Spotlight on Lynette M. Burrows
February 16, 2025 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Spotlight tagged as Alternative History, Lynette M Burrows, science fiction, Speculative Fiction, The Fellowship Dystopia series
Lynette M. Burrows is an author, blogger, creativity advocate, writing coach, and Yorkie wrangler. She survived moving seventeen times between kindergarten and her high school graduation. Her stories weave her experiences into speculative fiction worlds that capture your attention, characters you root for, and action that keeps you turning pages.
Her Fellowship Dystopia series, My Soul to Keep, and If I Should Die, and a companion novel, Fellowship, tell the story of a world where the isolationists and fundamentalists merged after FDR’s assassination and created an America where even the elite can be judged sinners and hunted by the Angels of Death. They are in online bookstores everywhere. Book three, And When I Wake, is scheduled to be published in 2025.
Lynette lives in the land of OZ and is a certifiable chocoholic and coffee lover. When she’s not blogging or writing or researching her next project, she avoids housework and plays with her two Yorkshire terriers. You can find Lynette online on Facebook, or BlueSky (@lynettemburrows.bsky.social) or on her website.
Lynette’s Books
Hover over the cover for buy links. Click the cover for more information on each book.
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Neetu Malik: Featured Author
February 14, 2025 by Neetu Malik in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Featured Author of the Month, Neetu Malik, Poet's Day, poetry
Neetu Malik’s poetry is an expression of life’s rhythms and the beat of the human spirit. She draws upon diverse multicultural experiences and observations across three continents in which she has lived. She has contributed to The Australia Times Poetry Magazine, October Hill Magazine, Prachya Review, among others. Her poems have appeared in The Poetic Bond Anthology V and VI published by Willowdown Books, UK, NY Literary Magazine’s Tears Anthology and Poetic Imagination Anthology (Canada).
Her poem, “Soaring Flames”, was awarded First-Place by the NY Literary Magazine (2017). She has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2019 for her poem “Sacred Figs” published by Kallisto Gaia Press in their Ocotillo Review in May, 2018.
Neetu lives in Pennsylvania, USA.
You can find Neetu’s poetry in these volumes.
Hover on the cover for buy links. Click on the cover for more information.
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Neetu Malik: Featured Author
February 1, 2025 by Neetu Malik in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Featured Author of the Month, Neetu Malik, Poet's Day, poetry
Neetu Malik’s poetry is an expression of life’s rhythms and the beat of the human spirit. She draws upon diverse multicultural experiences and observations across three continents in which she has lived. She has contributed to The Australia Times Poetry Magazine, October Hill Magazine, Prachya Review, among others. Her poems have appeared in The Poetic Bond Anthology V and VI published by Willowdown Books, UK, NY Literary Magazine’s Tears Anthology and Poetic Imagination Anthology (Canada).
Her poem, “Soaring Flames”, was awarded First-Place by the NY Literary Magazine (2017). She has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2019 for her poem “Sacred Figs” published by Kallisto Gaia Press in their Ocotillo Review in May, 2018.
Neetu lives in Pennsylvania, USA.
You can find Neetu’s poetry in these volumes.
Hover on the cover for buy links. Click on the cover for more information.
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Featured Author: Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
January 29, 2025 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as #TheBWG, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, new release, Seasons Readings, Short Story Award
About Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), is a community of mutually supportive fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories. BWG also publishes quality fiction through their online literary journal, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and their award-winning A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology series.
Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres. All but the first anthology include stories from the winner(s) of The Bethlehem Writers Short Story Award.
Their first anthology, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales (2009), won two Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Best Anthology and Best Short Fiction.
Season’s Reading: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales is the latest in A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology.
About Season’s Readings
In this new addition to the “Sweet, Funny, and Strange”(R) series of anthologies, the multi-award-winning Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC, returns to its roots. As denizens in and around Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (also known as “Christmas City, USA”), we were happy to make our first anthology a collection of holiday tales. But one volume just wasn’t enough. Now, in our eighth anthology, we’re returning to the theme to bring you twenty-one new stories that span the holidays from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve.
Emwryn Murphy’s sweet tale tells about a chosen family’s “Friendsgiving,” crashed by a blood relative who might, or might
not, be happy with what he sees in “As Simple as That.” Jerome W. McFadden once again reveals his humorous side in his story about
a would-be Santa who gets into trouble in “Flue Shot.” A. E. Decker shares an intricate Christmas fantasy about “The Goblin King’s
Music Box.” And Paula Gail Benson gives a new twist to a traditional symbol for the New Year in “Star of the Party.” Beyond these holidays, Diane Sismour writes about Krampusnacht, Debra H. Goldstein about Pearl Harbor Day, and Peter J Barbour about Hanukkah. Other favorite BWG authors, including Jeff Baird, Ralph Hieb, D.T. Krippene, Christopher D. Ochs, Dianna Sinovic, Kidd Wadsworth, and Carol L. Wright, also share their holiday musings.
In addition, this volume includes the 2023 and 2024 award-winning stories from the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Awards. Sally Milliken, the 2023 first-place winner, presents “The First Thanksgiving.” From 2024, we have our top three winners with first-place winner Rhonda Zangwill’s “Oh! Christmas Tree,” second-place winner Bettie Nebergall’s “Just Ask Santa,” and third-place winner Mary Adler’s “Narragansett Nellie and the Transferware Platter.”
We hope you enjoy these holiday gifts and that all our readers experience the very happiest of holiday seasons.
Next up for BWG
BWG is working on their ninth anthology, Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fastasy
In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2025 Short Story Award.
The 2025 Short Story Award opens on January 1, 2025. The theme will be Speculative Fiction (tales of science fiction and fantasy,broadly interpreted).
BWG is seeking never-published short stories of 2,500 words or fewer.
First Place:
$250 and consideration for publication in our upcoming anthology: Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy or Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Second Place:
$100 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Third Place:
$50 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
The 2025 contest judge is science-fiction and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky.
For more information on the 2025 Short Story Award and for information on how to enter, click here. You can also read an interview with Mr. Tchaikovsky here.
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
Faery Swap by Susan Kaye Quinn
January 24, 2025 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Book Reviews tagged as Faery Swap
Faery Swap
Susan Kaye Quinn
ISBN: 9798348298463
Publisher: Twisted Spaces LLC
Pub date: 12/12/2013
Two souls, one body. A missing brother. A missing father. Stonehenge. And math-based magic. All the elements necessary to conjure up an engaging and fast pace story that will keep kids (grades 3 to 6) on the edge of their seats.
Both Finn, the 14 year old whose body gets snatched trapping him in the Otherworld fighting spriggans and faeries and walking trees, and Zaneyr, the faery who does the snatching and must fight off his father’s seekers, have compelling and sympathetic reasons for the choices they make.
Finn needs to get out of the Otherworld to protect his sister from Child Protective Services and neighborhood bullies. Zaneyr wants to hide himself from his father who is planning a World and Otherworld catastrophe—regardless of the humans or faeries he destroys.
Add to all of this is the ticking clock of Midsummer’s eve. Once it’s over, the boy and the faery are stuck just where they are—likely for a lifetime.
The book is published in ebook (free for January 2025), paperback and audio. There are links in the back for a cool two minute book trailer, a virtual author visit video and a downloadable teacher’s guide. The teacher’s guide included discussion questions, activities, and a card game for classroom play.
Featured Books
TANYA AND THE BABY ELEPHANT
Tanya is stuck at home. Can a baby elephant make her less lonely?
More info →
FUR, FEATHERS AND SCALES: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Animal Tales
So cuddle up with your favorite pet-real or imaginary. No matter. You'll find just the right story to share.
More info →
BEYOND CONTROL
Present Danger—When Victoria Bradford got engaged, she told herself to give love a chance. Six months later, she's on the run from her angry, abusive ex-fiancé with her four-year-old daughter and nowhere to go.
More info →
