Sofa Monster is coming soon! Sneak Peek!

Excited to share the cover and a sneak peek of the Sofa Monster. 

 Pen It! Publications is great to work with and everyone did an amazing job! 

And, in case you were wondering what a monster from the sofa looks like, here's a sneak peek at him too!

I will share more when the book is available! 

In other news:  My short story "East of Omaha" was published in the July issue of Scarlet Leaf Review. The short story is about a twisted case of mistaken identity. 


Happy Reading!

Where'd You Come Up With That?! Wednesdays~ Murder of the Future

freeimages.com/JeanScheijen

Do life-like robots creep you out? I have to admit, I find them creepy, but also sort of fascinating. I wanted to write a sci-fi, speculative fiction story about AI, so I searched for some information about them. That's when I can across uncanny valley. If you've never heard of it Google it! 

Uncanny valley is when a human-like robot or even a computer generated human makes a  person feel uncomfortable or uneasy. This was the jumping off point for my story, "Murder of the Future." 

Instead of being revolted by them, what if most of society embraced these human-like specimens? How far could these robots evolve if humans allowed them to be part of ordinary everyday life? The AIs in my story have rights and laws. They are treated as equal to humans and most have embraced these robots as human.

So, if robots have rights, this means it would be against the law to harm them or treat them harshly. In this story, Henry Radcliff was a lonely man who decided to turn to an AI family for companionship, until he met a real woman to love. He decided to take these robots apart and store them in a box in his basement. 

Because the AIs have become a regular part of everyday life, neighbors had come to know Henry's AI family and alerted police when the AIs went missing. This leads police to the "body parts" in Henry's basement and he is put on trial for murder.

Henry's defense if that you can't murder a robot, but in the future, these life-like robots have evolved considerably, and they have rights. Society at this point is caught between acceptance of AIs and uncanny valley. 

You can read Murder of the Future to go through Henry's trial and see if he's indeed convicted of murder. 

You can also read this and four other short stories in Flashes of Fiction: Volume 4 on Kindle.

Murder of the Future: Artificial intelligence has evolved, and Henry is on trial for the murder of an
AI.
Yesterday's Children: Richard discovers he's only as old as he feels.
Azure: Dr. Stanton and Dr. Kline's patient seems crazy until he leaves the hospital in a
beam of light
Inside His Mind: A wife is given the opportunity to go inside her husband's mind and do some rewiring.
Reflections of the Past: Tina's parents were killed in a house fire, but that doesn't stop them from sharing her special day





Happy Reading!

Where'd You Come Up With That?! Wednesdays~ The Guardian

The Guardian started out as a short story for a contest on Writing.com. It didn't win, but it gave me a starting point to create a new story. I wrote it several years ago, so I don't remember what words were part of the prompt for the story. 

The story is about a young man who steps in to save a little boy during a robbery, and he gets the bullet instead. He wakes up in a strange place and quickly realizes, he's no longer alive. He is greeted by an angel who sends him on a mission which he carries out without question. 

In reality, he's being duped by a shady character that we've all heard of at some point in our lives. And how is he so easily tricked into doing this "angel's" dirty work? He's just following the crowd and the beliefs of those around him--again without question. 

Religious beliefs vary and most often times these beliefs are handed down through generations with little or no question to their validity. Personally, I believe people should question their beliefs, especially if they don't make sense or are not in line with how they feel. Just because something is believed by a majority, it doesn't make correct. 

Just something to think about while you read. 

And, this story and other stories I've written do not reflect my own religious beliefs. When I write, I explore different ideas. I believe each person's relationship with God should be an intimate journey. 

 Also, you'll always find a little humor sprinkled into my work. 

You can read The Guardian and other stories by visiting my Hubpages account. 

Happy Reading!

Hello! It's Been A Long Time

Wow! It's been a while since I've visited and updated my own blog. Well, I'm back. (I think hehe)

I've had some recent publications on the Short Humour Site. You can read them here.

I've also been busy writing and submitting some short stories, so fingers crossed that there is more publication news in my future.

I am planning a new Where'd You'd Come Up With That Wednesday on the 9th. I'll be writing about how I come up with my short story "The Guardian" You can read it by visiting my stories on Letterpile. 

I'd like to keep Classic Movie Mondays. I do love old movies and DVR them and watch them when I get time, so for now, I'll probably only do one post a month.

Flashes of Fiction volumes 1 through 5 are still available on Kindle. I do believe there will only be five because I'm moving on to other projects. I do plan to combine them all into one paperback book by the end of the year.

Feel free to stop by the Short Humour Site and Letterpile to read some of my stories. Leave a comment if you like. And come back Wednesday for a new post!

Happy Reading!

Alfred C. Bogeyman A Spooky Little Story for All Ages

I've written two YA books in the scary/ spooky genre: Ally Ally Oxen Free and Alfred C. Bogeyman. Both books are just a little scary with a little humor woven in. Now Ally Ally has sold well and gotten quite a few reviews. The story also won a LitPick award.  Alfred C. hasn't gotten as much love.

Alfred C. was first published by Fire and Ice Books, and then when rights reverted back to me, I got a new cover and self-published on Kindle. I think anyone who likes Ally Ally would love this little story. Here are a few reviews and excerpt, and I hope you'll check it out on Kindle. I'll include the one not-so-good review too, so you get a range of reviews. :)

An Excerpt:

Adrian stood in front of the old, ramshackle house. The green mailbox door hung off its hinges on one side. Some of the letters were missing, but he could still make out the last name—Bogeyman.  The memories of that October twenty years earlier when he and his friends joined forces and stood up against the boogieman made him smile. But now that he was older, he had to go back and see for himself. Was Alfred still there? And if so, was he really a boogieman or did he and his friends have overactive imaginations. He chuckled as he thought back to the night during fall break when it all began.

Reviews

Jocelyn Sanchez rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-books

This was a very cute and fun story. I really enjoyed reading it and having a few laughs with Ralph, Sean, and Adrian.

This short story is about three children named Ralph, Sean, and Adrian who believe that the boogieman is scaring Adrian's little brother Sam. Adrian is the brave one in the group, Ralph is the brains, while Sean is afraid of everything. Feeling the need to protect his little brother Adrian and the boys go on a mission to find the boogieman and teach him a lesson. They come up with a plan to use Sean's dog Socks to track down the boogieman and scare him. I don't want to give too much away but I'll say I really liked the ending of the story and really enjoyed reading about Sean, Adrian, and Ralph. It was a really good read! 

Sep 28, 2012Jenny Twist rated it it was amazing

Adrian is the man of the house now so it’s his job to protect his little brother. When the bogeyman starts coming to the house every night and frightening Sam to death he decides to deal with it. Together he, his two friends and Socks the dog set off to find the bogeyman and give him a taste of his own medicine.

A delightful story which takes you straight back to those dreadful childhood fears which had to be tackled alone because no grown-up ever believed you.

Ms Allman has once again come up with a new twist on an old theme – and done it in an entertaining and superbly well-written way. Very satisfying.

Oct 23, 2012Christina (Ensconced in Lit) rated it it was ok

Shelves: author-request

I was asked to read this short story by the author. This does not bias my review.

Alfred C. Bogeyman by M. Allman is a short story about a group of boys ready to defeat the scary boogieman that is giving one of their younger brothers' nightmares.

The boys are likeable and it's a quick read. That said, I wanted a little more substance. I know it's harder to get more in a shorter story, but you can really pack a punch in a smaller space if done right. I wanted a bigger twist, or set of twists to unfold. The story has a good frame and can be reworked to really pop.

As it is now, I can see how this could be enjoyable to grade school boys especially around Halloween time. That said, in its current state, this story was not for me. 

A Link to student reviews on LitPick

Happy Reading!

Where'd You Come Up With That?! Wednesdays~ Home Again

So far, I've written about stories that are sort of on the bazaar side, but today, I'll go over where I can up with the idea of "Home Again." This is a flash fiction piece I wrote a few years ago, but just recently published on Hubpages.

This short story is about a woman coming to terms with losing her parents and her childhood home. She is upset and disheartened by the thought of losing the home she and her family made happy memories in together. In the story, she walks through the home replaying some her fondest memories in her head. After going through the house, she thinks about the quote, "You can't go home again."

Is this true? Can you really never go home again. I thought about this same quote when my childhood home was demolished a few years ago. It was sad to see a big empty space where my home once stood, and I thought about all the memories made in that home.

That is the only home I remember growing up, and there were an endless amount of memories made there with my family. After feeling sad for a while, I realized those memories are kept within in me--in my heart, where they can never be torn down or taken away. So, while you can't go home again, you can always revisit the precious memories made in your childhood home.

In the story, the main character also comes to the same conclusion, which helps her comes to terms with selling the home and allowing a new family to live in the home and begin making their own precious memories.

If you'd like to read the story you can find here on Hubpages.

Happy Reading!

Classic Movies Monday~The Blue Bird

The Blue Bird stars Shirley Temple and since I love Shirley Temple movies, I thought I'd love this. I was wrong!

This movie is not entertaining, the story line seems to go nowhere, and it did hold my attention. I recorded on my DVR so I was able to fast forward through parts or it and watch as much of it as I could stand.

So, what's wrong with this move? Well, the AMC host introducing explained that it was "Fox's answer to the Wizard of Oz." Ummm...NO!

Let's start with Shirly herself. She is quite obviously prepubescent in this film, but she still talks her wittle bitty baby voice with her lips pooched out. Guess what? This doesn't work well when you're 12. It was annoying and one reason I had a difficult time watching this. Shirley should've acted her age. You can see in the photo below how grownup she looks, so she should not be talking like small child.


The storyline itself was bad. I still don't quite know what was supposed to be happening. Shirley's character Mytyl was a bratty child, so a fairy came and sent her and her brother Tytyl on a search through the past, present and future to search for a bluebird of happiness. I still don't understand how this bird ties in with the story, but ok.

The two children, along with their dog and cat that became human, went to a variety of places. These were strange fantastic places, and I usually love that type of move. In this movie, they didn't really interest me or make sense. The part where they go into the past and visit their grandparents was just strange. And the grandparents only wake up when the kids come visit and then go right back to sleep. I know strange, right?!

In the end, it all turns out well for the family and Mytyl is not a brat anymore, so somehow searching for a bluebird that symbolizes happiness changed her attitude.

I just don't believe this is worth watching. I don't even think it's entertaining enough to hold a kid's interest. Anyway, watch at your own risk of being bored to death.