Category: Short Stories

Book Review: Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies by Hannah Carter

Book Review: Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies by Hannah Carter

Twenty Hills Publishing is a fairly new publishing house that caught my attention earlier this year as a Christian publishing house that tries to emphasize Christian values and light-centered stories without requiring those stories to be 100% squeaky clean in every context. When I entered a giveaway over the summer, one of the entries was to sign up to one of their street teams, so I ended up receiving an ARC of Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies to review and was glad to have the opportunity to read something from Twenty Hills Publishing.

(Required disclaimer that though I received a free copy to review, the following opinions are my own.)

What is Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies about?

The country of Umbra is caught in a war between its magical history filled with spellcasters and the new modern revolution. At the core of this civil war is the missing princess, who is prophesied to end the war and put the spellcasters back in a position of power.

To figure out where the heir is, the spellcasters throw a ball and invite all twenty-year-old women to see if one of them is the princess.

Though she’s forced to attend, Hazel Cartwright has no magical powers, so she can’t possibly be the missing heir . . .

Right?

Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies is a short story full of political intrigue, a missing princess, magic versus modernity, banter, and spies.


This story starts off with a very Anastasia-esque premise, albeit Continue reading “Book Review: Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies by Hannah Carter”

Book Review: Sailing Magic by Order of the Pen Press

Book Review: Sailing Magic by Order of the Pen Press

I haven’t reviewed an anthology in a while, but while at Realm Makers I finally picked up a copy of Sailing Magic from Order of the Pen Press! This is an anthology that I’ve been really interested in since before it came out–in fact, I’d intended to submit a story to it myself but didn’t get around to writing one in time–and it was just as fun as I’d hoped!

About Sailing Magic

Ships are a timeless symbol of adventure, promising individuals the opportunity to explore worlds unknown. Sailing Magic features ten exciting stories that will take you on fantastical journeys to lands you’ve never seen before!

Continue reading “Book Review: Sailing Magic by Order of the Pen Press”

Flash Fiction: Remember

Flash Fiction: Remember

Every year, Rosalie Valentine hosts a Flash Fiction Dash, which is a couple of weeks in which authors across the blogosphere (and beyond) write flash fiction based on a prompt assigned by Rosalie, post them on their blogs if they have them, and then Rosalie gathers them all into one glorious wrap-up post at the end. I saw it last year, but thought I couldn’t write anything that short, but this year I decided it would be a good way to get back into short stories in a more gradual and fun way… and I was basically right. The only problem is… with any new short story comes new characters that I have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH beyond the story, so now these characters are rattling around in my brain.

But enough of my yakking. Here’s the prompt I started with: Continue reading “Flash Fiction: Remember”

Preptober Prompts Catch-Up

Preptober Prompts Catch-Up

This is super late (five days late, in the case of the first prompt), but I’m catching up on Preptober Prompts as I promised yesterday.

We’re starting with Leila’s final prompt: Use an adventure that happened to you in the fall as inspiration for an event in your story.

I don’t have adventures, so this should be interesting. My life is super boring most of the time. (I might have to go digging through old journals for this one.) Continue reading “Preptober Prompts Catch-Up”

Short Story Sunday: Salvation

Short Story Sunday: Salvation

I have another short story instead of a snippet this week, because I still haven’t made a lot of progress on my stories. (I have made more progress on writing-related stuff, just not actual drafts.) This is something of a mish-mash of genres, but it’s primarily sci-fi/post-apocalyptic and it was a lot of fun to write. Enjoy. :)


Continue reading “Short Story Sunday: Salvation”