standard ishue–Katie

Friday, October 30, 2015.

Release day for Seven Deadly Sins, A YA Anthology: SLOTH!

This is volume 2 of a seven-volume series highlighting Scribophile Young Adult authors. Here are the links! Please consider posting a review!

eBook version: http://amzn.to/1Xzopct

Print version: http://amzn.to/1jTUGNb

The second volume of Seven Deadly Sins, A YA Anthology is due to be released shortly. I’m going to whet your appetite for more excellent YA stories from Scribophile members.

Sloth. (/ˈsloʊθ/ SLOHTH, /ˈslɒθ/ SLOTH/) 1. Failure to do things one should. 2. A wasting due to lack of use; concerns a person, place, thing, skill or tangible ideal that would require maintenance, refinement or support to continue to exist. 3. Evil that exists when good men fail to act.

The writers of the Seven Deadly Sins Anthology celebrate and pay tribute to the emotional and mental turmoil that is being a teenager. Fourteen authors, fourteen stories. One theme: Sloth.

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THE AUTHORS AND THEIR STORIES:

The Locker Monster by Elizabeth Archer

Mom always told you to clean up, or you’d regret it. But how bad could your locker get?   Two girls find out it could get much stranger than they ever expected. . .

Elizabeth Archer lives in Texas and dreams of other places and other worlds. She writes poetry, fiction and too many novels. Her current passion is fairy tales. She has been published in a variety of places, including Seven Deadly Sins, A YA Anthology, Volume 1: Pride.

Connect with Elizabeth on Twitter @elizabetarcher

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Tangled Threads by Teresa Bassett

Art student Raine loves her boyfriend, but his lazy ways drive her crazy. When her self-portrait is included in an art exhibition, her relationship also comes under scrutiny.

Teresa Bassett is a writer from Cornwall’s ‘clay country,’ UK. She has written stories and articles for numerous magazines and anthologies, including Seven Deadly Sins, A YA Anthology, Volume 1: Pride. A graduate of the University of Bath, she has worked as a foreign tour guide, translator and teacher. Her favourite times are spent ‘up on the Downs,’ exploring Cornwall with husband Mark and rescued greyhound Jinty.

Connect with Teresa on her Website

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David and the Devil by RL Black

David Wheeler must get a book report finished, or else he won’t get his driver’s license. He comes up with a plan, only to find that the lazy way out may cost more than what he bargained for.

RL Black lives in Tennessee and writes mostly flash fiction. She is EIC of two online journals, and her own work has been published in journals across the web.

Connect with RL on her Website where she blogs and reblogs about writing, LOST, and art.

Twitter @rlblackauthor.

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Puzzled by Embe Charpentier

Jolene reluctantly cares for her aging aunt in the wilds of Mississippi. As more and more evidence of the supernatural sends her into unknown territory, an abandoned city, the Elysian Fields, provides the clue. Jolene dispenses with her lazy ways to fight back. But did she wait too long to avoid a fate more terrifying than death?

Embe Charpentier, a teacher by day and writer by night, has always been fascinated with the strange and unusual. Kellan Books will publish her paranormal romance novella, “Beloved Dead,” in December 2015. She has been published in nine magazines in 2015, including LitroNY, Gambling the Aisle, and Polychrome Ink. Embe is presently working with publishers at Written World Communications on a book series for struggling readers.

Connect with Embe at her Website or on Facebook

Twitter @embecharpentier

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Regrets and Reflections by Alisia Faust

Briana is enthusiastic about her first year in college, and soon gets caught up in a whirlwind romance with another woman. Distracted by her new-found love, Briana ignores her family’s attempts at communication. Now she is haunted by her past choices as she watches her mother’s funeral continue around her.

Alisia Faust began writing when she was between jobs with too much time on her hands. Now she’s juggling work and three different writing projects with no time on her hands. She is primarily a flash fiction writer because it caters to her ever-shortening attention span. Her stories have been published in Fifty Word Stories, 100 Worlds: Lightning-Quick SF and Fantasy Tales anthology, Apocrypha and Abstractions, SpeckLit, and Seven Deadly Sins, A YA Anthology, Volume 1: Pride.

Connect with Alisia at her Website

Twitter @eurasianflavour

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Natural Enemies by Sylvia Heike

Zombies aren’t the only thing wanting to eat you in the woods, but only one person can see that, and no one believes a teenager. How can he get adults and other kids to see that the sluggish zombies–dead and sick and thus relatively harmless–aren’t the real danger? Something else roams outside the camp, hungry and waiting.

Sylvia Heike lives in Finland. When not writing, she enjoys hare spotting in the garden and long walks in the forest. Her stories have appeared in freeze frame fiction, Luna Station Quarterly, Molotov Cocktail, and other publications.

Connect with Sylvia at her Website or say hello on Twitter @sylviaheike

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Five Definitions of Sloth, With Examples by Rae Kennedy

Good things can happen in foster homes. Terrible things can happen in foster homes, things no one ever wants to discuss. When her foster mother requests a written task, Maisie takes the opportunity to write a letter to the authorities that will reveal years of neglect, abuse and alcoholism. The question is: will they believe her?

Rae Kennedy works for a Sixth Form College in Hampshire, England. Her hobbies include eating avocado sandwiches and sitting in libraries pretending to write. She hates slugs.

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Micro-motivity by Chris Kennedy

Greg wasn’t like the rest of the kids in his class. He had to forego college in order to run the Youth Hostel his stepfather owned. But Greg didn’t mind at all. He enjoyed cooking for the guests and getting to know them. He had a time schedule to get everything done, along with an amazing system to encourage the visitors to help out. Then what was the problem with his stepfather?

Chris Kennedy lives in Hampshire and works for a modern communications company when he isn’t typing or researching for his master’s degree. He took up writing at the insistence of his wonderful wife and three clever children so that he could ‘stop annoying them.’ Once he started he found he couldn’t stop. His perfect holiday is a sunny Mediterranean beach as close as possible to the last remains of an ancient civilization. That’s where he gets his ideas.

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Eternal Life by Yvette O’Kay

A word, nothing but a simple word created a being of pure energy. It vampires off of us, our actions are what sustains it’s life. You can almost never see it. But in the middle of the night when you are sitting all alone and the only light is coming from the television, you can see it at work. You reach for the remote, but it’s gone… and you discover you’re too lazy to go and get it. So, instead, you fall asleep, and it survives.

Yvette O’Kay is a writing goddess that has been writing ever since she was a little girl. She is from New York and this is her very first publication. Yvette is a full time student and author and often has troubles balancing the two, but in the end the satisfaction of finishing a story outweighs anything else for her.

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the truth by Blake Parker

Everyone around Olivia is frustrated that she isn’t living up to her potential. Her mother tells her she won’t put up with an indolent teenager. Her teacher gazes upon her with clear disappointment. But there is someone who knows the truth about Olivia.

 Blake Parker is of the female gender, since the name itself doesn’t give that away. Physically, she resides in Canada. Otherwise, she lives in the contrivance of whatever place she’s wanting to visit – like Oslo. At times, Blake’s love of travel merges her imagination with reality. In day-to-day life, Blake loves paradoxes. For example, the paradox of supporting her obsession with scotch on a limited budget. Or the paradox of running her own business as a social media consultant while, to the chagrin of her friends, never actually using social media for personal use. Somewhere, in between the paradoxes and fantasy of living in far-away places, Blake finds the time, and enjoyment, to write.

Connect with Blake on Twitter @iwrotethis_

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One More Level by John Rickett

In the game, World of Dragons, Josh has mountains of gold, a sprawling castle and a slew of followers. At home, his soccer gear sits unused in the corner; he hasn’t moved from his chair in months; urine stains his pant legs. His mother worries she’s losing her son to the virtual world. As Josh wastes away, both realize that when you hate your reality, you construct another.

John Rickett dwells in the armpit of America, where he claws at the walls, escaping his suburban nightmare by performing woodworking ninjutsu and moonlighting as a word-sorcerer. His post-apocolyptic fairytale retelling, Three Brittle pigs, recently appeared in The Molotov Cocktail and has been selected to appear in their first print anthology.

Connect with John on Twitter @JohnnyRickett

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Earth Ethics 5~Ö: Sloth by Kathy Steinemann

Four adolescent Zarminixian recruits must learn about Earth before they infiltrate the planet. The time could be the future—or now. They struggle to understand the human sin known as sloth. Zarkaa, Vaardon, Kahilii, and Raiidorr must provide the correct answers to a pop quiz within two time units. However, Professor Wixnaar puts an unusual obstacle in their path. Will anyone succeed? Or will they all be sent to the principal for expunction and reassignment?

Kathy Steinemann has loved writing for as long as she can remember. As a child, she scribbled poems and stories. During the progression of her love affair with words, she won public-speaking and writing awards. Her career has taken varying directions, including positions as editor of a small-town paper, computer-network administrator, and webmaster. Her work has appeared in various online and print publications, including Fine Linen, Saturday Night Reader, Unbroken, Vræyda Literary, and Mash Stories. Kathy tries to write something every day.

Connect with Kathy on her Website and Facebook

Twitter @KathySteinemann

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Treasures by K.T. Stephens

Jay made a mistake. Now his mom sends him across the country to live with his dad, who he hasn’t seen since he was three years old. Jay is thrust into a world of bachelorhood and unreasonable rules. After his first day at the new school, his father insists on a schedule change: drop his favorite class to do community service. He complies, but when he arrives at the job, Jay finds much more than yard work: an old man with a strange story, a treasure hunt involving his father and a foreigner who has been searching for peace for over sixty years. But the biggest surprise is yet to come.

K.T. Stephens writes YA and children’s books and is especially enamored of anything having to do with the circus. Her story, “Balancing Act,” appears in Seven Deadly Sins, A YA Anthology, Volume 1: Pride. K.T.’s stories tend to be multi-generational, as she loves to explore the past and how it relates to the present. Her adult persona, Katie Stephens, has numerous literary and romance publications, the most recent through Mélange Publishing. Although her grown children are scattered east and west across the country, she lives solidly in mid-America with two kitties and a husband who keeps asking when she’s really going to retire.

Connect with K.T. on Facebook

Twitter @standardishue

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By Birth Alone by M.J. Travis

Seventeen-year-old Brian Whitley takes his athletic abilities for granted. While the team’s second-string quarterback works tirelessly on the field, Brian skips practices, stays up late and feels entitled to the favors and admiration that come from being East Boone High’s winning quarterback. With the State Championship game only a few days away, will Brian realize too late that putting in the effort benefits not only the team, but himself?

M.J. Travis is a native southern Californian who began writing four years ago when her second child was no longer in need of constant supervision. Her love of books began at an early age. She mostly writes short stories for YA and children, but has just started to leap into the workings of a novel. “By Birth Alone” is her first publication.

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THE ARTIST AND LAYOUT EDITOR:

Luke Spooner, a.k.a. ‘Carrion House’ and ‘Hoodwink House,’ currently lives and works in the South of England. Having graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a first class degree he is now a full-time illustrator and writer for just about any project that piques his interest. Despite regular forays into children’s books and fairy tales, for which he has won awards for literary and artistic merit, his true love is anything macabre, melancholy or dark in nature and essence. He believes that the job of putting someone else’s words into a visual form, to accompany and support their text, is a massive responsibility as well as being something he truly treasures.

Luke can be found on Facebook, and at his Carrion House and Hoodwink House websites.

If you like this cover, you should see his other designs at freeze frame fiction!

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D.Laserbeam, our Layout Editor, has been an icon at Scribophile for many years, so it’s no wonder we jumped at the chance to have Dino do the e-book formatting for the SDS anthologies. Dino writes, edits (Laserbeam Edits), is the founder & editor-in-chief of freeze frame fiction, and oh, yeah–is an engineer in real life!