Loving Short Stories: Friday Finds

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!


Every Friday, Should be Reading invites readers to share their favorite finds of the last week.

I am so excited about this week's find (although technically it was just at the end of last week, but I had scheduled posts to run and family fun to enjoy). There's little better than hearing about a new work from a favorite author.

I was thrilled to see Shauna Kelley's announcement on Facebook that she just published a collection of short fiction, Listening In and Other Stories.

From Amazon: A sick girl lives her life by listening in to her family beneath her. An alcoholic is haunted by music as she mourns the death of her child. A newly dead woman speaks of her demise, and shares a glimpse of what heaven must be like.

Shauna Kelley, author of Max and Menna, a Foreword Book of the Year Award finalist, brings these and more stories to life in her first collection of short fiction. From the mentally ill to the destitute to a sort-of prostitute, these stories shed light into the lives and minds of an unusual batch of characters, battling the situations life has thrust them into.

With her usual candor and eloquence, Kelley offers you seven tales of seven people trying to find a home, a life, and a place.

Shauna's debut novel, Max and Menna, was a heartbreaking and gritty tale about alcohol and growing up. The characters stay with me and have for months. I don't know a better compliment to give a work of fiction. My full review can be found on Rebeccas Reads.

I have no doubt her newest work will be equally as intriguing. I look forward to reading and reviewing it.

What did you stumble across this first Friday of 2012?

Dipping my Toe into the Sea of Horror: Friday Finds

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

Another great prompt from Should be Reading.

This week I was honored to have Carrie Green guest posting here and on my Depression Cookies blog. She wrote a piece thanking Stephen King for influencing her writing.

Am I allowed to admit that I've never read a Stephen King novel? Please forgive me, I am a light-weight when it comes to scary stuff. My mom told me some intensely scary bedtime stories and brought me along to too many horror movies, so I blame her. I did love the movies Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, adaptations of Stephen King's works, so there's hope for me yet.

But Carrie, and several commenters from that day's guest post, has convinced me to edge my way into horror. I'm starting by reading her two short story collections and novella. For others considering dipping their toe in the sea of horror, I decided to feature her works here today since I only discovered them this week.

Roses are Red, a collection of short stories
From Amazon:
A LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP--Drunk, Allan ended an all-nighter of partying with a hit and run that escalates into First Degree murder.

A LUCKY HUMAN--Traveling the Universe aboard a space cruise ship may be the hottest trend, but a young man may be exchanging his life for this privilege.

CASH ONLY--This bounty hunter only cares about the paycheck.

Violets are Blue, a novella
From Amazon: Newly-wed Sarah was delighted to move in with her mother-in-law, Martha, a widower who had raised her son, by herself, on an isolated Midwest farm.

A kid from a broken home who had been raised in a group house in Chicago, Sarah had struggled to put herself through college on scholarships. She considered herself to be self-reliant and willing to work hard for her dreams. She wanted only one thing, a real family. Todd was the love of her life, so that she was sure that she'd love Martha, too.

It never occurred to Sarah that Martha would see her as competition, to be eliminated.

Sugar is Sweet, a collection of short stories
From Amazon: PLAYING FOR KEEPS--Sometimes a mother/daughter bond can be so close that it kills.

LOVED--Being loved is sometimes a fairy tale, sometimes, a nightmare. It all depends on who falls in love with you.

CHRISTMAS IN STRIPES--An ex-con spends his first holiday back home with his family and realizes that you can never go home again.

Please pass along any other suggestions for horror-light.

Friday Finds

Another great blog topic from Should be Reading.

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week?

Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

Two books I came across this week from authors on SheWrites (I'm a member with my Depression Cookies blog). Both are indie or small published, and Shawn Lamb is a former traditionally published author turned indie.

Check them out:

The Huguenot Sword, Shawn Lamb

Summary from Amazon: For Faith. For Friendship. For Freedom. In the time of Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, when being a Protestant could mean death, The Huguenot Sword roamed the streets of Paris by night, defending those faithful to the young heretical religion. The nobility scorned them as ruffians, to the oppressed Protestants they were saviors, but to the Cardinal Guards they were a pestilence needing to be terminated. The situation becomes desperate when those in power launch a bold plan to destroy the group. One wrong move can be fatal. But the ordeal of Paris pales in comparison to the possible annihilation of their faith and people at the battle of La Rochelle.

A Summer in Oakville, Lisa J. Lickel and Shellie Neumeier

Summary from Amazon: One Magical Summer in Oakville, Wisconsin, Love Finds its Way through Four Entwined Lives. Tessa Hasmer Murphy has a secret. Estranged from her husband, will she let a past love and a fight to save the family farm destroy her marriage and daughter Lindsay's happiness? Lindsay Murphy plans to live on her grandparents' farm until she can find a job, but developer Brandon Calloway has other plans for the property. As she wages war against him, will she lose her heart and the farm both? Widower Arthur Hasmer's life and that of his son, Andy, spiral out of control. Then old friend, Dana London, reenters the picture with the power to help them all back to love, joy and faith. Andy Hasmer has the ultimate bummer life. No mom, not much of a dad, no future. When he's sent to the farm and wrecks the truck, nothing could be worse than the lousy job he takes to pay Grampa back-except maybe putting up with the pastor's daughter, Ella.

Happy Reading.

Please pass along any books you discovered this week.