Featured Author: Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
December 1, 2023 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as #TheBWG, 2024 Short Story Award, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, Fur Feathers and Scales, new release, 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.
An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Intrigue is the latest in A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology. This anthology was a finalist in both the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Award and the 2023 Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion.
About An Element of Mystery
The Bethlehem Writers Group is pleased to present this collection of tales of mystery and intrigue—the latest in its award-winning series of Sweet, Funny, and Strange® anthologies. From classic whodunnits to tales of the unexplained, each of the twenty-three stories contained herein have an element of mystery that will keep you guessing and wanting to read just one more story.
We’re thrilled to have old friends, but new members of BWG, join us this year. Award-winning author Debra H. Goldstein favors us with a mystery set among volunteers at a synagogue entitled “Death in the Hand of the Tongue,” while “Sense Memory,” by the multi-talented Paula Gail Benson, brings a delightful mix of mystery and the paranormal that helps a young couple find their way to each other.
In addition, we are happy to bring you the winning stories from two of our annual Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award competitions: “Good Cop/Bad Cop” by Trey Dowell (2021 winner) and “The Tabac Man” by Eleanor Ingbretson (2022 winner).
You’ll also find stories from your favorite BWG authors, including Courtney Annicchiarico, Jeff Baird, Peter J Barbour, A. E. Decker, Marianne H. Donley, Ralph Hieb, DT Krippene, Jerry McFadden, Emily P. W. Murphy, Christopher D. Ochs, Dianna Sinovic, Kidd Wadsworth, Paul Weidknecht, and Carol L. Wright.
So get ready to be mystified . . . or intrigued!
Next up for BWG
BWG is working on their eighth anthology, Season’s Readings: More, Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales.
In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2024 Short Story Award.
The 2024 Short Story Award opened on January 1, 2024. The theme will be Holiday Stories (broadly interpreted).
BWG is seeking never-published short stories of 2,000 words or fewer. First Place will receive $250 and publication in their upcoming anthology: Season’s Readings: More, Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales or in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable.
The final judge of the 2024 Short Story Award is Marlo Berliner, the multi-award-winning, bestselling author of The Ghost Chronicles series.
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), founded in 2006, 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, spanning a range of genres including: children’s, fantasy, humor, inspiration, literary, memoir, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, women’s fiction, and young adult.
See the schedule of meetings and events here.
Sisters At War: You ain’t seen nothing yet… the sequel is coming! by Jina Bacarr
October 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, new release, romance, World War 2, writingWhen I was a little girl, I loved sitting at the feet of my grandmum coloring in my ballet books while she twisted tiny pieces of wire and blue or green beads into rosaries and spun tales about Ireland. How my English great-grandmum, a grand lady, ran away from her overbearng, stuffy father to marry her Irish rogue.
I used to pretend she became a ballet dancer like the drawings I colored in Degas pastels.
She didn’t.
But I spent hours coloring and cutting out the dancers. I discovered I had an artistic bent like my grandpop but I also loved telling stories like my grandmum. So at times in my life, I used my artistic talents to get the job done; other times, I wrote stories.
Both require intense concentration as well as precious time. (I swear there’s a watch that can stop time with its golden hands, but I haven’t found it on Amazon). And sometimes you have to make a choice.
Which brings me to my current dilemma.
I had an intense year writing SISTERS AT WAR with ‘life’ getting in the way numerous times as well as reliving diffucult past experiences to capture the emotions of the story. Then the book came out and I loved making the pretty graphics, the videos, the everything you get to do that’s artsy and fun…
But here’s the rub.
Readers are waiting for the sequel called SISTERS OF THE RESISTANCE… some want to read it now.
Oh, my, I’m still writing the sequel.
Which means I need to take a deep dive and put away my coloring book and crayons. Write, write, write. I know where the story is going, new characters to add to the tension between the Beaufort Sisters in my story, a life-altering experience for Eve and a heartbreak for Justine, but there are no shortcuts on this journey. Writing about WW2 requires maddening research as well as intense, emotional dialogue.
So, mes amis, I have pull back for a while on social media while I finish writing Sisters of the Resistance.
I’ll be here once a month, but not so much on other venues.
Alas, I’m going to close now. I’ve got research to do and a chapter to write tonight. I hope you enjoy my short video about what’s going on with Sisters At War.
See you soon.
Jina
Who are the Beaufort Sisters?
They’re beautiful
They’re smart
They’re dangerous
They’re at war with the Nazis… and each other.
Everyone Loves Thrillers, Well, Sort of
October 3, 2023 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger, Thrillers by Will Janns tagged as new release, Trillers, Will Janns
Thrillers are mostly fast-paced, page-turners that tire out the reader as much as they do the characters in the story.
Janet Lynn and I are writing in this genre for the first time, with our first effort being STONE PUB. We are writing under the name Will Janns, and we’ve learned there are many flavors of thrillers on the shelves.
What kind of a thriller holds the reader’s attention? Every reader is different (just like every writer.)
Some of the best-selling novels in the thriller category have been spy or political thrillers that involve political corruption or terrorism. Plots can center on both real and fictional political events. The stakes are always high and often suggest that life, as we know it, in our nation (or another nation) could end or change for the worse.
But right up there with political or spy thrillers are supernatural/sci-fi/techno-thrillers. I don’t mean to lump them together, but in these stories, crossovers may occur. They may feature fantasy and horror elements and involve some aspect of the supernatural, including fantasy beings, aliens, or time-travelers. The setting might be in the future and imply technology or AI run amok.
Getting back to earth, and I mean way back, are historical thrillers. These thrillers take place sometime in the recent or not-so-recent past. Some thriller novels are set as far back as medieval times.
The Historical Novel Society, an organization promoting historical fiction open to readers and authors alike, defines historical novels as set at least fifty years ago. For books published today, the settings would need to be 1973 or earlier to count as historical fiction.
This fact means the reader will not be reading about contemporary technology such as cell phones, computers, satellites, or high-speed communications. Verbal communications will also be affected by issues of current slang and other contemporary social behaviors.
Next come crime thrillers, which are sometimes variations on whodunits, but often rely on a “ticking clock” or hard deadline to add tension and force the investigator (whether amateur or professional) to solve the crime before the clock runs out. The crimes might involve kidnappings, ransoms, serial killers, hostage-taking, or creative heists. The motives of the antagonists can be as varied as the plot lines.
A natural segue from crime thrillers is the legal thriller, where, many times, the integrity and morals of the lawyers are tested when confronted with unusual circumstances. The legal knowledge required to make these stories believable is what keeps a reader turning the pages.
The mind, both “normal” and “abnormal,” takes center stage in Psychological thrillers. Two brilliant minds are sometimes pitted against each other in an intense battle of wits. These plot-driven thrillers often involve the basic emotions of fear, greed, guilt, lust, and revenge.
In medical thrillers, the characters include medical professionals or scientists who often race against a burgeoning worldwide pandemic or a modern medical advancement gone wrong.
Military thrillers are the final choice when deciding what kind of thriller to read (or write). The protagonists in this subgenre have some connection to the military, or are active members themselves. Combat missions, whether sanctioned or covert, are the setting for these novels. The settings and plots will be based on the intimate workings of military life. The stories often feature military slang, acronyms, specific conflicts, and organizational hierarchies. Active duty and veterans alike will see right through a weak plot or poorly researched storyline, and the author will lose a reader and even a whole audience.
You can see from this, far from complete, listing that there are action-packed, edge-of-your-seat thrillers for almost every taste. If you have been comfortable reading one subgenre, try another and surprise yourself.
Will Zeilinger and Janet Elizabeth Lynn writing as Will Janns
Other Titles by Will and Janet
Christmas in August
August 16, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Spotlight tagged as A Hill Vampire Novel, Dark Wine at Christmas, Jenna Barwin, new release
Dark Wine at Christmas
by Jenna Barwin
Release date: August 15, 2023
Are you ready for Christmas in August?
As Cerissa and her vampire fiancé celebrate their first Christmas together…secrets abound!
The surprise Cerissa prepares for Christmas Eve will be everything Henry wants, but the gift he gives her on Christmas night will turn their household upside down with happy chaos.
Except when Anne-Louise calls with unreasonable demands, his maker may very well rip the holiday fun right from Henry’s hands…
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1N2NLRD
Jenna’s : https://www.jennabarwin.com
Spotlight on A Sour Note by Jill Piscitello
June 24, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Spotlight tagged as A Music Box Mystery, A Sour Note, Cozy mystery, Jill Piscitello, new release, Wild Rose Press
About the Book:
On the heels of a public, broken engagement, Maeve Cleary returns to her childhood home in Hampton Beach, NH. When a dead body turns up behind her mother’s music school, three old friends land on the suspect list. Licking her wounds soon takes a back seat to outrunning the paparazzi who spin into a frenzy, casting her in a cloud of suspicion. Maeve juggles her high school sweetheart, a cousin with a touch of clairvoyance, a no-nonsense detective, and an apologetic, two-timing ex-fiancé. Will the negative publicity impact business at the Music Box— the very place she’d hoped to make a fresh start?
EXCERPT:
With his mouth set in a grim line, he waited.
If anyone else had enough nerve to presume she owed them an explanation, she would respond with a solid mind your own business. Instead, the seventeen-year-old still inside her refused to tell him to get lost. “He was hiding money in his office.” This was one of those times when learning how to wait a few beats before blurting out inflammatory information would come in handy. Each second of passing silence decreased her ability to breathe in the confined space. She turned the ignition and switched on the air conditioner.
“How do you know?” His volume just above a whisper, each dragged-out word hung in the air.
“I found it.”
“When were you in his office?” He swiped at a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face, then positioned a vent toward him.
“Last night.” When would she learn to bite her tongue? Finn’s switch from rapid-fire scolding to slow, deliberate questioning left her unable to swallow over the sandpaper lump in her throat.
“Where was Vic?”
She stared at the back of the building, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. “He’d left for the night.” If she averted her gaze, she could pretend his eyeballs weren’t bugging out of his head, and his jaw didn’t need a crane to haul it off his chest.
“You were at the town hall after hours? Did anyone see you?”
“A custodian opened his door for me.” She snuck a glance. Sure enough, features contorted in shock and horror replaced his boy-next-door good looks.
About the Author:
Jill Piscitello is a teacher, author, and an avid fan of multiple literary genres. Although she divides her reading hours among several books at a time, a lighthearted story offering an escape from the real world can always be found on her nightstand.
A native of New England, Jill lives with her family and three well-loved cats. When not planning lessons or reading and writing, she can be found spending time with her family, trying out new restaurants, traveling, and going on light hikes.
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