I’ve reached a milestone on creating the final Strange Stories book so to celebrate I’m giving away a free signed copy of one of my books, in my #FreeVBook giveaway.
Continue reading “#FreeVBook Giveaway”Category: Strange Stories
Notebook
Strange Worlds
Surreal Stories and Tainted Tales
Slip into fifteen dark tales that show the world through a strange new perspective. Take your imagination on a journey that begins before birth and continues long after death, stopping off to marvel, tremble and wonder at the strange worlds in between.
Meet zombies, vampires, leprechauns, even a genie, as you have never seen them before. Ponder what the world feels like to a child as yet unborn, spend a sleepless night with a would-be murderer and see what becomes of the angel who trades places with one of the most vulnerable in our society.
Find out what life feels like when you can no longer rely on your senses, when you have no-one left to trust, not even yourself…
Amazon Reviewers say…
“Highly recommended if you like your fiction short, thought-provoking and beautifully written.”
“from start to finish the author made me feel eager to continue reading rather than put it down for the next day. The stories created a mixture of emotions from happiness, intrigue and sadness.”
“As the book progresses, the journey gets darker and darker, and takes us into a strange and alien world. At times I had to put the book down for a few days in order to think about the complex ideas that Victoria presented to me. Victoria’s writing flows with an eloquence that is becoming her own style and is a pleasure to read. I thoroughly recommend this book, but be warned that you will encounter ideas and creatures in very strange worlds.”
You can read more Amazon reviews of Strange Worlds here
You can buy Strange Worlds as both a paperback and an e-book from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, or download it in multiple formats from Smashwords. You can also pick up a copy at Barnes and Noble, in paperback or as a nook book, or order it at your local library.
The Strange Stories Series – twisted fairytales that aren’t for children
You can read more about the first book of the Strange Stories series, Strange Love, here. There is no particular reading order to the series.
Strange Love
Short Stories and Twisted Tales
Love can bring us together, but it can also tear us apart.
Dive into ten darkly different tales sharing the theme of love. Love can be pure or warped, but it is shown here warts and all, and one thing is for sure, there are no Hollywood endings to be found between these pages.
Maternal love turns to obsession, infidelity leads to heartbreak, and a prince ends up very disappointed with his lot.
You may have seen one or two of these characters before, but never in this light.
Twisted perspectives on old tales, and new stories whose characters will stay with you forever…
To love is man’s greatest gift, and his greatest curse…
Amazon Reviewers say…
“Love is tough to write. The balance between honest emotion and hallmark diabetic coma is a fine one but it’s one that’s skilfully executed in this little gem.”
“If you took the writing skills and imagination of Jorge Borger, the strange humour of Mikhail Bulgakov, a pinch of the wit of Terry Pratchett and a big dose of originality you end up with a book like Strange Love.”
“The author showed such great imagination and her crafting of each tale was beautifully done, even the stories with a darker side to them. My particular favourite was a reworking of the classic story Rapunzel. To my mind it was even better than the original.”
You can read more reviews for Strange Love on Amazon here
Strange Love is available as both a paperback and an e-book from both Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
It is available from Barnes and Noble as both a paperback and a Nook book, and is available in a variety of digital formats from Smashwords, or you can order it from your local library.
The Strange Stories Series – twisted fairytales that aren’t for children
You can find out more about the second book in the Strange Stories series here. There is no particular reading order to the series.
We’ve Never Had It So Good.
Shit, my head is banging. I didn’t think I was that drunk last night, but it feels like someone came in the night and replaced my tongue with a sock full of sand. I can’t even remember the election result, let alone getting home and going to bed. Maybe I fell asleep before it was announced. That would be embarrassing at work thank God I’m on annual leave.
I never really should have agreed to go to the work’s election party night. I don’t know what Tim, our manager, was thinking when he organised it. He’d seen the divide in the coffee room whenever the conversation came around to the hot political topic of the day. Nick and I had almost come to blows on more than one occasion. The whole team in a confined space with alcohol and the live election results? Great idea. I tried to make an excuse about previous plans, but Tim pulled me aside when our break was over and strongly suggested I reconsider.
The Greatest Gift
I keep moving against the cold, never stopping my steady, ponderous progression. My body is warm – almost too warm actually, bundled as I am in heavy furs – but winter’s chill still bites at my nose, and my feet are tingly and numb.
It is rapidly becoming dark, and the snow is glittering with the reflected colours of Christmas lights that are just starting to come on. It might cheer the soul, if you were strolling along hand in hand with your lover, or heading home to your children. To me this day is always the saddest of the season.
They start to hang the lights earlier nowadays, though they have largely forgotten the reason. Some people have them up for the entire month of December, small points of cheer and defiance against the darkness. But today is December 27th, and soon they will all be gone. All the build up, all the belief, all the energy that built to wake me is slowly ebbing away. I feel myself weakening already. It is becoming harder and harder to maintain my stride, my breath wheezing now in asthmatic gasps. Continue reading “The Greatest Gift”
The Door
I have a jar full of story prompts and sometimes I pick one out at random to write a story about. This is one of those stories. The prompt that came out of the jar was – a new door appears in your home. This is what I came up with…
The Door
It was a sleepy Sunday morning when I first noticed the new door. It could have appeared on the Saturday night – I had been out drinking with my boyfriend Robert that night and was pretty distracted at bedtime, I might not have noticed it. It definitely wasn’t there Saturday morning.
My house isn’t the biggest – just a living room with a small kitchen attached downstairs, a bedroom and small bathroom upstairs. It’s not like I have a huge old rambling house where a door might be overlooked. Continue reading “The Door”
Angels
First published in my notebook January 12, 2013, a later version of this story made it into the second Strange Stories book, Strange Worlds- Surreal Stories and Tainted Tales.
Angels
It was raining when I met my wife. It was about two in the morning, the streets just starting to fill with belligerent drunks. She had been out with a friendbut the friend got lucky and left her to get home alone. She had run out of money but decided to walk home as she didn’t live far from the town centre. To this day she insists that she would have gotten home just fine if her stiletto heel hadn’t caught in a drain, breaking the heel and twisting her ankle quite badly.
I was tipsy myself, having left my mates because they were already
out drinking me, and settling down for a serious session of liver murdering. I had a headache and was just finding it all a bit much. I had hoped the cool air would clear my head.
out drinking me, and settling down for a serious session of liver murdering. I had a headache and was just finding it all a bit much. I had hoped the cool air would clear my head.
I offered her help, maybe hoping if I’m honest that tonight would turn out to be a good night after all. As soon as I got close I realised she was far too far gone to know what she was doing. I couldn’t take advantage, but I couldn’t leave her there, easy prey for any passing predator. I could have put her in a taxi, I suppose, but it just didn’t feel right. She was so ridiculously beautiful, and so ridiculously drunk. It didn’t feel safe.
Finding God
You mean I never told you how I found God? What, never? You won’t believe me anyway. I mean, I wouldn’t. Oh you still want to know? Ok, here’s what happened. It was a few years back and I was on on a road trip. Sheila had left me a couple months before and I was looking for something. Not God or religion, or anything like that. I suppose you could say I was looking for myself, although I didn’t know it at the time. I just had the urge to wander. I was just passing through the town, on my way somewhere more interesting. It was that kind of town, if you understand what I mean, just somewhere to pass through, a few houses, a bar, a dilapidated church. A two horse town, if they’d had another horse. Nothing to write home about.My car had broken down a couple of miles back and I had walked into town to see if there was a mechanic, or even a car rentals place anywhere nearby. It was easily ninety degrees in the shade though, my head was pounding and my legs were tired, so I ended up heading straight to the bar instead. I was blinded by the gloom when I first walked in, couldn’t see much of the dingy exterior to start. A bored barmaid gave me a tall glass of water and I chugged down half of it without stopping. Then I ordered a bud and looked around for somewhere to sit, blinking the sunspots out off my vision. The bar was empty except for me and some old guy at the end of the bar, nodding into his whiskey, so I wandered to the other end of the bar, sat heavily and laid my head on the table. Everything from the last few months seemed to catch up with me then – Sheila leaving, losing my job, gambling away all of my money, being stuck in this ghost town that was hotter than hell.“Oh God!” I groaned into the table.
“Well it’s hardly my fault is it?”
Continue reading “Finding God”