Telling Fortunes and The Future of this Blog

 

Thanks to all who have read my short story "A Spring Break Carol."  It's had over 100 downloads since it has been available.  

 
I hope you will also try the first novel in my "Cedar Springs Psychic" Series, Telling Fortunes.  You can find it on Amazon as a Kindle ebook here (under my "other" name, Benita Huffman).  If you don't have a Kindle, you can download a free Kindle reader for various devices.

Telling Fortunes is the story of psychic Cassie James, who gives up her chance of fame for a desk job in her small hometown.  Her cousin hopes to save her soul, teen girls beg her to read their palms, and a science teacher wants to discredit her.  But just as she begins to find some peace and an unexpected love, old family secrets threaten her new life, and Cassie realizes that seeing the future isn't enough to deal with the sins of the past.   

 

I've had fun writing Telling Fortunes, and I hope people enjoy reading it.  Please consider leaving an honest review and telling others.

 

What's Next for the Blog?

I call this blog "What the Write Hand is Doing."  I'm interested in how writing enriches, complicates, and compliments a busy life.  We've all got plenty to do, so why make space for writing or other creative passions?

 

Over the next few months, "What the Write Hand is Doing" will host some question-and-answer sessions with other people who make writing part of already full lives. 

 

Here are some of the writers we'll be hearing from:

 

Poet Kelly Whiddon, author of the poetry collection The House Began to Tilt and winner of the 2011 Adrienne Bond Award.  Her work has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Poetry International, Meridian, Southern Poetry Review, and Slipstream.  She has been featured in Writing on Napkins at the Sunshine Club: An Anthology of Poets Writing in Macon.

 

Clay Morton and Gail Morton, authors of Why Johnny Doesn't Flap: NT is OK, a picture book that has been called "an irreverent subversion" and "a breath of fresh air" as it presents a narrator trying to understand why neurotypical people act in such peculiar ways.

 

Novelist Robin Johns Grant, author of Summer's Winter (bronze medal winner for Romance-Suspense in the International Readers' Favorite Book Awards) and Jordan's Shadow.  Robin was named 2014 Author of the Year by the Georgia Association of College Stores. 

 

Follow the blog.  You won't want to miss them.     





Free Short Story

"A Spring Break Carol: A Short Ghost Story"

by Benita Huffman

As dean, Jason makes the tough calls so his struggling small college will survive, including hiring a trendy, digitally savvy scholar to replace the recently deceased Professor Maynard Allen.  In life, Maynard never interfered with Jason's agenda.  So why is his ghost haunting Jason's office?  To destroy the new school Jason must create?  Or is his plan even more sinister: to reform Jason? 

"A Spring Break Carol" is a short ghost story of 6,629 words (24 pages).

Available on Smashwords, B&N, and Amazon

Smashwords for free here

Barnes and Noble for free here

Amazon (currently at 99 cents, but at some point they will match competitors' price) here

 

"We all have an addiction to narrative"

Long ago at UNC-Chapel Hill, Marya Devoto said the common feature of all those pursuing degrees in English was that we were addicted to narrative.  That's true for all of us who love to read, write, and talk about what we've read.

Over the years, as I've read and written in my professional role as an English professor, I've continued to read and write for fun.  Last summer, I began a plan to follow footsteps of MGA colleague Robin Johns Grant and make the fun writing I do available as ebooks as an independent author.  As this summer ends, I've taken the plunge. 

"A Spring Break Carol" was inspired by an old piece of college gossip more than a decade ago; campuses all have their ghosts.

Within a few days, I will also be releasing Telling Fortunes, the first in a series of novels. 

In Telling Fortunes, just as she was poised to hit the big time, psychic Cassie James stops helping families find missing people and moves back to her small hometown for a desk job.  A cousin set on saving her soul, school girls who want their fortunes told,  and a science teacher ready to discredit her complicate the new life she hoped to build.  Yet just as she begins to find what she wanted, old family secrets threaten it all.

Telling Fortunes will be available soon on Amazon.  It will also be available through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program.

A New / Old Name

You'll find these books under my old name:  Benita Huffman

Why? 

I'll have a way to separate my normal persona -- Dr. Muth -- from my lighter persona -- Benita Huffman -- the ebook writer.

Plus, I've missed being Benita Huffman.  It's the name I call myself in my head.  Even 25 years later, I occasionally slip up and introduce myself that way.

More practically, as years of students know, "Muth" does not suggest an obvious pronunciation.  "Huffman" is more user-friendly.

But there's no juicy gossip here.  I'm keeping Michael (the one I got the "Muth" name from) around.  He's worked out well for 25 years, and who else could put up with me?  I'm hoping we're blessed with many more years together. 

Want some summer reading?

I hope you will try "A Spring Break Carol" and Telling Fortunes.  If you like them, tell others and consider leaving an honest review.