Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Cate Masters' Indie Shorts

*** I'm always thrilled to have the wonderful Cate Masters visit my blog. She's got an open invitation for sure.

No, it’s not my new underwear, lol. I took a huge leap recently and put out some short stories on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/CateMasters

They’re more literary in nature. Three were previously published, two in web zines that have disappeared or lost the links. Out of fondness for these stories, I didn’t want them to disappear too, so have made them available, either for free, or for 99 cents.

A publisher reverted the rights for Reflections to me. A crystal ball and mirror linking the Underworld to this world cause trouble for the heroine during her Halloween party, but luckily, an angelic hero is handy to rescue her from the demon. Halloween’s one of my favorite holidays, and I love incorporating its legends into stories.

Imprints incorporates a real reporter’s triumph in liberating a wrongly convicted man, but also his (fictional) struggle to maintain his own dysfunctional life. For many years, I was the membership director of the state newspaper association. I heard plenty of real-life stories from reporters, many stranger than fiction. Containing speculative fiction elements, Imprints is a different sort of read than straight literary, which makes it more interesting. My niece, Meg Eubank, took the wonderful photo on the cover.

Hotline to Hell’s another fun short chronicling the rising star of a writer. When he answers a newspaper ad, he doesn’t expect to face the devil. A gorgeous, female Satan offering the standard soul for fame deal. So tempting, he signs the contract. But can he have it all, and his soul too? You’ll have to read it to find out!

I made Trick of the Light a freebie, for now at least. The story’s a metaphor for a woman mired in her life. Written as a speculative short, it features a mannequin who falls in love with a businessman who passes her window every day. She desperately wants to be real so she can meet him. My niece also took the amazing photo of the mannequins, and I’m grateful to her for letting me use both shots.

I’m also grateful to you, Marva, for allowing me to talk about these stories, so dear to my heart. I hope your readers will love them as much as I do.

You can find lots of goodies about my books on my blog – click on the link for Books: http://catemasters.blogspot.com/ to find blurbs, excerpts, reviews, trailers, and other fun stuff.

Thanks again, Marva!

7 comments:

  1. Thanks again for letting me feature my short stories on your wonderful blog, Marva! It's exciting seeing them somewhere other than Smashwords, lol.

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  2. I downloaded three of them so far. I got sidetracked on the 4th but I'll get to it.

    Thanks for allowing me to display your work. You have great covers!

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  3. Great! I hope you enjoy them. I look forward to reading yours too!
    I actually enjoy making covers, and trailers too. I'm lucky to have a son who writes music I can use in the trailers, and others in the family who are great photographers.

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  4. Hi Marva and Cate.
    Yes, nice to see your covers and that you are re-relasing your great short stories.

    I've read one of them and enjoyed it a great deal. I'm looking forward to reading all the others.

    You do have a way with words and making your stories such interesting and fun reads.
    Yum, can't wait to get my little hands on them.

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  5. Thanks so much for your kind words, Lorrie. I'm looking forward to reading yours as well!

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