PREVIEW! Wednesday, September 10th at 7pm

I'll be presenting selections from this new collection live in Second Life (c) and streaming online Wednesday evening.

Check back for more details on the streamed session, or check out the Judy's Stories Live tab to make sure your media player is set up for streaming audio.

"Some journeys are measured in city blocks, and some can only be measured by how they change your life."

In The Unexpected Path, little seven year old Ann thinks she knows best and takes an alternate route to travel the block and a half to school in the middle of a harsh mid-western winter. It all goes well, until she gets stuck in the snow.

In The Empire Builder, a young woman leaves her home and family to journey to a University thousands of miles away.  Taking the train from Seattle to Chicago, and then on to central Indiana, she has three days on her own to contemplate this decision to cross half a continent.

In Lawrence Street, a street that was once traveled every single day is revisited 40 years later - "Things are the same on Lawrence Street, but they are different too.  The bones of familiarity are there, clear and comforting, but sometimes dressed in garments that do not seem as familiar.

Coming soon to Amazon for Kindle, and in Paperback.

LIVE ONLINE ~ Tuesday, July 22nd at 7pm Pacific!

Selections from MIRACLES: A TRIO OF ISLAND TALES Presented Live in Second Life (c) and on Stream.

I'll be sharing two of the three tales in this collections live online.  The session begins at 7pm Pacific time.  CLICK HERE beginning at 6:50pm to access the stream. Please note: you may need to make sure certain plug ins are equipped to listen to streamed media on your computer.  Check  the "Judy's Stories -  Live!" tab for some links that may assist you.

FIVE STARS for MIRACLES: A TRIO OF ISLAND TALES

"These three tales bring me in and make me one with the Pacific Islanders in the kingdom of Tonga. The stories of peace and faith are uplifting and inspiring. A pure joy to read!"  ~ Reader Review

Available in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

THREE for SUNDAY Preview!

I'll previewing Miracles: A Trio of Island Tales this Sunday, June 15th a three different times (all Pacific time).

10am at the Seanchai Library on the Kitely Grid, and streamed live online.

Noon at DNA Arts & Music in Second Life, and streamed live online (this will be a mix of the book and some other essays).

4pm at Poesy on the Kitely Grid as guest of Freda Frostbite, and streamed live online.

Here's an excerpt from the Introduction to the story collection:

"My Christian friends and colleagues might be critical that I do not push a specifically Christian agenda (with these stories).  I most emphatically do not.  That has nothing to do with my own beliefs, and everything to do with my understanding of the nature of faith.  It is something that can be neither dictated nor legislated – you cannot make someone believe as you do.  Earnest belief must come from within, completely genuine and totally heartfelt.

"Belief is woven into all three stories in 'Miracles: A Trio of Island Tales.'  These stories are fictionalizations of Tongan history and family stories shared by my collaborator, Ilaisaane Filikitonga Tome.  She is a native born Tongan: an amazing Polynesian kingdom in the South Pacific known for the friendliness of its people, an exceptionally high literacy rate, and for devoutly faithful Christians. The power of her stories is moving and undeniable.  You may or may not share her belief system, and that does not really matter.  It is hard to hear her stories and not recognize the essential power of them."

CLICK HERE to go to the instruction tab about live streams.  Do not wait till the last minute!  Trust me.  The information on this site is not all inclusive of all the possibilities of every operating system or media software. Each session will be roughly an hour long, and will be simultaneously live in these virtual worlds to audiences there, and live on my stream.

Fell free to share your applause, comments, virtual snapshots etc here or on facebook or on Google + (Judy Cullen).

PREVIEW of MIRACLES: A TRIO OF ISLAND TALES live Sunday!

Sunday, June 15th at 10am Pacific, I'll be reading from this collection which will release come hell-or-high-water this month.

If you are a metaverse traveler, I will be live in voice in #kitely.  You can drop into the Seanchai Library homeworld (http://www.kitely.com/search?q=seanchai) and click on the volcano panel in the main landing zone to take you to the story site. 

I have also been asked to present from my works at Noon that same day in #secondlife at DNA Arts - contact myself (Caledonia Skytower) or Luna Branwen to get the location. I may or may not be reading from this collection, but I will be reading from my original works.

For those of you who are determinedly corporeal, I'll also be streaming BOTH sessions live online.  So you can tune in and listen to "Radio Judy" which will either add to the serenity or the hilarity of your Sunday.

To get info for listening via my stream, Click Here

Be sure and check out my first ever book trailer/teaser !

'TIS THE SEASON TO STREAM!

With one book in review and one about to release, it is time to share previews of the newest story collections! I will be streaming live not once, not twice, but FOUR times in the next week.

On Wednesday, March 12th at 7pm Pacific, I will be sharing selections from A YEAR IN TULFARRIS by friend Caitlin Walsh with excellent photos by her husband, Alfred Hellstern.  Cait and her family celebrate Saint Patrick's Day in Ireland, enjoying the delights of March on the Emerald Isle.

I will be streaming selections from  A TRIO OF IRISH TALES II, at two different times this week Check out the Judy's Stories Live! tab for dates, times, and how to access the stream from YOUR computer.

What adventures await in A TRIO OF IRISH TALES II ?

Two Houses - a newlywed couple on their honeymoon in Ireland discover a mystery: two houses incredibly alike but one thrives while the other is in ruins.  They are drawn to and connected with this very Irish puzzle in a way they could not have foreseen.

The Fairy Tree - Young Liam is back! (from The Shadow by the Gate) Armed with a new sense of belief in the unseen, he confidently goes back into the Wicklow countryside and discovers the power and the danger of getting what you wished for.

A Rock Beyond - Patrick is always left behind, or so it seems.  Eager to prove himself, he vows to spend the night at Teach Duinn, the gathering place of the dead on the most western crag of Irish soil.  What will Pat find beneath the rocks, among the waves, and beneath the cliffs?  Will he find himself?  Or perhaps he'll discover more than he bargained for!

Tune in and check out these emerging adventures!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol 

PART ONE ~
Monday, December 23rd at 4:00pm, & 9:00pm Pacific 
(NOTE:  The 9:00pm session is by special request an on strem only. I will have the system up and running at that time.  If you log in after 9:10pm and there is nothing running, it will mean those who requested the reading were not able to log in.  Apologies in advance if that inconvenience occurs)

PART TWO ~
Tuesday, December 24th at 4:00pm Pacific

IMPORTANT NOTE . . . In order to be able to listen on your computer or device, you may need to use an enabling application. Don't wait till story time!: CLICK HERE for links to helpful sites to make certain you are able to listen to streaming audio on your computer

 . . . CLICK HERE to be connected to the Shoutcast stream, which will go live 10 minutes before the posted start time.  

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!

Available in Paperback just in time to fill your last minute gift-giving nooks and crannies. Click Here to go directly to the Amazon page

Short Story Author Judith Cullen presents a collection of collections!  All of the Trio Tales series of fiction monographs published in 2013 (Irish Tales, Cat Tales, and My Father’s Tales), plus additional short stories.

Visit the clueless, techno-savvy teenager from The Shadow by the Gate; experience the horrors of moving from a cat’s perspective in Travels with S; and be amused at a military convoy missing the mark in Flying Down to Coeur D’Alene.  Add to that the sensual delight of a toddler experiencing the world around him in Walking to the Music, and the award-winning ghost story Her Own Words in the additional material.

BEGGAR'S DAY Live Online, Wednesday at 7:00pm!

Friend, and fellow Indie Author, MJ McGalliard published his debut adventure Beggar's Day Book One: The Beggar Prince two years ago in kindle format.  Now, with Book Two on the way, I'm helping him celebrate the release of Book One in paperback, just in time for the holidays!

Join me as I simul-stream the beginning of the adventure in both Second Life, and streamed online, Wednesday, December 4th at 7:00pm Pacific.

IMPORTANT NOTE . . . In order to be able to listen on your computer or device, you may need to use an enabling application. Don't wait till story time!: CLICK HERE for links to helpful sites to make certain you are able to listen to streaming audio on your computer

 . . . CLICK HERE to be connected to the Shoutcast stream, which will go live 10 minutes before the posted start time.

COMING IN DECEMBER . . . A Christmas Carol Live!

Have you ever heard Charles Dickens' classic in its entirety? . . . no dialogue excerpts, no rewrites, no commercial breaks?  Probably not. It takes about 3 hours and 20 minutes in total.  I know, I have presented it in live readings every year since 2009.  I usually present it in two (roughly) 90 minute sessions. This year, in addition to offering it in Second Life, I will be streaming it in live sessions in the days before the holiday itself.

Think of it!  The immediacy of a live reading in the comfort of your own home.  You don't have to make me tea, make sure I have a place to park, or worry that I'll be offended if you have to nip into the next room to shift the laundry.  You can tune in on your computer just like you would a radio and listen in while you deck your halls, wrap presents, finish your cards, or just sit back with the favorite holiday beverage or snack of your choice. You might even share it with your holiday guests!

Help me by taking my poll in the right margin, and let me know what time you might be most likely to listen in. It will help me decide how to program my time.  Then check back here after December 15th ti-o check the performance time(s).

The session will be offered freely, I have no resources to make it otherwise.  I am an artist, author, and performer trying against all odds to make ends meet.  If you enjoy the performance, I hope you will consider a tip into the donation button on  my page.  Every little bit helps keep the stories coming, and a roof over my head.

Happy Holidays, and Blessing to you and yours where ever you may be.

CELEBRATING VETERANS DAY! Monday, November 11th at Noon

Korean War Memorial from Wikimedia - photo by Lounger1963

"It was a simple trip over the mountains, if 'simple' can be considered an apt description for any military convoy.  During wartime, convoys are well organized groups of ships or motor vehicles traveling together for mutual support, often with armed defense support from aircraft.  There was a war being fought, but the convoy was stateside, not in Suwon or Wonju.  The Korean War raged miles away across the Pacific Ocean, but the only adversary this convoy was trying to navigate around was civilian taxpayers."  

~ Flying Down to Couer D'Alene

Celebrate Veterans on November 11th with two stories of life in "this man's Army" from the Korean War. I'll be streaming two of the stories live online from A Trio of My Father's Tales  - Flying Down to Couer D'Alene and The Skunk War.  Honor the commitment that our men and women in arms have made for centuries with stories that will make you smile, as well as remember.

IMPORTANT NOTE . . . In order to be able to listen on your computer or device, you may need to use an enabling application. Don't wait till story time!: CLICK HERE for links to helpful sites to make certain you are able to listen to streaming audio on your computer

 . . . CLICK HERE to be connected to the Shoutcast stream, which will go live 10 minutes before the posted start time.

Tips/donations for making these sessions possible are gratefully accepted.(see the donation button in the right hand margin)

WE PLACED! HUZZAH!

 Thanks to everyone who read and supported Her Own Words, this year's ghost story.  It was on two contests and placed in author Lissa Bryan's Ghostwriter Ghost Story Contest!  This is the first writing contest I have entered since I entered a DAR Essay competition in Junior High School, so this was a fun experience for me.

Visit her Contest Blog to enjoy the winning entry and the other submitted story entries.

This month will be a month filled with little bits and bobs.  Miracles: A Trio of Island Tales is due to be completed, plus the assembly of an anthology of this year's stories which will be available in paperback in early December. It will include all of this year's Trio Tales plus some bonus stories and a few poems. If you have enjoyed this year's stories, and have readers of such fiction on your holiday to-buy-for list, this just might be the thing for them.

I'll be celebrating Veteran's Day by reading from A Trio of My Father's Tales live on stream, November 11th.  Stay tuned for more on that and other live sessions.

Also stay tuned here for updates on The Dickens Project - Tacoma: a  simul-presentation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol in Second Life(c) and before a live audience in my hometown of Tacoma, WA. More information may be found on that by Clicking Here!

Happy November!  And don't forget to be thankful!

HALLOWEEN STORIES ONLINE!

Seems I write one spooky story a year specifically for Halloween.  I love Halloween!  Always have.  It started out as amber-tinged remembrances of magical Octobers when I was a small child.  It became about Disney's Fantasia, oddly enough, and there are still parts of that movie's soundtrack that I associate with this time of year, and always play - Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony for one.

"Boo" as Pooh, waiting for his first treating

Later it became about being on the giving end of the treat train as my young nephew Brandon entered the world of costumes, and the fashionably acceptable wearing of the color orange. "Aunt Dede" spent a delight-filled decade mimicking Brandon's Mom's waaaaay cool Halloween doorbell: "bong, BONG, bong-bong Mwwwwahahahahahaaa!"

Now, Halloween is about stories.  ALL about stories. On Halloween I will be doing two sessions in Second Life, and a special online live streaming of my own stories at Noon Pacific.

Ever been haunted by your own words?  What if you were haunted by them literally?  A woman is pursued by words she wrote over 30 years ago, and struggles with how to end being haunted by HER OWN WORDS.   

Love can hurt.  Especially if it is a sweet first romance.  But what hurts more is falling off a cliff.  Find out how a young Irish girl has an encounter with a legendary Irish haunt, and finds the strength to return to her life with a new perspective from IN THE MISTS. 

UPDATE! More Stories. . .
 By request, I will be reading selections from Bram Stoker's Classic DRACULA beginning at 5:30pm Pacific on Halloween!

IMPORTANT NOTE . . . In order to be able to listen on your computer or device, you may need to use an enabling application. Don't wait till story time!: CLICK HERE for links to helpful sites to make certain you are able to listen to streaming audio on your computer

 . . . CLICK HERE to be connected to the Shoutcast stream, which will go live 10 minutes before the posted start time.

Tips/donations for making these sessions possible are gratefully accepted.(see the donation button in the right hand margin)

HER OWN WORDS ~ Encore Live Online, Wednesday 10.23 @ 3pm Pacific

I'll be presenting an encore reading this story Wednesday, October 23rd live in Second Life (c) at 3pm Pacific Time at the Burn 2 Literary Camp AND also live, streaming on the web . . . CLICK HERE to be connected to the Shoutcast stream, which will go live 10 minutes before the posted start time.

Ever been haunted by your own words?  What if you were haunted by them literally?  A woman is pursued by words she wrote over 30 years ago, and struggles with how to end being haunted by HER OWN WORDS.  

IMPORTANT NOTE . . . In order to be able to listen on your computer or device, you may need to use an enabling application. Don't wait till story time!: CLICK HERE for links to helpful sites to make certain you are able to listen to streaming audio on your computer


This story is entered along with 11 others as part of author Lissa Bryan's Online Ghost Story Competition.  You can visit the "Ghostwriter" Ghost Story Contest Blog and vote for HER OWN WORDS, or any of the other submissions.  The winning story will be announced on Halloween!

Stories streamed on the internet are free.  Tips/donations for making these sessions possible are gratefully accepted.(see the donation button in the right hand margin)

TUESDAY at 7PM Pacific Time - A New Ghost Story: HER OWN WORDS

I wanted to try and write a different kind of ghost story.  One without rattling chains or glowing spectral figures.  Just words.  Words can have tremendous power all by themselves.  Words can change lives.

Ever been haunted by your own words?  What if you were haunted by them literally?  A woman is pursued by words she wrote over 30 years ago, and struggles with how to end being haunted by HER OWN WORDS. 

I'll be reading this story Tuesday Night  live in Second Life (c) at the Seanchai Library at 7pm Pacific Time http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imagination%20Island/46/211/28 

And also live, streaming on the web . . . CLICK HERE to be connected to the Shoutcast stream, which will go live 10 minutes before start time.

IMPORTANT NOTE . . . In order to be able to listen on your computer or device, you may need to use an enabling application. Don't wait till story time!: CLICK HERE for links to helpful sites to make certain you are able to listen to streaming audio on your computer


 Readings in Second Life (c) are offered free to all residents with the invitation show their appreciation, if they desire it, by joining the Seanchai Library Staff in supporting their featured charity.  Stories streamed on the internet are likewise free, and tips to the Seanchai Library charity, or to the Storyteller (donation button in the right hand margin) are gratefully accepted.

Starting October 16th, this story will be part of author Lissa Bryan's Online Ghost Story Competition.  You can visit the "Ghostwriter" Ghost Story Contest Blog and vote for HER OWN WORDS if you like, or any of the other submissions.  The winning story will be announced on Halloween!

BIT O' POE - Wednesday Night, October 9th at 7pm Pacific Time

It's the month of October, one of the BIG THREE greatest months for stories in the year. What would this month of spooky stories be without offerings from the Master of the Macabre himself?  Mr. Edgar Allan Poe.

I'll be sharing selections from his lesser known poems and stories including El Dorado, The Valley of Unrest, Hop-Frog, and more. Ravens optional., live in Second Life (c) at the Seanchai Library at 7pm Pacific Time http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imagination%20Island/46/211/28 

And also live in streaming on the web . . . CLICK HERE to be connected to the Shoutcast stream, which will go live 10 minutes before start time.

IMPORTANT NOTE . . . In order to be able to listen on your computer or device, you may need to use one of the following applications. Don't wait till story time!:

• iTunes - here's some help with how
• Quick Time Player - here's some help with how
• Windows Media Player - here's some help with Media Player 11 for Windows XP (NOT all versions do this, so check yours out, don't assume!)

Readings in Second Life (c) are offered free to all residents with the invitation show their appreciation, if they deisire it, by joining the Seanchai Library Staff in supporting their featured charity.  Stories streamed on the internet are likewise free, and tips to the Seanchai Library charity, or to the Storyteller (donation button in the right hand margin) are gratefully accepted.

PESKY POOKA NIGHT!

"Two great tastes that taste great together" applies to more than Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!

Tonight I'll combine two great tastes: The essay "Russborough and Rathbally" from Cailtilin Walsh & Alfred Hellstern's A YEAR IN TULFARRIS with my own "The Shadow by the Gate" from  A TRIO OF IRISH TALES.  Both relate to County Wicklow, Ireland around the Poulaphouca Reservoire.

"Poulaphouca" translates as "The Pookas's Hole."

I'll be sharing these, and possibly others, live in Second Life (c) at the Seanchai Library at 7pm Pacific Time http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imagination%20Island/46/211/28 

And also live in streaming on the web . . . CLICK HERE to be connected to the Shoutcast stream, which will go live 10 minutes before start time.

IMPORTANT NOTE . . . In order to be able to listen on your computer or device, you may need to use one of the following applications. Don't wait till show time!:

• iTunes - here's some help with how
• Quick Time Player - here's some help with how
• Windows Media Player - here's some help with Media Player 11 for Windows XP (NOT all versions do this, so check yours out, don't assume!)