Sojourn Anthology (1&2)

Beth and Wayne are two of the amazing authors who have published stories in the Sojourn Anthology. 

 Now they both have second stories being published in Sojourn Anthology 2!

As part of the launch of the second anthology Beth did an AMA event on Facebook (back in December) with some of the other authors.

Most authors did a giveaway to random questioners, and that's were I come in.  Beth wanted something cute and small she could gift out to people who 'showed' up to the event.  I quickly whipped up two octo's for the winners.

If you are interested in the books they are for sale in physical and ebook format from amazon.  They are a great collection of new fiction writers and I enjoyed reading them although I will admit as with any collection of short story's I liked more then others.  Beth managed to build characters with depth and intrigue, Wayne's story telling just sucked me in leaving me wanted a bit more.

Here are to short snippets from both of their stories in the new book.

Metamorphosis - Beth Roper

It took patience and cunning to stay alive in the Edinburgh Vaults and Spider had developed both until she was as good as her namesake. Life in the underground sapped everything but the drive to survive until the only beauty she knew was the stars she saw on infrequent trips to the surface and the snatches of ballads she sang to herself when she thought she was alone. Anything else would leave her vulnerable to the predators waiting at every turn. The fact women were disappearing from the Vaults wasn’t a surprise, that someone was looking for them was.
Jax Sinclair could feel a story in the air. It was here in this labyrinth of tunnels, buried under the South Bridge. A bigger story than the penny dreadfuls he was used to writing. His reporter’s instincts would have led him here eventually, but Kat’s visions had pointed the way. His fiancée dreamt nightly of waltzing with a stranger “made of ice” in a grand hall. He would have written it off to her vivid imagination except that she spied a drawing of a missing girl in the paper and swore it was one of the musicians in her dream. The trail led to a brothel in the Vaults, and Spider.
Against her better judgment, Jax convinced Spider to help him uncover the trail of the missing women which took them from the squalor of the Vaults to the elegant drawing rooms of rich men grown bored with drinking and whoring. Their boredom led them to pass times infinitely more dangerous and playmates who cared for nothing but their own pleasure. Would Jax and Spider survive the games or would they become trapped in the heart of winter?

Story  - Wayne Cole

I glanced at the sky and longed for the sun that used to light it. After all these years even a simple star would have brought me joy, but they were gone too. I stood on the snow covered hilltop and looked down at a small stone town. There were torches lining the streets and the snow had been piled up against them. At the very center of town a large bonfire burned and about twenty people were gathered around it trying to get warm. I had never been to this town, but I had seen this before. Ever since the sun had been blocked out, most surviving towns looked similar.

I strained my eyes and found the elderly man I was looking for at the edge of town. The old man walked slowly to the bonfire and the crowd parted to make room. He wore old torn leather armor and a coat so shredded it was little more than rags. With each step he leaned heavily against a poorly carved wooden cane. The man carefully lowered himself to sit on a large rock right at the edge of the fire.

As he began to yell out to the crowd there was a strange energy about him. He had a smile on his face and his movements became more fluid. His voice started out raspy, but quickly smoothed out into the practiced tone of a storyteller. It seemed as if the years were melting away and I couldn’t help but smile myself. I sat on the hill and prepared myself to hear his story.