Tag: fiction

Gargoyles and Grotesques

Posted on by staceyjaine in Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Writing

In the light of the fire that destroyed part of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, I spent the day following the story and try to figure out a way to reflect on it while at the same time not rehashing everything that had been shared through all the various news services.

And as I was trawling through Pinterest an idea came to me.

What better way than to take a look at one of the iconic symbols of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Gargoyle and share a writing prompt.

Gargoyles are a popular choice of architectural design on churches because of the long held belief that they warded away evil spirits, and to divert rainwater.

The word “Gargoyle” originates from an old French word “Gargouille” meaning “throat” but it also describes the gurgling sound of water as it comes down the down pipe.

Technically architects call a waterspout on a building a gargoyle. If a stone carving does not carry water and has a face that resembles a creature, it is technically called a grotesque. And a strange beast which combines several different animals is called a chimera.

As I looked up, I caught sight of a gargoyle.

Happy writing everyone!

Story Prompt Sunday

Posted on by staceyjaine in Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Writing

It’s Sunday and I’m starting something new, while at the same time continuing something I attempted a while ago, with my opening lines post.

Welcome to Story Prompt Sunday!

As it’s a miserable and rainy day in Perth, I thought I’d share something relevant weather wise, while keeping to a paranormal (and witchy) theme.

I hope you enjoy it!

Today’s opening line…

The last time it rained, I met my familiar.

And please, if you’re up for it, and it inspires you, share what you’ve written in the comments below!

Of Blood and Fire

Posted on by staceyjaine in Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Writing

It’s done. I’ve not only finished an epic 5,000 word story, but I’ve submitted it too. It’s currently winging its way into the hands of the Dragon Soul Press editors as I type.

I just hope they like it.

I’ve spent the last forty-five minutes winding down since I did a mad dash to write what I thought was 400 words but was really 600 words in as little time as possible tonight so I could get the story finished.

It took two hours.

Sadly, it’s not much of an update but I had to share nonetheless, now that the excitement coupled with nerves has died down.

Bye March

Posted on by staceyjaine in Indie Author, Stacey Jaine McIntosh

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Another month has come to a close. I spent most of it waiting on things that didn’t arrive and trying to write amongst the anxiety that came with waiting on those things that didn’t arrive. Suffice to say, March has been utterly exhausting.

Rewarding, but exhausting.

I was looking over my submissions for the quarter and I’ve subbed twelve stories and two poems. With five stories still pending completion. Not to mention I’ve written a whopping thirty-two blog posts. While I’ve had two rejections this year, on stories I felt had promise, I’m trying to not let that get me down.

And right now, I’m battling the clock on two projects. Le Fay is probably the most pressing, but another… so far untitled, is proving a mite more interesting. It’s what I like to call Arthurian Legends meets The Vampire Diaries. I couldn’t resist throwing vampires at fire breathing dragons and seeing what came about. Turns out even with Le Fay not quite finished, Morgan’s not letting go. Not that she ever has and I doubt if she ever will.

It’s early days but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to finish the third instalment, Pendragon, ready for a late May release.

So, that’s what I achieved. What’s something you achieved?

 

 

Week Twelve

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

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It’s goodbye to yet another week of the 365 Writing Challenge and I’ve written a grand total of 2,200 words… which is slightly up from last week.

So much has happened this week, most of which I have already blogged about. So, I won’t go into it again. Suffice to say, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the poetry anthology from Dragon Soul Press that has my two little poems in it, when it releases in June.

I also received my copy of Spring’s Blessing in the mail, which featured my short story, The Dawning of Spring. If you haven’t gotten your hands on a copy you can do so here.

Well that’s about it for this week.

Happy Writing.

 

Le Fay is Coming!

Posted on by staceyjaine in publishing, short stories, Stacey Jaine McIntosh

For all those who may be wondering, the second installment of my novelette series, Le Fay is in the works. I’m about two thirds of the way into it and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be ready for release mid April.

It is the prequel to Morrighan and tells the story of Morgan and how she met Prince Arthur and the domino effect that befalls her which follows in the wake of her father’s death and propels her mother, Igraine, into the arms of Uther Pendragon.

For those that are familiar with the Arthurian Legends of old, my version is a little different in that there is a paranormal undertone to this story, but to tell you more would be giving too much away. I do however hope you’ll enjoy it.

For now though, I’ll leave you with a teensy excerpt and a look into Le Fay.

Enjoy!

He was standing right in front of her; Morgan couldn’t move. She licked her lips that had all of a sudden gone dry and remembered to breathe, and blink, least she be accused of staring at his all too beautiful face.

“Hello Morgan.”

Morgan shook her head, momentarily breaking the daze. He was too pretty to be real. Too pretty by far to be a boy. None of the boys Morgan knew had hair down to their shoulders.

“H-how do you know my name?” Morgan stammered, taking one step backwards. She shouldn’t have been out on the sidewalk. She should have been inside, but the apartment was dark and cramped.

“I know a great deal about you, Morgan,” he said.

Morgan swallowed hard, as fear bubbled up inside. She felt as if she’d throw up any second.

“Who are you?” Morgan sucked air into her half-starved lungs.

It tasted like roses. The garden behind him was full of them. All white to match the fence that ran all the way along the street.

Morgan shouldn’t have been talking to him, she should have turned away and walked inside, but hopscotch was way more fun than playing inside by herself.

“Now, now Morgan, there’s no need to be hostile,” he said. “I thought you could do with somebody to keep you company. It must get awfully lonely playing by yourself all the time.”

“Who are you?” she shrieked, so loud, that he reached out to put a hand over her mouth to shush her.

“If you promise to be quiet, I will tell you,” he said. “Do you promise, Morgan?”

Morgan nodded, and he took his hand away from her mouth. “Yes… I promise. Now tell me who you are!” her voice, while practically inaudible, was pitched.

“I’m Arthur. Arthur Pendragon,” he said, his blue eyes shining like sapphires.

“Arthur Pendragon,” Morgan repeated.

Despite the presence of a lisp when she said his name, Arthur forced a smile. “Yes.”

“Are you real?” she asked.

“Of course, I am!” he said with an air of indignation. “Aren’t all faeries real?”

Binding Rayne (Keepers of the Talisman Book 1) Book Review

Posted on by staceyjaine in Book Reviews, Stacey Jaine McIntosh

43598164._UY500_SS500_So, I got a hold of a copy of Binding Rayne by Rowan Thalia and I was excited to read it because I like the genre and I loved the cover, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype in my head.

I think Rayne’s relationship with her love interests developed a little too quickly, but I think that’s just because I prefer a more slow burn.
Overall a good book and I’ll be sure to pick up the next one.

4 stars out of 5.

You can purchase a copy of Binding Rayne from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07MT5FJNN

Week Eleven

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

Today is the end of the eleventh week of the 365 Writing Challenge and I’ve managed to write 2,100 words and get some editing done on a few of my short stories I wrote last month. I’m still waiting on my scores for Phase 4 of Fantasia Divinity’s Interpretations Contest, but I’m hopeful they’ll hit my inbox very soon.

In other writing news, I have four short stories awaiting completion so that I can submit them to various anthologies, plus close to a dozen drabbles to write for another submission opportunity.

March is beginning to feel just a little overwhelming of late, but I’m trudging through and I’ll make it through to the other end, hopefully unscathed. And who knows, maybe by the end of the month, I’ll have a couple of acceptances to add to my pile of ever growing acceptances.

Until next week. Happy writing.

10 Things You Don’t Know About Me

Posted on by staceyjaine in Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Stuff

So, in light of today’s events I thought I would post something more lighthearted and have some fun along the way. Maybe even manage to lift people’s spirits as well.

My heart is with New Zealand at this tragic time. May those who lost their lives find peace and those who are injured, recover.

And now without further ado, here’s my list:

1. I can play the piano.

2. There’s a replica of Excalibur sitting in my living room.

3. I don’t like beer.

4. I’ve visited Heath Ledger’s Memorial Monument at Heathcote Reserve.

5. I love Hawaiian Pizza. Pineapple is gold!

6. I’ve met Juliet Marillier, Claudia Gray and James Masters and have each of their signatures.

7. I have two tattoos. A Pegasus and a Leo sign

8. I think sloths are creepy.

9. I wrote my first novel, Charity, at eighteen and I’ve got no plans to publish it… ever!

10. I’ve never read Stephen King. I did watch the movie version of The Mist with my husband and handled it relatively okay, until the final scene.

Week Seven to Ten

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

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And, I dropped the ball. I find it ironic that the last post I made to this series was on February 11th. Today marks the tenth week of the 365 Writing Challenge.

These last four weeks I’ve written roughly 8,796 new words, finished my Phase 5 short story for Fantasia Divinity Magazine‘s competition and started work on Le Fay, the prequel to Morrighan.

Lost, my collection of short stories, was published on March 28th on kindle and paperback.

If you haven’t purchased a copy, I’d love it if you would consider doing so.

Here’s the LINK!

Until next week.

I hope.

Fingers crossed.

 

Beauty

Posted on by staceyjaine in Anthologies, Indie Author, paranormal, short stories, Stacey Jaine McIntosh

My short story, Beauty is being published in Iron Faerie Publishing‘s forthcoming anthology, Fable.

It’s a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, which was first recorded by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740.

I’ll share more as soon as I’m able.

Week Six

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

Today is the end of the sixth week of the 365 Writing Challenge during which I’ve written 3,199 words. It’s up from last week and actually feels pretty good.

I’m still chipping away at my fifth contest entry. It’s going slower than I would like because of the research. There’s not a great deal of information about my person of interest. Plenty of movies and tv shows but when you’re trying to get down to what really happened… it’s a little more difficult. Thankfully it’s not due til the end of this month, so I have time to get it finished. Hopefully, the judges like it.

All in all a good week, writing wise. I hope to be as productive next week.

I promise I’ll keep you all posted.

Week Five

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

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This is the fifth week of the 365 Writing Challenge. I’ve written a grand total of 2,100 words this week and had one of my short stories that I subbed to Fantasia Divinity rejected. 😔

Lost, is however in the works, and will be released by the end of February.

I’m still hard at work on my fifth and final contest entry. It’s proving harder than I thought to get right, but I’m persevering.

Until next week.

 

Story Submissions

Posted on by staceyjaine in Anthologies, publishing, short stories, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Writing

I’ve been writing more and submitting a lot of stories this month and it seems to be paying off.

I received an acceptance email from Blood Song Books in my inbox for four of my drabbles to appear in their upcoming anthology, Curses and Cauldrons.

The stories are: Down the Rabbit Hole, The Keeper, The Witches Mark & Undersea.

Each is just 100 words but packs a punch in their own way I think.

I can’t wait to see this anthology in print. There’s nothing better than holding a copy of a book that has your work inside.