If you’re looking for the Midnight Garden virtual book tour, you’ve come to the right spot! I’m honored to be a contributing author to this outstanding anthology from Wordcrafter Press. Even cooler: I’m hosting fellow contributor Joseph Carrabis. Read on for the inspiration of his story “Striders,” and enjoy the reading of his flash fiction piece “The Last Drop.”
About Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow
17 authors bring you 21 magnificent dark tales. Stories of magic, monsters and mayhem. Tales of murder and madness which will make your skin crawl. These are the tales that explore your darkest Midnight Garden… if you dare.
Giveaway
Three lucky winners will receive a digital copy of Midnight Garden in a random drawing following the tour. All you have to do to enter is follow the tour and leave a comment at each stop that you visit.
If you miss a stop, you can go back and visit through the links in the schedule below. (Links won’t work until the stop goes live).
Schedule
- Monday – October 7 – M.J. Mallon: Interview & Reading from “The Seagull Man” – Writing to be Read
- Tuesday – October 8 – Danaeka Scrimshaw: Inspiration for “The Fae Game” & Denise Aparo: Reading from “Jack Moon & the Vanishing Book” – Roberta Writes
- Wednesday – October 9 – Joseph Carrabis: Reading of “The Last Drop” & Inspiration for “Striders” – Paul Martz
- Thursday – October 10 – Paul Martz: Reading & Inspiration for “The Blackest Ink” – Writing to be Read
- Friday – October 11 – Molly Ertel: Inspiration for “Antipenultimate” & Abe Margel: Inspiration for “My Balance” – Kyrosmagica
- Saturday – October 12 – Paul Kane: Inspiration for “Drip Feed” & Joseph Carrabis: Reading of “Grande Ture” – Undawnted
- Sunday – October 13 – DL Mullan: Reading from “Kurst” & Ell Rodman: Inspiration for “The Drummer” – BookPlaces
- Monday – October 14 – Joseph Carrabis: Reading of “The Exchange” & Inspiration for “The Tomb” – Writing to be Read
Inspiration for “Striders”, by Joseph Carrabis
Kaye Lynne Booth, the illustrious and glorious editor of many books, author of many more, …
Sound like a herald in a medieval court, don’t I?
Kaye asked the Midnight Garden authors to contribute either text or video for the Midnight Garden blog tour. Overachiever that I am, I said “Happy, glad to…” then wondered what I would contribute.
Ponder ponder ponder.
Walk dog. Ponder. Make dinner. Ponder. Do laundry. Ponder.
Bright idea. Rather dull, actually.
Another good idea. Meh.
A genuinely good idea!
Hope you’ll enjoy what I came up with.
***
Striders came out some time in the late 1990s as part of a “women’s arc.” I had several psychotherapeutic clients back then and my specialty was trauma – family, spousal, childhood, combat, …
The women’s arc consisted of three short stories; Striders, The Raping of Cyrynda Strong, and Rachel, Above the Clouds, While Flying. Each story dealt with women in crisis and are based on an amalgam of the people I worked with. Rachel and Cyrynda Strong, found homes, the former in 2023, the latter in 2018.
Striders is a story about spousal abuse and one woman’s solution to her problem. It is the most blatantly science-fictional piece of the three and the most fun to write of the three. Hope you enjoy.
Paul, you did a great job presenting Joseph’s works here. Thanks for hosting. 🙂
Thanks Kaye. You produced a quality anthology, and it has been a honor to be part of this project.
Good to see Joseph’s story and inspiration here on your blog Paul, sharing. 🙂
Two of five stories by Joseph here. If folks follow the tour, they can see inspiration and readings for the others, too. I find Joseph to be a truly amazing writer. Thanks for all your support, Marje. 🙂
My pleasure, sharing around where I can. It really is a fab anthology. 🙂