FREE PROMOTION! A Trio of Cat Tales!

Starting July 1st, A TRIO OF CAT TALES will be on a Free Kindle Download Promotion through July 4th on Amazon, Amazon UK and other Amazon outlets world wide.

Meet "S" ... a cat of intelligence and character who shares her feline insights and adventures through three delightful short stories . . .

What delighted readers are saying about A TRIO OF CAT TALES
 
"Ms. Cullen's writing is lyrical and touching, the rhythms and characters stick in your mind like a really good tune. I have the feeling she could write about tin cans and readers would come away with a sense of satisfaction and wonder ... Ms. Cullen's level of insight into the feline mind is almost scarey. I can't wait for Cullen's next trio."  ~ Mikey Mac, Amazon Reader


"...In some ways the art of the short story is becoming lost as people have so many more distractions put upon their time. It is wonderful to see an author putting out new stories that can be shared with young and old alike. This small volume can be read quickly and then passed to friends and family for years to come. I defy anyone with any experience with cats to read this and not smile and nod knowingly."  ~ Eric Wilt, Amazon Reader

"All the stories do that thing of both looking at all the things about cats that we find delightful and infuriating in equal measures, but looked at from a cat's eye view, so you get a skewed look at 'normal' life. A great sense of humour and I will definitely be reading that extra story to the children at Christmas."  ~ C.A.S. Blackfeather, Amazon UK Reader 

Check out these free audio samples . . .
 CLICK to listen to a selection from Chapter 1: The Story of S
 CLICK to listen to a selection from Chapter 3: S and the Cable Guy 

LIVE READING THIS SATURDAY!

Judy's Stories will be in the Proctor District of Tacoma this weekend!

Judy's Stories - North Tacoma
Saturday, June 29th at 3pm (60-90 minutes)
Mason United Methodist Church
2710 North Madison Street in the Proctor District

I'll have copies of my three published works and be reading selections from the "damn near released" A TRIO OF MY FATHER'S TALES including The Little Lord Fauntleroy Suit, Flying Down to Coeur d'Alene, and The  Skunk War.

To Listen to Audio Sample from Flying Down to Coeur d'Alene CLICK HERE
 (c)2013 by Judith Cullen

FEELING "FAINT" from the Drabble!

This week, Laurence Simon/Crap Mariner's 100 Word Story Weekly Challenge prompt word was "Faint." (Click on the link to listen to all the challenge contributions!)  I wasn't sure it was a word that would bring me anything.  Then I started writing anyway, as I needed to warm up to get some other writing done (I use haiku and drabble to shake my Writing Muse to wakefulness).  BOOM!  Some ideas from things I have been reading and watching took off.  Here's the result!

Faint

It’s a veggie-carb day on my menu cycle.  It’s self imposed and pretty successful so far. 

I want protein.  I am craving protein.  A hamburger, some barbeque pork, even some refried beans! Thoughts of fried chicken are mocking me.

“Nyah! Nyah!  You can’t have me!”

“Bullshit!  You just WAIT until tomorrow!”

Giggling triumphantly the chicken thoughts dance away, still teasing.

I refill my trusty water bottle. Take a deep breath. Oh God!  Someone’s firing up a barbeque!  Wafting scent of mesquite!  I run around madly shutting windows.

“Get away from me!”

The room starts to spin around.  Fade to black.

##

The Serial Faintress – a Series of Three 100 Word Stories

(with a small nod to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Peter Jackson)

***

Hearing the noise behind me, I turn quickly and gasp aloud. I am positively shocked at what I see.

Sherlock Holmes is standing smiling at me across my home office. Suddenly a gray mist swirls before my eyes, and when it clears he is bending over me, his flask in his hand. 

"My dear lady, I owe you a thousand apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected." 

“But why are you in Tacoma?”

Then it appears that I faint again for the second time in my life.

My head hits the floor with a dull thud.

***

I open my eyes again with a sharp intake of breath, and blink. 

I see a much younger face than the one I saw before. Dark, swirling hair frames the most remarkable pair of intense, changeable hazel eyes I have ever beheld.  I look puzzled.

Hello there!  They call me “Ben” but my actual name is “Benedict.”  Season 3 of my acclaimed Sherlock series is coming, and I am in the next Hobbit movie.  It’s going to be excellent.  You’re a fan?

The room starts to swirl around in a now familiar way. Everything gets dark, those eyes disappearing last.

***

Returning to consciousness, thinking how unreal this is, I shake my head to clear the haze.

Someone is still here.  Good Lord, won’t they leave me alone?

This one has a brooding forehead, furrowed brows, but somehow he is compelling, breathtakingly handsome.  His temple braids graze my cheeks.

“I am leading my kinsman to retake our homeland and reclaim the legacy of our fathers.  We travel to Erebor.  Have you seen Smaug the Terrible?”

I close my eyes, letting the fog roll back over me, and everything blinks out. 

There’s just no point in getting up until they go away. 

##

To Listen to Audio Recordings of these Stories CLICK HERE
by Judith Cullen (c)2013

As with all the audio downloads on this blog, this one is offered freely. I am an artist and fledgling indie author.  I only ask if you enjoy the files, you consider leaving something in the tip jar on the right hand margin.  Even $1 helps keep the stories coming!  

Visit oneadayuntilthedayidie.com to enjoy the podcast and the other contributors

COMING THIS WEEK:  

~ More Judy's Stories Live in the Proctor District ~ Saturday, June 29th at 3pm

~ More Samples from the soon-to-be-released (really!) A TRIO OF MY FATHER'S TALES

A NEW HAIKU CYCLE ...

by JT Perreault from Creative Commons

Stephanie Mesler's Haiku Throwdown this week was "Journey" which I have been pondering a lot. I figured like MORE THAN it would be five or six haikus in a cycle.  OOPS!  Guess I was wrong there.  This one took off and thirteen cycles later .... where has my mind been at lately, eh?

THE LARGER JOURNEY
(c) 2013 by Judith Cullen
 

looking at one step

that is the start of the path

the hesitation

where will this path lead?

is it like all the others

no two are alike

stepping off freely

the path is unknown to you

what will this one be?

a short, sharp journey?

a lesson timely and true?

friends joined for a time

short friends and paths

they provide the same insight

valuable now

not all paths are so

each purpose is different

short paths, long paths, all

long paths wander in

and out of your life’s landscape

always familiar

long paths give you place

a good sense of your bearings

never wandering far

there are the rare paths

lifetime long, straight, and constant

we search for those paths

hesitate no step

stepping is required of you

all paths are valid

each path brings something

each path has that which you need

do not pick and choose

step away, step on

let the world squish beneath you

squeezing through your toes

step away, step on

all paths await your treading

all are the journey

EXPLORING POTENTIAL ... Looking for the Next Step in Immersive Storytelling

Okay, I know it has only just stopped snowing in some parts of the U.S. and the world.  I have been working on some work samples for various endeavors, and created a video trying to express the concept behind The Dickens Project for a grant.  I am fascinated by the idea of creating interactive environments for presentations of live voice performances.  There is something about hearing a story told live, slightly imperfect, that is different from a recording or audio book.  To me, it feels more personal.  The Dickens Project in 2012 was a beta test that was just the beginning of where I think this approach can go.

Check the video out, and see if you see what I see - Click Here!

(Now, if we can just get people to want to use it as a service!)

In Honor of the Tony Awards . . . Trois Drabble!

So they are going to do it all over again . . . and we won't know till it is done whether we are emboldened or embarrassed to call ourselves "theater people" for yet another year.  Okay, we'll probably actually know before they finish the opening number.

I can't claim credit for thinking of writing these this particular week. My friend Laurence Simon of the 100 Word Stories Podcast chose the word prompt "stage" for his Weekly Challenge.  I have been using drabble (100 words exactly) and haiku as warm up exercises for my writing, and could not resist the prompt.

She tripped over the lip of it and fell flat on its aged wooden surface with a painful thwack! 

“What’s this?  Who put this here?” 

An ethereal voice came out of nowhere, “Welcome to a rarefied world where art and life collide.  Welcome to the great forum of thought and emotion.”  The voice raised in pitch, and intensity, “Welcome to the deep reality of emotions reflected with …” 

She interrupted impatiently, “Yes, yes, get on with it.  Where’s the ladies loo?” 

“Backstage left, and down the stairs to your right.  Push the handle twice, please, or it won’t flush properly.”

***

The veteran and the neophyte stand in the wings watching, and waiting. 

“Do you ever get nervous?” the young one asks. 

“Every time,” is the curt reply. 

“Really?” the young one croaks, hand shaking as he raises his water bottle and slurps, hoping to not botch his very first line out on the boards.  He twitches.  “But all those people, all those eyes watching you!”

The veteran turns a slow, patience gaze on the young one. He very softly, very deliberately whispers, “If you hit your marks and stand in your light, you will not see them. Do not look.”

***

Bette reached for the shiny statuette.  It was a local award, but it sparkled like a Tony.  As she sputtered out her humble gratitude, the past entered her mind.

It was a sunny, hot bee-buzzing July afternoon. She hid high amidst the fanning branches of the old backyard swing tree. Mamma and Auntie on the back porch sipping huge, foggy tumblers of supposed lemonade. 

“I wish I knew why Bette needs so much more attention than the other children.  She’s always performing!” her Mamma cried.

Her Aunt’s patient reply, “Don’t worry, dear.  It’s just the stage.  She’ll get over it.”

***

 

Text and Production (c) 2013 by Judith Cullen 

Click Here  to listen to these stories recorded for your enjoyment.  As always, the recordings are offered free, AND tips are welcome!

Click Here to check out the other submissions in this week's challenge on the 100 Word Stories Podcast!

The music snippets on the audio recording of my three stories are from Royalty Free Music.  The piece is called "Batty McFadden" composed by Kevin McLeod at incompetech.com.

COMING THIS WEEK:  A Trio of My Father's Tales on Kindle and in Paperback.

COMING THIS MONTH! "A Trio of My Father's Tales"

The Little Lord Fauntleroy Suit (Excerpt)

“What the Earl saw was a graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with love locks waving about the handsome, manly little face, whose eyes met his with a look of innocent good-fellowship.” (Little Lord Fauntleroy)

***

"Kevin hated it.  He really hated it.  It was bad enough being seven years old.  It was bad enough that his family were struggling, working class Irish immigrants.  It was bad enough that he had the male trademark family ears, which where on the large side and stood out from his head.  These things he might have handled with all the random deftness of his seven years.  What young Kevin Cooney really could not manage was the damned suit. If his mother had not sewn it for him with her own hands, he would not have worn it at all.  But in 1898 all Kevin knew was that the suit was important to his mother, and it was absolute torture to wear it."  

(c) 2013 by Judith Cullen

Listen to an audio sample from a different part of this story by Clicking Here 

A Trio of My Father's Tales is my tribute to Fathers, containing three stories based on several family tales we used to begged my Dad to repeat over and over again around the kitchen table: "The Little Lord Fauntleroy Suit", "Flying Down to Cour D'Alene", and "The Skunk War." 

Available soon on Kindle and in Paperback through Amazon.

See tabs above for other titles currently available, and for live reading sessions by the author.