Fictitious Magazine Coming Back Better than Ever

Hi all,

I know many authors and readers were upset when I discontinued Fictitious Magazine, but it is coming back soon. There will be some changes. I am creating it on a Wordpress blog and it will have more to offer than ever before! I plan to do author interviews and links to author's works who contribute to the blog. I will post stories and poems daily as well. I am still working on getting it all set up and as soon as I do I will open for submissions and begin setting up author interviews. I do have some emails in my inbox for submissions and I will consider those as well if the pieces are still available. I hope to make Fictitious Magazine a place for where readers and authors can connect.

Thanks you all for support in the past.

Happy Reading.

My Review of His to Possess by Su Halfwerk

I read His to Posses  in one Saturday afternoon, and I loved it.  You can find out more about author Su Halfwerk  @ http://www.su-halfwerk.com/


Here is my review. *****




When I give a book the full five stars, it means I couldn't put it down. I read it all in one sitting. 

The story is a sweet romance with a spiritual element, which Ms. Halfwerk uses to tell a beautiful, touching story of a destined and lasting love. 

From the very first page, my heart went out to Jeremy, who is a ghost in love with Stacy, a flesh and blood woman. He is bound to a mansion where Stacy is working as a book appraiser. She is unable to communicate with him…at first, but then she conjures him, which allows them to meet. But, other circumstances still stand in the couple's way. 

I found myself reading, eagerly taking in each chapter; I had to know if Jeremy and Stacy would be together, and if so, how? 

I don't want to give away the ending, so I'll just say it was perfect. I was not at all disappointed. 

I look forward to reading more from this talented author.


Happy Reading! 

New MicroHorror story...

I wrote a creepy little piece and it's up at MicroHorror.com--"The Crayon Box"  I also have an older story there as well, "Only the Best." Feel free to check them out. I love the stories on that site. Creepy!


I have a long summer reading list, and since I have been feeling under the weather, I'll probably spend a quiet afternoon relaxing on my porch swing with my Kindle. :) But, there's some writing I want to work on this morning while things are still fresh in my mind.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Happy Reading

Why I Like KDP Select

When Amazon Kindle first announced KDP Select, I read articles and post for and against enrolling, but I chose to enroll my self-published works into the program. In all honesty, I like the program. Here's why:

First, readers can borrow a book- if they are Prime members of course. I like to offer this option to readers.
Second, borrowing still means I am paid for interest in my books. One month I actually made more money from borrowers than from buyers.
Third, I've tried Smashwords and I get a great deal of looks, but very low sales.
And lastly, I love the promotions, so I can offer the book for free and generate interest and reviews.
I plan to self-publish a couple more Kindle singles later this year, and I will enroll them in KDP Select.

The two titles I have available from Kindle now:

"Ally Ally Oxen Free" A horror/scary, young adult story about a boy with an unusual hobby.
 There are two review so far,

Author Jenny Twist had this to say:

What a delightful short story!. Tom is an ordinary, likeable boy who has an unusual interest. He is fascinated by bones. His hobby takes a macabre turn, when he undertakes an archaeological dig in a neighbour's yard.
Ms Allman's beautiful, spare prose and her tremendous gift for bringing her characters to life once again come together to produce a gripping tale. Another impressive performance. 

Another reader, S. Warfield offered this review:

"Ally ally oxen free" is a line that the children use when playing Hide and Seek in this story. It's a popular game with the neighborhool kids, and Tom, the main character, plays once in a while with his friends. Tom is more interested in bones, though. He likes to go on archeological digs and for the summer he has planned to dig on some back property of a man who owns a store. The man graciously allows him to go ahead and dig.

Tom and his friends are in for a surprise, especially in light of what the neighborhood has been talking about lately. Sometimes Tom finds animal bones and he studies them and reads about them. At other times, such as on this particular day, he finds something entirely different, and it serves to help solve a mystery and also helps to frighten Tom and his friends.

This is a short story that is well-written and can be enjoyed by older children as well as adults. It is also a bone-chilling story when you finish it.

You may buy the short story for $0.99 for Kindle or borrow it. If you do read, please leave a review and let me know what your thoughts. :)

The other title is Flashes of Fiction- It contains 5 very short stories and has two reviews on Amazon.

Volatalistic Phil wrote:

M. Allman, thank you for the opportunity allowing me to get familiar with some of your work--for free. I enjoyed reading your collection of five short stories. If I had to choose, my favorite story was "The Handbag" or "Shannon Elizabeth Riley." I found your collection to be wholesome and good fun. I wish you much success. 

Author Jenny Twist wrote: 

I first came across M. Allman in her first anthology, Tales from Imagination's Closet, and have been a fan ever since.
This latest collection is just as impressive - five tales ranging from dark science fiction to humour.
Metro Dome - a very disturbing distopian vision of a future where human life is confined to an environmentally-controlled dome, told through the eyes of an old man talking to his grandson.
Viral Smiles -a comedy in which the heroine attempts to spread a little happiness and only succeeds in annoying everyone she meets.
Shannon Elizabeth Riley - a heartbreaking tale of a lost little girl who finds her way home.
Operation Onion - Samuel Clemens has a very strange affliction. He emits different odours according to his mood, some of which are highly offensive. Can the poor man ever lead a normal life?
The Handbag - a delightful fairy tale with a twist.

If you are a lover of short stories, you cannot fail to appreciate Ms Allman's skill. She is a storyteller of the highest order, with a command of language far and away above average. The short story is the most difficult form to write and Ms Allman pulls it off over and over again. I particularly loved Shannon Elizabeth Riley.
Keep 'em coming, Molly.

Readers may also buy this one for $0.99 for Kindle or borrow it. If you do read, again I'd love to know your thoughts.

My next Kindle single schedule for release later this year is "Metamorphosis." This short story is bit different from my other work because it has a spiritual element to it. The story is about a young teen doing her best to deal with her mother's terminal illness, while struggling to understand how God can allow such things to happen. In the end, her grandmother offers the young girl a new outlook on life and death that helps her heal after her mother's passing. 

This will be self-published title, and I am still working on edits. I will have a definite release date soon, though. I hope you all check it out when it becomes available. 

Happy Reading! 

Another New Review

This review from author Tara Fox Hall has left me with mixed feelings. While she did give her honest opinion- which I think is great- I was a bit taken aback by the critique of a passage from one of my stories, "The Dark Mind". Am I wrong to think this a bit supercilious of another author?  ;-)

I'm not sure what to make of it, but I thank Ms. Hall for reading and taking time to write a review. You can find more information about Ms. Hall and her books on  by clicking here.

The Review:

Tara's Thoughts:

Usually for an anthology, I list the name and my thoughts. But with this amount of stories, I’ll just list the ones I liked best.

Finder’s Weepers was excellent! I loved the zing at the end. It was the perfect start to this kind of anthology, a story that kept you guessing, wondering what was going to happen, and when it ended, I wanted badly to read onto the next story right away.

Murder of the Future was very strange, but I enjoyed the story. It was of particular interest as my husband made AI a large part of his professional career.

Yesterday’s Children was unbelievable to me, but yet moving nonetheless.

I was also moved by Reflections of the Past.

If She Whispers had been shorter, I’d really think it would have been at home with any of the horror flash fiction websites on the Internet. A very interesting premise and I was sorry when the story ended, because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

Laugh like a Baby was also too odd for me.

I liked the premise of the Roads not Travelled very much, and wish it would have been longer. Existence also was very entertaining!

In summation, I have to say I was hoping for more in this anthology. It never grabbed me, even though I liked the stories, and the ideas behind each one were very imaginative. Here is an example:

My feet pounded under me as I ran through the darkness. There was something in the black void behind me, chasing me. What it was I didn’t know, and part of me did not wish to find out. I was running through unfamiliar surroundings, in quintessence I

was running from the strange, into the mysterious.

Reading this, I am not scared at all. It seems like the words a child would use to recant a nightmare they had, except that the last sentence in the paragraph sounds more like a lit major’s try for creative writing in a college class. I feel distant from the action, even though I can clearly get a picture of what is happening. Some of that is the medium, in that it’s very hard to infuse a lot of emotion in a short story, and most of these stories are only a few pages long. But I was very wowed by the sheer imagination that this author has to think up such bizarre and entertaining stories. This is the most imaginative collection I have ever read.

 Happy Reading! 

New Review! :)

I have to say I am so excited about this review. I've been in a sort of  "bad place" lately, meaning not sure about my writing projects and whether I wanted to continue with fiction. I've been on a break from writing while I sort things out in my mind, but I've continued to journal and write down ideas and thoughts.

This review has brighten my day and made me feel that writing my stories are worth it as long as there are readers out there who enjoy what  my crazy imagination has conjured up.

So I thank ManicSribbler (aka Lyn Sofras) for this wonderful review. I am so pleased she enjoyed the book.

The breadth of this writer’s imagination dazzles me!  ‘Tales from Imagination’s Closet’ is a collection of around 30 short (some very short) stories of diverse genres which left me wondering what it must be like to live inside this writer’s imagination.  So many ideas and all so different!

If I had to pick out my favourites from this collection, they would be ‘Secrets Never Die’, about a gossipy aunt who returns from beyond the grave to do what she enjoyed doing in life; ‘Come Back Doug’ – a rather haunting story of being literally stranded in the desert of alcohol-dependency; ‘The Stalker’ a chilling tale about a stalker with an evil mission and ‘Yesterday’s Children’, which was all about being as old as you feel – literally.

There were many other fascinating stories which were so interesting and unusual that I wished they were longer: ‘Finder’s Weepers’ a very clever idea about your lies coming back to haunt you; ‘Inside His Mind’, about domestic engineering and great fun; Laugh Like a Baby – an unusual and interesting idea and ‘Grandma’s Scrapbook’ which I found absolutely delightful.

In short, there is something to suit all tastes in this collection.  I’ve always preferred longer novels to short stories myself, but I’m now converted.  It’s always useful to have a short story collection when you want a quick read to fill a short break or at bedtime.  I found myself dipping into ‘Tale’s from Imagination’s Closet’ in all sorts of situations and getting engrossed within seconds.  I could rarely only read one story at a time.

  I would certainly recommend it as a highly enjoyable short story collection and will watch this writer with interest in the future.

Happy Reading!