A tiny hand,
Grasping mine.
So delicate,
So frail and fine.
My lips move,
A promise made.
My whole past,
Away it fades.
The one thing,
I won’t mess up.
This weak grip,
The world it stops.
All I wasn’t,
Now I am.
My baby boy,
My darling Sam.
Author: mariasjostrand
Author of Saving Hell, a comedic fantasy about optimism, the afterlife, and a surprisingly pleasant Hell.
Enjoy my many free short stories and poems, and check out my novel at amazon.co.uk!
Specialising in the Supernatural
A/N: This piece was actually written in collaboration with Emma Bertelsen, and it is an extract from a longer novel. Or at least the extract from an idea of a novel 😉
Daniel awoke with a pounding head and a dry throat. His left arm was asleep, caused by the man currently resting his head on it. Jacob was it?
He was still asleep, thank God, and Daniel tried to remember when they’d gotten back to his apartment.
Slowly pulling his arm back, he held his breath as Jacob only reacted by rolling over in his sleep and mumbling something intelligible. Sitting up, Daniel reached over to the night stand to get the two aspirins lying there. Next to the pills lay a small bag of pixie dust that was easily hidden away in the drawer. As an extra precaution he made sure to lock it. It’d cost him a pretty sum, and Daniel was in no mood to come up with a lie to explain the shimmering powder to his current bed partner.
He should probably go through his apartment before Jacob woke up. Make sure it was completely magic-free. What a bother.
Home
A/N: Tried my hands at micro poetry (inspired by Sarah Doughty) and it turned out about twice as long as planned. Oh, well 🙂 Let me know what you think
I might
Be burning
With a desire
A yearning
Damned Sundays
Sundays were meant for relaxing. Not for having panic attacks.
Clara had used to love Sundays. She would stay in her pyjamas the entire day, watching television and eating chocolate. She loved Sundays. Or at least she’d used to.
Then she’d decided to become a wedding planner, and Sunday had become the day of her nightmares.
Friday and Saturday were quite awful too, but for some reason Sunday had been the day that Clara had the hardest time giving up. Suddenly Sundays weren’t for hot chocolate and long baths, but rather for listening to complaints and working as hard as ever. Tuesday was her most relaxed day of the week, but it just wasn’t the same. She missed her Sundays, and this particular Sunday was particularly stressful.
It was in the middle of a very prestigious wedding party for a very demanding, but very wealthy couple, and Clara couldn’t wait until she no longer needed to hear the bride’s shrill voice yell at her. The entire day had been one little problem after another, and it was first now that Clara felt safe enough to take a deep breath and relax.
Remnant
A/N: Here is another Sarah Doughty poem (I do love her poetry) 🙂
And for those whose interested, I just wanted to let you know that you can now also find my website under http://www.mariasjostrand.com
“Why didn’t you
fight for me?” I cried.
“Because, darling,”
you breathed,
“there was nothing
left to fight for.”
© Sarah Doughty
Time
A/N: Another short poem, but I am however working on a longer piece (cirka 15 pages), if anyone prefers my short stories.
Time
Time to study.
Time to stress.
Time to work.
To get success.
Time to worry.
Time to drink.
Time to forget.
No time to think.
Time to regret.
Time to doubt.
Now time for love.
But time ran out.
Precision…
If you like the poem, then follow the link and check out some of her other work too 😉
I never fell in love with you…
You made me trip,
And then mocked me for
Lying on the floor.
How Long Should a Fantasy Book Be?
It’s a question often asked by aspiring authors wondering if their manuscript is several thousand words too long or short, but it’s also an intriguing one for readers to consider: is there an ideal length for a fantasy novel?
Every book is different and for any suggested word or page count you see, you are likely to encounter several popular fantasy books that are outside of it. Nonetheless, as someone who reads a lot in the genre and has also submitted work to competitions, agents and publishers, I thought I’d tackle this topic from three different perspectives:
- how long popular published fantasy novels are,
- how long the industry (agents, publishers, competitions) prefers them to be,
- how long readers prefer them to be.
View original post 1,595 more words
Exclusivity
A/N: Another Sarah Doughty poem – do you guys agree with it or not? 🙂
If you dare
to think
for yourself,
rationality
and intelligence
become mutually
exclusive.
© Sarah Doughty
Source: Exclusivity
Pride and Prejudice: A Feminist Criticism
A/N: This week’s post is an academic essay on Pride and Prejudice with a focus on feminism.
The iconic story of Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, but even though it was written by Jane Austen it was not published under her name. This was because that during the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was still considered shocking and scandalous for a woman to write for money.
This meant that when a book was published under an anonymous name it was often because it was in fact written by a woman. This also held true for the rest of Austen’s published work such as Sense and Sensibility, which was also published anonymously.
Continue reading “Pride and Prejudice: A Feminist Criticism”
Maria Sjöstrand 