A new short story collection about...death

In 2021, Amazon instituted a new author-to-reader platform called Kindle Vella. Based on the old serialized fiction series and books of the 1930s and 40s, Vella was a platform designed for authors to write serialized episodes of their latest fiction works and get them into the public eye without having to publish them the old-fashioned way - through print or ecopy.

I jumped on the Vella bandwagon a month after it started and I've never looked back. One of the nicest aspects of Vella is that once your story/book is completed, you can publish it through KDP if you want to broaden your audience.

I've had 6 books up on Vella at one time and I finally decided to take the plunge and put one of them into print. 

DEATH BETWEEN THE PAGES was released yesterday into the Kindle, KU, and print reading world.

A collection of short stories all centering on death, DEATH BETWEEN THE PAGES is not the usual romcom, feel-good-romance book I typically write. All the stories in the collection center around death, be it from murder, natural causes, accidents, or...something more sinister.

The stories were all written during a time in my life when serial killers and true crime stories occupied the bulk of my reading and television watching. Long before Netflix became a depository for documentaries about killers, I was an information junkie, soaking up everything I could about the likes of Bundie, Dahmer, Gacy, et al.

How I ever wound up a romance writer is a story for another day.... one filled with cosmos and chocolate.

DEATH BETWEEN THE PAGES is a fairly short read. Amazon has it listed under the category "2 hour reads." 

Here's the book blurb:

• A cheating husband.
• A group of widows.
• A priest.
• A landlady.
• A spider.
• What do they all have in common?

Death.

As mentioned, the collection is available in print or ecopy, and on KU. If you like twisted stories of the crazy things humans do to one another, this collection has your name on it.

And because we need to do this these days, there are a few triggers in the stories. Child abuse, spousal abuse, and cannibalism are all alluded to, but never specifically shown. No graphic sex or killing is shown, either. Amazon lists the book under the secondary category of psychological horror, but there's nothing in the stories that will keep you up nights or make it difficult for your to fall asleep.

Let's call it Stepehn King-lite. Very light. LOL

And just in case the trailer didn't copy so you can watch it, here's a link so you can: https://youtu.be/vcUBkjTowRg

DEATH BETWEEN THE PAGES released for #99cents for the ecopy - a price that anyone could take advantage of. Happy reading, peeps. ~ Peg

Peggy Jaeger is a romance author who pens stories about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can not live without them.

Follow her here: Link Tree

Freedom and Independence to Follow My Dreams

by Diana McCollum

(This first appeared as a blog on Windtree Press)

I live in a country the, USA, where I can enjoy the freedom and independence to follow my dreams.

My dream is to write and publish stories that I love for others to enjoy.

The job of writing is an independent job. I don’t have a ‘boss’ or a time clock or a paycheck! Once I sell a book to a publisher, I will have a boss, a deadline for revisions and a paycheck!

For now I am my own boss, which is fine with me. Except for the fact my boss is sometimes lax in cracking the whip and getting my butt in the chair and fingers on the keyboard.

My beginning art class

As an independent writer I can pursue writing courses, business courses and learning as much as I can about publicity from sites such as Canva. I can enjoy my other artistic pursuits which includes, but is not limited to, acrylic painting on canvas.

I am immensely thankful that I worked for a company who took care of their employees. Not only in the present day, but thinking ahead to the employee’s retirement. Because of the retirement investments of 22 years being employed by the same company, I am in a comfortable spot in life. Not wealthy, but not worried about finances. Comfortable.

When I retired from MCM Construction my husband and I were able to move to OR and take care of my mom. I started following  my dream of publishing books. I took classes. POV Author Services offers beginning and advanced writing classes, also classes on the business side of writing. I met with writer friends and went to conferences.

Then the pandemic hit and everything moved to online, Zoom ,or Facetime. I learned a whole other way of learning and visiting. Of course, no more meeting at the tea or coffee house with friends. Instead, once in a while we met in smaller groups on front porches or backyards.

Along the way I’ve found out a lot about myself. Writing does that for you. I encourage one and all to write in a journal. Every day, once a week, you choose. Believe me you will find out things about yourself you never knew.

Maybe you will find you have a story in you that is waiting to be put to paper, or typed into the computer. Ideas for stories can come from anywhere. Newspaper and magazine articles are a good source for ideas. Special events which happened in your own life or the life of someone you know. Or an interest in a certain subject. Or a picture of my old chair could surely stimulate the imagination.

With me it was paranormal, witches and magic.  My Pennsylvania grandmothers both had superstitions they lived by. Having lived their whole lives in PA, sometimes in PA Dutch country, and the superstitions abound in Dutch country.

One grandma believed to cure warts you only had to find a tree stump with rain water in it. On a full moon collect some of the stump water to douse your wart and it would kill it.

Both grandmothers and my mom believed things came in threes: death, accidents, good fortune, found money, etc.

There were lots of sayings about brooms. Jumping over a broom stick with your intended seals the marriage, a broom stick across the doorway keeps evil and bad luck out, a broom in the corner is for sweeping away bad juju. And on and on it goes.

My mother’s grandfather and her uncles made brooms. My mom and her sister had to take the straw to the creek and tie it in bundles and walk on it in the water to soften it for processing.

Listening to my mom and aunt talk about broom making got me thinking. Where do witches get their brooms? And so my first idea for a story was born. That specific story is yet to be written, although it is outlined. H-m-m? Maybe I’ll start that one next!

In the meantime, I do have a few books and short stories for you to enjoy.  For more information check out my website.

Happy Blog-O-Versary!!!! By Peggy Jeager

Wow, 10 years!! That's an amazing run in the blog-o-sphere! A heartfelt congratulations to the ROMANCING THE GENRES hosts for all the informative, fun, and worthwhile blog posts over this past decade.

So, I had to come up with something denoting "10" for this month...and you know what? It wasn't hard, heehee. Since this is a blog about writing, writers, and books, an idea popped into my head without any thought - and I lovelovelove when that happens because it's so rare.

I love a good top 10 list, but unlike Letterman, I don’t like going backward. Here, in no apparent or meaningful order, are my top 10 favorite books (who just so happen to have been written by my favorite authors.) The books I love to read are as eclectic and varied as the books I love to write!

The Little Engine That could – best book about self-motivation and self-actualization ever written.

Naked in Death – the first JD Robb book. 50+ books later the futuristic police procedural romance series is still at the height of its game.

Pride and Prejudice – This one needs no explanation!

Gone with the Wind – Dated for these times, I know,  but in its time it was a true masterpiece at explaining the once ( horrible) southern way of life.

Under the Banner of Heaven – A detailed look –through a modern murder mystery – of the origins of the Mormon Church. Fascinating and terrifying.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – Take a true crime story, add in a plethora of quirky characters and a setting almost as diverse as its occupants, and this book is a social treatise on American culture: Separate but equal is never truly separate or equal.

New York to Dallas – Another JD Robb story in which the heroine confronts her tortured past, kicks it in the ass, and moves forward with the love of Roarke by her side. This is my favorite in the entire In Death series and the only one without the IN DEATH tagline.

To Have and to Hold – The first book in Lauren Layne’s Wedding belles series. And the first time I was introduced to this amazing author.

Wife by Wednesday book 1 in the Weekday Bride series by Catherine Bybee – Just love a quirky woman in a powerful occupation and position.

The Bible – I mean, come on! It’s filled with love, murder, family drama, social mores and political intrigue. What more could you want??!!

DO you have a top ten list of books? I can truly admit that most of these books I've read more than once. Some, more than 3 or 4 times ( New York to Dallas). And yes, I know it's hard to name only 10!!!! Hee hee

Happy Anniversary, ROMANCING THE GENRES! I'm so happy to be here.

I've got a new Holiday Novella dropping on June 7.

SANTA BABY ( A Dickens Holiday Prequel - Dorrit's Diner) is a short, heartwarming story about a diner owner, a cop, and a baby abandoned on Christmas Eve. You can preorder it right now here: UniLink

It’s Christmas Eve morning in the tiny New England town of Dickens.

Santa’s arrival is imminent, and a hint of snow is in the air.

Amy Dorrit is just about to open her popular diner for the breakfast rush when she discovers an abandoned baby on her back doorstep.

Amy knows she should call the authorities and turn the infant over to them, but she just can’t. Thoughts of her own abandonment as a baby flood through her and she wants to keep the little one out of the hands of the authorities until the mother – hopefully –returns.

But will the mom come back? And if she doesn’t, what is Amy prepared to do about the baby who has, already, claimed her heart?

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Until next time, peeps ~ Peg