This morning, I have a short story collection in our Teaser Tuesday book spotlight! Check out The Patron Saint of Lost Girls, read an excerpt from the collection, and learn about author Maureen Aitken! 

Literary Fiction / Short Story Collection

Date Published: 09-16-2025

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

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In this collection of linked stories, we follow Mary as she seeks to cope with and withstand hardship and confront her fears of exploitation, abuse, and death. Along the way, she delves into the complex yet nurturing relationships with her family and friends who teach her to love better, live fuller, and question power. The Patron Saint of Lost Girls presents an unflinching tale of life in the late twentieth-century postindustrial Midwest.

“AUGUST, WHEN the cicadas burned and the lawnmowers sounded like industrial bees, we couldn’t stop. In the bedroom, on the couch, on the floor. Afterward we would lie there, reading the paper or letting the television taunt us like a car salesman. Paul would wiggle his toes against mine, and we’d look at one another for a long time. His face was like a catcher’s mitt, warm and beaten. He reminded me of one of those boys who had moved away when I was little, but Paul had returned a man.” 

-“This is Art”

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This morning, I have a science fiction fantasy novel in our book blitz spotlight. Learn about Standing at Heaven's Doorstep by author Judy Cohen.  

Date Published: 05-11-2025

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About the Author

 My name is Judy Cohen. I taught kindergarten, and new teachers for 27 years. During that time i was a blogger and a part time writer. My family encouraged me to write my book. The question they posed was, what am i waiting for? Standing at Heaven's Doorstep was born..

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This morning I have a collection of humorous short stories in our book release blitz!  Check out One Soul's Journey, learn about author Barbara Daniels Dena & be sure to enter for a chance to win a prize in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post.

Second Collection of Short Stories Book 2 of The Soul Series

Fictional Humor Short Stories

Date Published: 01-25-2023

Publisher: Magic Zoe Publishing

One Soul's Journey is an eclectic and extraordinary collection of short stories.

The ingredients: imagination, a dash of real life, inspiration, and lots of love. If you've read and loved her first collection, “For the Soul,” this book will delight you.

Praise for The Soul Series

5.0 out of 5 stars

“Delightfully charming short stories”

“Excellent book. A must-read”

about the author

Barbara Daniels Dena is an American best-selling author and influential writer of her eclectic short stories in 'The Soul Series.'

The author's stories are almost a memoir and are a unique collection of inspiring short stories of 'good ole fashioned living,' along with many past and present memories and life experiences that tug on the heart, warming stories, and fictional tall tales and doggie tails delighting readers worldwide. The books are available on Amazon Books, Kindle, and many fine online book sites.

Barbara began writing at an early age as a lover of "Make-Believe." Today, her writing has developed from memories of family experiences, various compilations of events in her life, and her love of animals. She is willing to admit that her vivid imagination plays a role in her stories. The author is an Illinois native who has lived in many places; as Barb says, like a free-spirited "Gypsy," she has lived and worked in Illinois, Washington, Idaho, and Georgia, but Ultimately, comes home settling back in the Quad Cities area of Illinois.

She is a proud mother of two grown children. She was a business owner, ran a Temp Agency, transitioned into her passion for floral design, and opened, owned, and ran several floral shops. Her favorite flower is the "Casablanca Lily." Her favorite color is Red, and when she isn't writing, Barbara spends her free time oil painting and enjoys quilting, knitting, and reading.

Her favorite book is "Death Be Not Proud" by John J. Gunther. Her first love will always be playing with her fur baby; a little Yorkie named Zoe. She continues to write from her cozy nook as she gazes over a pond full of geese and ducks. On many days it is more gazing than writing.

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Thriller / Noir

Date Published: 03-07-2022

Publisher: Happy London Press

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This is the second book in the Aberrations Series, a collection of ten new, short stories to tease and tickle.

How would you feel if you came face to face with a contract killer? I did, and it formed the basis for my title story .

But then, most, if not all of my yarns have a foundation in something I've heard, read or personally experienced.

I've kept a diary, for example, but have not had as macabre an experience as the old man in my tale, Dear Diary .

One might wonder, for example, whether, given the chance, the leopard might ever change its spots? Read my take on it and find out for yourself. This story was based on an actual event involving my wife, when she was just six years old. Her mother was so appalled by what happened, she refused to ever speak about it, or hear about it for the rest of her life.

I am not, and have never been a Gigolo, but decided to have our hero from Book 1 meet his comeuppance in Book 2 when he meets a Courtesan, who tumbles his well-kept secret. It's all there for you to appreciate.

In this second Book in the series, I've also looked at taxidermy, car crime and conditions under which an innocent journalist might be tortured and imprisoned in Vietnam? All based on personal experience, or else events I've read about in the press which struck me as being worthy of a view to be expressed in a short story .

These are just a few tasters of a collection of tales I hope you'll enjoy reading as much as I've enjoyed writing them.

Andrew Segal 

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Let me be reassuring, thus-far, nobody has been murdered on my watch. But the notion gave rise to the impetus to write my first murder mystery, The Lyme Regis Murders. Could I make the jump after years of writing macabre short stories to a full length drama? That familiar beating in the gut, said, ‘Yes, try it. Give it a go.’

And so to that cosy coastal town where nothing untoward ever happens. Or perhaps it does. The author seeks to shatter notions, change people’s perceptions, spoil long held views. That was my intention in entering into the world of crime thrillers. I’ve found that ‘nice’ people are not always what they seem. The helpless can be transformed into the most dangerous, the most dangerous become the most harmless. It’s all up to the writer and what they’re hoping to achieve.

For me there have been 10 children’s books, 4 books of short stories and so far, three novels, with a fourth in the mixer.

Whilst a short story might be written with a flurry of adrenalin in the space of a few hours, a book will need more than just a flash of creativity. It will need perseverance, discipline and dogged determination.

But then, isn’t that what is required of every ambition?

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