“The Land of Dreams,” a Story Time Review

May 31, 2019May 30, 2019 Lynette M Burrows

This week Story Time Reviews Kate O’Connor’s “The Land of Dreams.” This short story first appeared in August 2013 in the online magazine, The Colored Lens. The Centropic Oracle published the audio version of “The Land of Dreams” August 17, 2018. Narrated by Larissa Thompson with music by Kyle Ohori and Ryley Kirkpatrick, this story runs 37 minutes. The Narrator Larissa Thompson is an actor and filmmaker living and working in Vancouver, BC (Canada). She’s a big fan of make-believe and will find any excuse possible to dress up in costume. No stranger to independent productions – or being interviewed on video or audio formats – she has a passion for sharing stories she loves with the world. (Thanks to Larissa’s website for this information and image.) Larissa does a pretty good job of reading the story. Male voices were a bit similar, but they were never confusing. She did a decent job at a country farmer accent. Though the accent skated toward cliché it was never a turn-off. The Author Kate O’Connor’s website gives this bio: Kate O’Connor was born in Virginia in 1982. She graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott in 2009 and now lives (and occasionally works) in the […]

An Early Draft Outtake from My Soul to Keep.

Outtake: An Early Prelude

January 16, 2019January 13, 2019 Lynette M Burrows

Long ago, I wrote the first draft of My Soul to Keep. It was a fantasy with dragons. What was I thinking? My next draft or two or three were just as far afield as the fantasy, though they were closer to a science fictional approach. Then, after many discussions with my husband and friends, I came up with the alternate world in which the story now takes place. I thought readers might enjoy a look back at some of the outtakes from those earlier drafts. So, without further ado, here’s an outtake: an early prelude to My Soul to Keep. ~~~~ A Testament for Modern Times The New Book of Samuel Chapter 3, verses 1-17 1. Now it came to pass, in the days after the Great War, that the children of the world did evil in the sight of the Lord. 2. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people and He delivered them into the days of darkness called the Great Depression. He overthrew the tables of their moneymakers and money changers; and gold became as water. 3. Thieves, drunkards, and murderers ruled the land known as America. The American leader, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was […]

A Surprise Written in Mud

January 2, 2019January 1, 2019 Lynette M Burrows

I received a free copy of the January/February 2019 copy of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine from my friend and mentor, Bill Wu. He autographed his story in this issue, personalized for me. It was a surprise “Written in Mud” on two levels. If you have a chance, grab a copy. This Tall Tale is worth it. “Written in Mud” is the story of four friends who try to figure out how they are going to survive after fraking for shale oil in Oklahoma caused massive earthquakes along the Humboldt fault in Kansas and the New Madris fault in Missouri. The friends are on what used to be a farm belonging to one of them. It is now the shores of Kansas. These four friends try to find a new occupation. They make a trip upriver and discover that the answer to their dilemma was…well, you’ll have to read it. Not only did Bill not give me any warning that he sent this to me, he didn’t tell me the story existed. It’s arrival was a Christmas surprise gifted to me without any expectations or obligations. This story is especially delightful to me because it contains a lot of nuggets or […]