"My Calliope" - An Original Short Story

A new, original short story based on a wee visitor who came whizzing into my office a few evenings ago.  Yes, yes ... I have replaced the window screen.  It was a great opportunity to wash the windows.

My Calliope by Judith Cullen
(c) Copyright 2012

CLICK HERE to enjoy! (Updated Audio!)

AND Part Three of Mj McGalliard's BEGGAR'S DAY is up on YOU Tube.  CLICK HERE.

BEGGAR'S DAY - Part 2 is up on YOU Tube!

More joy from MJ McGalliard's first novel Beggar's Day, Book One: The Beggar Prince.
We had a great time last night!

CLICK HERE to hear the selection from Monday, June 4, 2012

CLICK HERE to learn more about the author and his book!




FForward to 5:45 to skip the embarassingly "ummm" filled event introduction (I REALLY must script that!) and get right to the story. Remember: It was Live!

GREAT NEWS! More Books!

I have been working with author Rae Lori in the virtual world for a couple of years now, and we have spoken of doing an audio book of one of her novels that I have done a lot: A Kiss of Ashen Twilight.  Today, we finally talked about it in concrete terms, and it seems the time is right for us to make this shared dream become a reality! 

We will also be doing several short stories of hers, and I will have the links posted here as soon as they are ready for public consumption.  Rae does a very wide selection of work, much in the fantasy genre.  CLICK HERE to learn more about Rae's work at her website.

A Kiss of Ashen Twilight is part of a series by the same name that explores a world of immortal beings walking among us: Vampires, Lycans, and Shifter-Elves.  The adventures include events happening in current times, and flash-backs to centuries-old experiences of these individuals, as we begin to understand the relevent events in their long lives that are coming to fruition now, in the present.

We did some sample tracks last summer, when we first explored this idea.  CLICK HERE to listen to this selection from the Prologue of A Kiss of Ashen Twilight.

BEGGAR'S DAY - Part 1 on YOU Tube!

Good Friend MJ McGalliard e-published his first novel Beggar's Day in November.  You know how it is when a friend writes a book? ..."Oh wow!  That's great ..."  Then I read it!  What delightful fun!

MJ agreed to let me read Beggar's Day in the virtual world, and we even made an avatar so he could come in and hear it himself!  With his permission, we have recorded it and posted it on the Seanchai Library's YOU Tube Channel.  It is a live performance, so as a piece of video or a strictly audio track, it has many imperfections.  You'll hear me laugh, react to things and even greet people arriving ... things that you cannot see on the screen.  That's the joy of live performance!

CLICK HERE to go to the Seanchai Library's YOU Tube page and listen in!

CLICK HERE to go to MJ's Beggar's Day site and learn more about the author and the the book!

CLICK HERE to go to the Seanchai Library (a virtual Library in Second Life) blog page and see the schedule for Beggar's Day and other literary presentations.

"Oak of Culleen: The Legend of the Bile Rath ~ by Judy Cullen

The "Bile Rath" (or "Bile Ratha") is the legendary Tree of Life, or Sacred tree in Celtic Mythology.  From a more practical point of view, the large forests of Ancient Ireland were often victims of warfare, burned to the ground as a part of seiges.  Often , the one or two trees remaining after such a conflagration were considered sacred from that time forward.

This is an original short story, written by me in honor of World Storytelling Day 2012, whose theme was "Trees." It has the lore of the Bale Rath, interwoven with bit of my own family history, and themes of death and rebirth that have been much on my mind these days.

(c) Copyright 2012, Judith Cullen

CLICK HERE to listen!  (Unedited Track - Minimal Processing)

Interested in other short stories I have written?  Click Here and enjoy a few of them.

"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen

There is something about reading classic authors like Jane Austen.  It lets you savor the language like so many delicious courses in a fine meal.  Austen's characters are so rich, and her stories so strong.  I also like that her ladies are never cardboard ladies in distress.

There have been some excellent screen (large and small) adaotations of Austen, though Emma Thompson's screenplay of this book for the 1995 film remains one of my favorites.

A Selection from Chapter 16.

CLICK HERE to listen! (Unedited Track - Minimal Processing)

"OR State Highway 20" a Short Story by Judy Cullen

Yaquina Head, Newport OR

A little musing piece of mine about a drive to the Oregon Coast and the nature of vacations, of "letting go" and simply being.  A little trademark personal humor as well.

(c) Copyright 2011, Judith Cullen

CLICK HERE to listen! (Unedited Track - Minimal Processing)