Read my short short story, Walking to School at my website www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd  excerpt below

The rain, which her mother said would hold off, didn’t. It came on an angle, striking her eight year old legs like a thousand little whips.

She looked desolate, a bundle of red trudging along the dirt road. Her long raincoat, two sizes too big, protected her brown skirt and jumper but not her shoes and socks as she squelched in the mud, avoiding the puddles appearing magically before her.

The car stopped: a black car with grey blinds at the little square-shaped windows. She especially noted the little fringes on the blinds. Even after the vehicle had stopped, the little fringes still danced.

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Download my novel, Crossroads at Isca, from www.smashwords.com

Set in Roman Britain, Crossroads at Isca is the story of two British girls whose lives are changed forever when they meet two young Roman tribunes from the great Roman fort on the plain.

Epilogue of a Romance

EPILOGUE OF A ROMANCE 

Narcissus

    Camellia

        Prunus 

Three flowers of spring

The Chinese said

symbols of new life

new beginnings. 

They ate plums

The deep wine fruit

Oozing upon the lips.

She carried daffodils

dripping with bridal creeper.

He wore a pink camellia

in his lapel. 

When winter struck

Baring the branches of the plum

He was living with a divorcee

in Joondalup.

She had gone home to mother. 

Laurel Lamperd

           
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www.barnesandnoble.com
When Detective Matt Allenby arrives in the hamlet of Taylors Crossing to investigate a murder, he expects it would be a straightforward case. Then he finds he is falling in love with one of his suspects.

Read Little Egypt, my short story on my website www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd

Two unscruplous men plan to trick Little Egypt, a girl from the suburbs. Excerpt below...

Hubble was always going on about the belly dancer who fleeced his granddaddy in Cairo when he was there with the Anzacs though there was some doubt whether his grandfather ever got to Gallipoli. I heard he'd stayed behind in the fleshpots of Cairo where he made the Hubble fortune even though the belly dancer, Little Egypt, managed to get her fingers into some of it.

I met Hubble at his favourite bar, well known for its high betting poker games that I'd discovered to my cost. I sat down opposite Hubble.

"Ready for another game of poker?" Hubble said with a snigger when I greeted him.

I shook my head and hid my nasty thoughts. "I've come about something else. I found a belly dancer for you, Hubble."

Hubble's eyes sparkled with expectation.

So there was something of his granddaddy still left in Hubble. "She's straight from the fleshpots of Cairo. Her name is Little Egypt."

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Download The Japanese Grandmother, short fiction & poetry
www.sonybooks.com

Calamty's Corner May

May Calamity's Corner is now available for free download from calam@live.com.au

 Calamity's Corner is a lighthearted monthly newsletter to interest readers, writers and movie buffs. So ask Calamity to be added to her emailing list.

But Calamity's Corner isn't all lightheartedness. Thriller writer, Carlo J Vella has written a story featuring photos and descriptions of the tragic silent village of Belchite, once a small vibrant town in Aragon, Spain, before Franco's Forces bombed the town in 1937. 5000 people were killed and buried in a mass grave. A lone cross marks the place.

You can join in Calamity's Corner by sending a review of a movie or a book, or a feature about your pet.


And more in this month's Calamity Corner.

On Burying a Husband  

Another funeral.

A well-lived fruitful life.

We sang hymns

To comfort my friend. 

But oh

The long long nights

I search for you

On the rim of memory

listening for a silenced voice

and footsteps that never come. 

The darkness swells and grows

The stillness deafens. 

Laurel Lamperd

www.kobobooks.com

A Collision of Characters... Three Authors combine to create an adventure in three parts.

Beware! When serial snapshots collide mid-fiction, the future will never be the same. Find out what happens as ...

Edith Parzefall, Francene Stanley and Rosalie Skinner combine forces... as two worlds collide.
Check here  for the first installment.

Interview With Thriller Author Diane Capri

Read the full article below, or click to read and comment over at Write It Sideways

Today’s post is written by Debra Eve.

What can you tell writers with families and day jobs about keeping the faith?

I often speak to groups of aspiring authors who worry that they’ll never “make it,” because the field is “too crowded” and they’re “not good enough” and it’s “too hard to get published.” I tell them the truth: Believe me, not everyone wants to write a book.

In fact, millions of people don’t even want to read a book, let alone write one. Yes, writing is a competitive business. What work of any value is not competitive? But I believe that desire is a gift; we don’t desire to do things we have no talent for; and if you have a desire to write, you have at least some talent for it.

I can easily prove this to you by demonstrating all the things I have absolutely no desire to do, and even less talent for. (Like football. Seriously? Not only do I throw like a girl, I can’t catch, either!) If you have the desire to write, you have talent, and it’s up to you to develop that talent.

There are so many platitudes out there about never giving up and perseverance. But they’re all true. You can’t succeed if you don’t try. Don’t get discouraged when you hear “overnight success” stories. Most of the time, overnight success takes at least ten years!

The best news in today’s market is that writers can self-publish and actually reach our readers, which gives us all so many more options than we had before. Almost every author I know is self-publishing something. (And I know a lot of authors!)

If you have the desire and you’re willing to do the work you can be a published author. No extraordinary faith required.

Japanese Grandmother Available from Kindle