radiant shower, And rain drops beat the panes like timorous wings.
Then all is still. The stones are crooned to sleep By the soft sound of rain that slowly dies; And cradled in the branches, hidden deep In each bright bud, a slumbering silence lies.
Many of Rilke’s poems are in the public domain. Nature and silence are recurring themes. It was said that he experienced writer’s block for eight years. In his fifty-one years, he wrote over 400 poems.
While spring is here, sunshine leaning towards us every day, one of Rilke’s books stands out as the quintessential book of poems for April’s National Poetry Month: Roses.On Amazon.com.
Roses is translated by David Need and illustrated in pen-and-ink drawings by Clare Johnson, published by Horse & Buggy Press. I discovered this book when researching Rilke for my novel Draakensky, A Supernatural Tale of Magick and Romance (release planned in 2024). Rilke is an off-stage character in this mystery about a young sketch artist who illustrates Rilke’s poetry while she lives on a haunted estate in New York.
The meaning of this epitaph is puzzling. If you have an interpretation, please post in the comments below. Celebrating National Poetry Month is an opportunity to express our love of words, literature, and honor poets and their craft. Please join me in recognizing Rainer Maria Rilke by sharing your thoughts!
Please join me in my reading nook and discover an author once a month on Mondays at Reading Fiction Blog!
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Browse the Index of Authors’ Tales above to find over 250 free short stories by over 150 famous authors. Once a month I feature a FREE short story by contemporary or classic authors. Audios too.
Shirley Jackson writes a charming but mysterious short story with vivid descriptions and a protagonist who will captivate you in a wicked little plot. Miss Strangeworth (catchy name) is a 71-year-old spinster, living alone in a small town, in a house that her grandfather built, and tends her prize rose garden. Sounds dull? Not at all. Miss Strangeworth is obsessed with the evil doings going on in her world of neighbors and decides she must take action. Irony is Jackson’s best skill.
Come spend a half hour with the haughty Miss Strangeworth in a creepy tale in her house on Pleasant Street. Jackson’s writing is well known as “quiet horror” with her exquisite subtleties and gradual horror that sneaks up on you. This story lives up to that sly quality.
The New Yorker reported that Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) “was largely dismissed as a talented purveyor of high-toned horror stories—’Virginia Werewoolf,’ as one critic put it.” Her most famous works The Lottery, The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, are still read today by both literary and horror fans. She certainly is the queen of literary Gothic fiction.
Don’t forget to view the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 250 short stories by more than 150 famous storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, ‘quiet horror,’ and mainstream fiction.
(Novelist and Screenwriter, Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction)
“In writing a novel, when in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.”
“Any man who can write a page of living prose adds something to our life, and the man who can, as I can, is surely the last to resent someone who can do it even better. An artist cannot deny art, nor would he want to.”
“The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.”
“The perfect detective story cannot be written. The type of mind which can evolve the perfect problem is not the type of mind that can produce the artistic job of writing.”
“I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings.” The Big Sleep.
“Breeze looked at me very steadily. Then he sighed. Then he picked the glass up and tasted it and sighed again shook his head sideways with a half smile; the way a man does when you give him a drink and he needs it very badly and it is just right and the first swallow is like a peek into a cleaner, sunnier, brighter world.” The Lady in the Lake.
Good plots. Great scenes. Memorable characters. A unique voice and a classic distinctive style of writing. Everybody loves Chandler; his stories are still read today. He published his first novel at age 50.
Raymond Chandler (1888 – 1959), an American author is considered a pioneer for hard-boiled crime stories. His novels include The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, Farewell, My Lovely, The Lady in the Lake, countless short stories.
Bogart and Bacall. Who doesn’t love that couple drenched in mystery.
Great screenwriting, too: Strangers on a Train, an Alfred Hitchcock classic. Marlowe, based on The Little Sister, a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
Chandler wrote nonfiction as well: The Simple Art of Murder, Writers in Hollywood, Critical Notes.
[I will note that I’ve had a fascination with Chandler’s crime fiction for years, so much that Chandler appeared in my novel Greylock associated with the main character Alexei Georg, a classical pianist living in Boston. Alexei contemplates murder himself in the opening pages of Greylock, in Philip Marlowe style. Murder, a music phantom, and a romance-laced mystery.]
This is my favorite Philip Marlowe line:
“It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.” Farewell, My Lovely.
Please join me in my reading nook and discover an author on Mondays at Reading Fiction Blog!
Browse the Index of Authors’ Tales above to find over 250 free short stories by over 150 famous authors. Once a month I feature a FREE short story by contemporary or classic authors. Audios too.
Tuesday’s Gothic Short Story, February 14, 2023 Valentine’s Day
In this story, we are in the subterranean world of Lovecraft, written in a 19th-century style that is so very Poe-esque. Alone in a decaying castle, ‘chambers with maddening rows of antique books … twilight groves of grotesque and vine-encumbered trees, full of dark passages and high ceilings where the eye could find only cobwebs and shadows …’ our lonely Outsider chooses to venture out into the real world.
There is no measure of time here and no light in this castle. He is forced to light candles and stare at them for relief. Finally he feels compelled to climb out of the castle and into the endless forest beyond. What do you think he finds beneath a golden arch?
Lovely, dark, and deep, this is an exceptional story to read for Valentine’s Day because it is so sensuous and bohemian. The psychological here is brilliant. Ghostly and baroque desires drive the Outsider into a beguiling romance with his darkness. Bittersweet and delicious as dark chocolate.
Lovecraft is a master at leaving the reader with heavy subtext. And although I don’t read him regularly, The Outsider is likely to become a favorite because it is so bewitching.
Watch the modern film adaptation here (10 minutes). Hmmm, not what I expected:
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1880-1937), an American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction was known to rarely go out in daylight, became best friends with Houdini, and suffered night terrors. He corresponded with fellow writers Robert Bloch (author of Psycho), Henry Kuttner (The Dark World), Robert E Howard (Conan the Barbarian) and the poet Samuel Loveman. It is estimated that he wrote 100,000 letters.
“Mystery attracts mystery.”
“Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time.”
“I couldn’t live a week without a private library – indeed, I’d part with all my furniture and squat and sleep on the floor before I’d let go of the 1,500 or so books I possess.”
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Don’t forget to view the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 250 short stories by more than 150 famous storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, ‘quiet horror,’ and mainstream fiction.
Follow or sign up to join me in reading one short story by a famous author every month.
“A good library can provide the furniture of our minds and the threads from which we weave our dreams.”
“You start at the end, and then go back and write and go that way. Not everyone does, but I do. Some people just sit down at the page and start off. I start from what happened, including the why.”
“I did a complete rewrite of 650 pages in two weeks.”
“Actually to kill someone, you have to care desperately over something, whether it is hate, fear, greed or because they stand in the way between you and something you hunger for. – Resurrection Row.
Anne Perry (born 1938 in London) is an English author of historical detective fiction. She best known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk series. She has written over 100 books, novels and several collections of short stories. Her story “Heroes,” which first appeared the 1999 anthology Murder and Obsession, edited by Otto Penzler, won the 2001 Edgar Award for Best Short Story for Heroes. Perry was convicted of the murder of her friend’s mother in New Zealand in 1954. Perry has won the Agatha Award for Best Novel and Agatha Award for Best Short Story. Her novels include The Face of a Stranger and Defend and Betray.
Perry had no formal schooling past the age of 13. Her first book wasn’t published until she was 41. Perry began writing when she was in her twenties; however, her first book wasn’t picked up for publication until many years later
Interview with Anne Perry, “A Trip to Victorian Crime.”
Browse the Index of Authors’ Tales above to find over 250 free short stories by over 150 famous authors. Once a month I feature a FREE short story by contemporary or classic authors. Audios too.
My latest fiction, a supernatural fantasy (adult fairy tale) Sky Wolf is in the current issue of The Lorelei Signal Magazine by Wolf Singer Book Publications. Sky Wolf is a novelette (45-minute read).
(Art by Lee Ann Barlow)
SKY WOLF
In the kingdom of Iceleea, the king has no queen, no heir to his throne. Until he meets the Queen of Witches, the wicked Hekate who is reputed to be a three-headed monster, known to travel the underworld of the dead, casting her ghostly spells on earthly victims. Yet, Hekate promises the king a shining beauty—an enchanting and stunning young woman to rule next to him on the throne. But the king must make his promises to Hekate as well. So the bargaining begins. When the mysterious young woman arrives by the magick of the yew tree, she is riding a white wolf. What secret powers does she bring from her realm? Who is this woman and why is there the tail of a dragon burned into her back? This is a supernatural mystery with witches, magick, and the power of the white wolf in a land of myth and fantasy.
To read this story FREE (45-minute read), copy and paste this link into your browser search window and access the story directly.
Feel free to click the LIKE button at the end of the story.
Or you can use the link below to the Lorelei Signal Magazine main page, click the cover image of the dragon, then on the main page click Current Issue and scroll down to Sky Wolf. https://www.loreleisignal.com/
Come to Iceleea!
I would love to hear your comments! If you read the story, do send me a blurb of your reaction (two or three sentences will do). I’m looking for endorsements, so don’t be shy. You can send it via my contact page in the tab above or post in the comments. Many thanks to all my readers here and to all the authors and writers who follow me on all my social media.
Harvey’s Dream by Stephen King (The New Yorker Magazine, 2003)
Thursday’s Suspense Story, December 8, 2022
How deep can the imagination go? How deep can a dream go?
Dreams are often horrors and great subjects for suspense stories and mysteries. This short story by Stephen King (The New Yorker Magazine) is a tale of a middle-aged married couple with daughters. We are in the kitchen and Harvey tells his wife Janet of a dream, describing details that his wife begins to recognize. Specifics like deviled eggs and a dent in the neighbor’s car. We follow Janet’s every thought that reaches psychological heights of fear and an ending that only Stephen King could write.
Read the short story here at The New Yorker Magazine:
Readers, please drop a line in the comments if you liked the story, or didn’t like it. How many stars would you rate Harvey’s Dream?
Film: 14 minutes. Don’t miss this!!
Stephen King is a best-selling American author of suspense, horror, sci-fi and fantasy books. When he writes, he prefers to use pen and paper, using a Waterman fountain pen, instead of a computer. In his book On Writing, King says he tries to write at least 2,000 words a day. During the writing of his novel Carrie, King threw the first draft in the trash. His wife Tabitha retrieved it and eventually Doubleday bought the rights.
In the Atlantic, King revealed that he considers the introductory sentence of a book crucial for the book’s atmosphere and to successfully connect to the reader. He often labors over his first line for months or years until it’s exactly right.
Don’t forget to view the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 250 short stories by more than 150 famous storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, ‘quiet horror,’ and mainstream fiction.
, an Alfred Hitchcock classic. Marlowe
, based on The Little Sister, a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
and Defend and Betray
.
Paula Cappa 