April is going to be a busy month. Not only is it National Poetry Month, but the last books of my science fiction trilogy, The Final View, is coming out on April 17. In hindsight, I should have released it later, but there is a reason for the date I chose.
On the Prime Reading front, if you are in the US, you can now read, The View from Here, for free with your Prime membership.
And finally, I came across this half-completed short story while I was deleting some unused folders on my hard drive. A 1/2 hour later it was ready to be shared. Enjoy!
New Short Story: The Grim Reaper
What happens to a writer when his characters become bored?
I woke up with the feeling I was being watched. I was. And I knew them all. Brenda, the maid who committed the murder; Joe, the unlikely superhero; Nathan, super-spy; the two astronauts I left stranded on Talax-B; and every incidental character I had ever created.
They looked mad.
I rubbed my eyes. “Umm… morning?”
Brenda had her arms crossed and was shaking her head. “We’re bored.”
“Bored?”
“Bored. You left us all out there with nothing to do.”
“Can’t you just go do stuff on your own?” I asked as I pushed myself upright.
They all began to laugh.
“You’re an idiot,” Nathan said as he pointed with his mangled hand.
“You’re selfish,” said the man in the paisley cape.
A helmeted figure loomed over me and said in a muffled voice, “You were just in it to sell books. You didn’t care about us at all.”
“That’s not true. I created you because I—”
I heard an angry voice from the back. “How much have you made on us?”
I thought about it. “About sixty bucks, I guess.”
A murmur floated up from the crowd.
“We are in limbo for sixty bucks?”
Another voice piped in, “You need to end us.”
I tucked a pillow behind my back. My grogginess was fading, and I realized that this wasn’t a dream. I addressed the madding crowd, “What? Kill you off?”
“Don’t be a barbarian,” Brenda scoffed. “Old age is fine for me.”
I looked over at the crowd. “You all want to end?”
I heard a chorus of agreement.
I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed the laptop. I opened it, and once it had booted up, I found each of the manuscripts and began to write.
Brenda, who had skillfully covered her tracks after she murdered her boss, aged gracefully and passed away in her sleep at the Willow Wisps Retirement Village. She spent her last days watching her stories on the telly, finally winning a game of eucher against that bitch, Francine, who always cheated until I wrote her not to. She died during a scrabble game with a pocket full of vowels.
Joe wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, so he saved the world by carrying an asteroid into the sun. “Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?” were his final words.
Nathan, who I never liked, died when his nemesis, Professor Falcon, poisoned his drink. Realizing I couldn’t leave the Professor in limbo either, he absentmindedly licked his fingers—his own, not Nathan’s.
The astronauts were getting impatient and kept pestering me, so their shoddily improvised biosphere mysteriously developed a slow leak.
I spent the rest of the day writing off all the other characters to their wishes. When I was done, I lit a cigarette and sat back, gazing around the now empty room.
There was a knock at my door. I went over and opened it to a sea of peop—no, characters—lined up at the steps and milling around on my manicured lawn.
A pirate with a parrot on his shoulder spoke first. “We heard that you can get us out of limbo.”
“Who told you that?” I asked.
“Nathan.”
That asshole.
The story behind Free Book Friday:
I’ve met many authors and readers during my time marketing, cross-promoting, and blogging. I think writers have a responsibility to inform readers about all the indie authors out there in the very crowded world of book publishing. You can’t do it alone, and why would you when you have a supportive group available?
Readers don’t just read one author – they stick with their favorite genres. There lies the power in cross-promotion. If one of my readers buys a book from an author I promote, then chances are there will be a reciprocal effect, or so is the hope. Do I want to boost sales? Of course I do. Do I want to boost other’s sales? Why not. It’s called karma.
Some free book offers require a newsletter sign-up, which is a small non-monetary price to pay to try out a new indie author.
Here are this week’s promos to check out:
Featured Authors
Kristen Illarmo is a young adult, science fiction author driven to write stories with strong female characters in the backdrop of crumbling societies.
She proudly calls New Orleans home, a fact that may only change if the perfect beach town reveals itself. When she’s not toiling to improve efficiency in local government in her day job, she’s writing about dark possible futures and thinking about the importance of the choices we make.
Get Behind the Red Door for free:
E.O. Connors
I’m a writer and travel photographer living in Connecticut. I have roamed five continents, circled the globe twice, raised a family, and burned more dinners than I can count.
My non-fiction writing addresses the absurd and profound in travel and daily life. Essays have appeared in Lowestoft Chronicle and The Furious Gazelle. I have bachelors degrees in English Literature and Art History from Rutgers University (B.A.) and a masters degree in Creative Writing and English Literature from Harvard University (ALM)
Get How to Ruin Your Day for free:
Reads From StoryOrigin and BookFunnel
StoryOrigin and BookFunnel allows authors to advertise their books to each other’s audience. I hope you have been able to discover a new favorite!
Free Books
Tired of finding sub-par books? Theses titles are all rated 4 and 5 stars!
Previous promos: Discover New Authors and Free Books.
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
Lines by Leon 