Hidden Magic Anthology from Magical Mayhem Press

If you’re looking for fantasy short stories from lots of different authors, check out the Hidden Magic Anthology from Magical Mayhem Press! There’s also a giveaway you can sign up for here (for a chance to win a paperback copy of the book, or here for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Synopsis:

No matter the world, life can be dangerous. Be they wizards and shamans, assassins, or everyday people, Hidden Magic tells their stories about escape, consequences, and most of all, magic. From Earth cities and fantastical new worlds comes twenty-three stories where heroes grapple with the seen and unseen in order to save themselves, their families, and often the world. This collection features: Elderly antiques experts interacting with souls Shamans growing outlawed magic Baby chimeras battling for their lives Children sprouting fluffy tails A king’s boat thrown off-course A perfect life coming at a not-so-perfect cost Vikings defending a village against the unseen A lone shifter atoning for his past mistakes Trolls and pixies tumbling through the doorway to another world And more!

Authors in this anthology include: USA Today Bestseller Joynell Schultz, L.C. Ireland, USA Today Bestseller Melinda Kucsera, Seattle Times regional bestseller & multi-international award winner Raven Oak, Tiffany Shand, Alesha Escobar, USA Today Bestseller Lee French & Erik Kort, H.B. Lyne, Anela Deen, Majanka Verstraete, Krista Ames, C.K. Rieke, Devorah Fox, Leah W. Van Dinther, C.S. Johnson, Barbara Letson, Toasha Jiordano, Gwendolyn Woodschild, H.M. Jones, Stephen Wallace, AR Johnston, and William C. Cronk.

"Mail Order Witch"

It didn’t take long for the word of an enchanted item shop to spread throughout Watersedge like a fire in a used bookstore. Gawkers walked slowly by the front window during the month it took me to enchant supplies and set up the shop, staring inside like I was on display at a zoo. What kind of animal did they think I looked like? A flamingo with my long legs and too-short body? A black panther with my dark hair? Or maybe I looked like a pig—I mean I could devour the aforementioned pumpkin pie almost as quickly as my sister.

Or was I just a perfect specimen of a witch, with the natural blue highlights in my hair that I refused to cover like so many witches did?

Links:

Website: Magical Mayhem Press

Goodreads: Hidden Magic

Hidden Magic is also on Kindle Unlimited!

Hope by Terry Tyler

I’ve known Terry Tyler on Twitter for years, and she’s always been a sharp commentator and an interesting writer. Terry’s new book, Hope, is her nineteenth published work. It’s a psychological thriller set in a dystopian nearfuture – the UK, Year 2028. Check it out! Also, don’t forget to sign up for her Rafflecopter giveaway!

Synopsis

Blogger Lita Stone and journalist Nick Freer live and work online, seeing life through

soundbites, news TV and social media. Keeping the outside world at bay in their cozy flat,

they observe the ruthless activities of the new PM and his celebrity fitness guru wife, Mona

(hashtag MoMo), with the mild outrage that can be quelled simply by writing another blog

post.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, multinational conglomerate Nutricorp is busy buying up

supermarket chains, controlling the media, and financing the new compounds for the

homeless: the Hope Villages.

Lita and Nick suspect little of the danger that awaits the unfortunate, until the outside world

catches up with them – and Lita is forced to discover a strength she never knew she

possessed.

Find Hope on Amazon!

Excerpt

MoMo's gift to the nation, as the festive season draws near, is her campaign to help the long-term unemployed.  Today she sits on the Afternoon Tea sofa, her brilliant white smile so broad that the cameramen must have had to dust off their wide-angle lenses.

"I am fully committed to getting Britain fit for work!" she declares, and presenter Gavin joins her in a high five.

Enter stage left: The Unemployed.

A graduate who hasn't worked since leaving university a year ago and has spent the last twelve months lounging on the sofa eating Ben and Jerry's.

Three thirty-something factory/warehouse workers whose jobs have been taken over by robots and have spent the last twelve months lounging on the sofa, etc.

The token Older Person: a man of fifty-five who admits that long-term unemployment has driven him to drink.

All five are clad in sweatpants and baggy t-shirts bearing the slogan #FitForWork.  A MoJo fitness coach puts them through their low-impact aerobic paces at the back of the stage, while our friendly First Lady tells Gavin about the #FitForWork scheme taking place at MoJo centres throughout the land.

The unemployed get the first three sessions free, after which they can take part at a reduced rate.

"So she's not making money out of the poor under the guise of actually giving a crap, then," says Nick, then heaves himself off the couch and mooches back to his room in disgust.

I stay and watch, in revolted fascination.

"And don't forget," says presenter Gavin, "if you're out of work and hoping to receive benefits, demonstrating your commitment to get fit for work will add great weight to your claim―no pun intended!"

It gets better.  After you've attended ten classes you get a free #FitForWork t-shirt.  Wow! I mean, just wow.  I'd rather go for a run three times a week and buy my own clothes, but, of course, that wouldn't 'demonstrate my commitment'.  

Yes, Gavin, we understand.

Your prize for attending twenty sessions is a #FitForWork sports kit bag.  I'm on the website now, by the way; oh, and the next bit is a beauty. Fifty sessions earn you a #FitForWork duvet and pillow case set.  Presumably because if you've been unemployed for long enough to get them, it's unlikely you'll ever get a job and you may as well stay in bed.

Find Author Terry Tyler on her blog!

About the Author

Terry Tyler is the author of nineteen books available from Amazon, the latest being ‘Hope’, a dystopian, psychological drama set in the UK, a decade into the future. She is currently at work on ‘Blackthorn’, a post-apocalyptic stand-alone story set in her fictional city of the same name. Proud to be independently published, Terry is an avid reader and book reviewer, and a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.

Terry is a Walking Dead addict, and has a great interest in history (particularly 14th-17th century), and sociological/cultural/anthropological stuff, generally. She loves South Park, Netflix, autumn and winter, and going for long walks in quiet places where there are lots of trees. She lives in the north east of England with her husband.

Find Terry on:

Twitter: @TerryTyler4

Goodreads

Bookbub

If you’re interested in more of my writing or my book recommendations, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter!

Guest Post on Reads and Reels, an Author Interview on Altered Instinct, and a Giveaway!

This has been a busy month, but I’m really happy that I managed to write as much as I did (with the kids on summer vacation, no less!). In particular, I’m really proud of the guest post I wrote for Reads and Reels on “Religious Allegory in Netflix’s I Am Mother.” I watched the movie with my husband, and like the best type of scifi, it really stayed with me. I was turning it over and over in my head, trying to figure it out and find more meaning. I found I had to write about it to help myself understand it on a deeper level. So watch the movie, then read the review and let me know what you think!

Netflix’s “I Am Mother” is a thought-provoking science fiction thriller about AI and the human survival after an apocalypse. It’s a tense movie, full of uncomfortable juxtapositions and difficult questions about AI, our relationship to technology, and perhaps about the nature of Mother-Daughter relationships everywhere. What’s more, on a closer look, it offers haunting religious imagery and a disturbing allegory.

I’m also happy that I was able to do an interview with a blogger and writer I really respect, Leo McBride from Altered Instincts! Check it out, and while you’re there scoop out Altered Instincts, which is a really interesting blog about scifi and fantasy. In fact, he may not remember, but one of my first ever reviews was on Altered Instincts, for my short story “Earth is for Earthers” which first appeared in Red Sun Magazine and is now also in my book Sapience! So double thanks, Leo!

Twitter is a wonderful place. Okay, okay, it can get a little crazy at times. But it's through Twitter that I met Alexis Lantgen. She's a science fiction and fantasy writer of short stories - so she's kind of following the same path as me.

I’m also happy to announce that I’m running an Amazon giveaway for my newest book, Saints and Curses! Sign up for a chance to win a free book! It’s going until July 4th, so hurry!

My books are also listed on the Book of the Day website now! Here’s the links for Sapience and Saints and Curses.

Thank you for reading, and remember, if you like my books or my writing, sign up for my newsletter below!