Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Writing Prompt 55

“Oh, for the love of Holy Morhan, will you please stop thinking that there’s always something wrong?”
Jonas stuck his hands in his pockets, kicked a pebble, and lowered his head. “Something is wrong, though,” he muttered under his breath.
Pela rolled her eyes, sighed, and slapped her hands on her thighs. “You’re impossible. You know for once, just once, I’d like to hear something positive from you.”
They reached the edge of the forest at the top of the hill. Jonas stopped.
“Were your parents really cruel?” Pela asked and carried on walking on her own down the path. “Was it a hex one of the enchanters put on you, huh?”
“Pela?”
“Did you pee on one as an infant?” Pela continued without paying attention to her surroundings.
“Pela?” Jonas insisted, still frozen in place.
“Did you accidentally fall into one of their cauldrons perhaps?”
“Pela!”
“What?” She stopped and looked around her for Jonas. “What are you doing back there?”
Jonas jerked his chin at the hanging-upside-down citadel. “Is that wrong enough for you?”

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Published in the #redditwriters anthology

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the anthology I mentioned a couple of weeks ago is now live. You can get your copy here (for you in the US, and here for those of you in the UK). The title is TL;DR: A Redditwriters Mixtape Vol. 1

In its pages you will find thirty-one stories from twenty-six authors. There is no theme to the anthology, so almost everyone will find at least one story to his or her liking. There’s fantasy, crime, horror, and even comedy.

Why should you buy this anthology? Because that way you’d be giving to charity. The proceeds from this endeavour go directly to Doctors Without Borders. So, if you buy a copy, you won’t be giving money to us, but for a good cause.

 

I hope you enjoy it! Happy reading, everyone!

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Crutch words – ANGRY (part 2)

This is the second part of my list of ANGRY synonyms. You can find part one here. I have to admit, while researching for these, I often had to pause and double-check (and sometimes triple-check) that they were in fact still in use or that they actually meant what I was looking for. Bellicose and Churlish are two of the words I had never seen before, but then again, I’m not a native English speaker, so that may be the reason.

Keep in mind that each synonym, is just that; a synonym. It doesn’t always work as a replacement, because each word carries a meaning of its own. So before you substitute all instances of angry with any of these or from part one, make sure it’s the right one.

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 3 Comments

Published in an upcoming anthology

I’m between migrating from one computer to another. I could write a small horror story of how a certain operating system manufacturer found a way to piss off every user who wants to choose what operating system (OS) they install in their PCs. Believe me, I could. But, thanks to a friend who is by far more knowledgeable than I am, we managed to get around said OS’s locks, and I now have set up my PC with the operating system I wanted it to have in the first place.

But that’s not what this post is about.

About a year ago, I joined reddit. While there, I found and followed a community of writers known as RedditWriters. They all were at various stages in their careers, some with a readership of their own, some just starting out. At some point, one of the writers had an idea: create an anthology with our work, and put it out there. Everyone loved the idea, and almost everyone submitted pieces to the editors. I submitted one of my vignettes. A couple of months ago, the editors informed me that my piece was accepted.

The editor in charge of the project informed us yesterday that the collection will be available on 30 March 2018 from Amazon, as an e-book, as well as from CreateSpace as a hard copy. The e-book will cost £1.99 (about $2.77 at the time of writing this). Obviously the hard copy will cost more. The title will be TL;DR, which stands for Too Long; Didn’t Read, a typical internet acronym, often seen on Reddit and other message boards.

All proceeds from the anthology will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

If you want to know more about the project and those who made it possible, visit Joe Butler’s site. I will get back to you with download links as soon as I have them.

Finally, if you’re looking for free books (sci-fi, fantasy, or horror), have a look at this giveaway I’m part of.

Sixty writers, veterans and newcomers, have joined forces for this. The giveaway ends on 26 March 2018.