42 Stories Anthology Presents: John Gerard Fagan

 

42 Stories Spotlight: John Gerard Fagan

Author of “IN DREAMS, JUST AS IN LIFE, TO DIE IS TO DIE”

Location: Scotland

Writing Space: Home

Social Media: @JohnGerardFagan | Website

Bio:

John Gerard Fagan is a Scottish writer and author of the Japan-based memoir Fish Town and Scottish literature novel Silent Riders of the Sea. He writes in Gaelic, Scots, and English and has published over 100 short stories and poems.

Featured in 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42²

Award-Winning Story: IN DREAMS, JUST AS IN LIFE, TO DIE IS TO DIE

Favorites:

Books/Authors: Suttree by Cormac McCarthy, Fires on the Plain by Shohei Ooka, and The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe

Places: The Isle of Skye and Hokkaido

On Writing:

“To write what you want to read. Forget about an audience, outlining, or trying to copy a popular style or author and just write and see what comes out. If you’re writing just to make money, then you’ll never write something worth reading.”

Greatest Achievement in Writing:

Having my memoir Fish Town selling worldwide.

First Creation:

“When I was 10, I wrote a comic strip about a superhero toddler called Super Sulk and his best pal Wee Jimmy Nothin who beat up a group of criminals trying to rob their gym. They went on lots of adventures, mainly fighting baddies all over the world. It was never published, nor should it have been, but it started my love of writing. I still have it all these years later.”

Writing Goals:

To keep improving my craft and be a better writer year on year. My debut in fiction, a Scottish literature verse novel, Silent Riders of the Sea, will be published in November 2024 and has been a long time in the making. I hope it will emulate the success of my memoir Fish Town.

You can find the full anthology at 42storiesanthology.com

Merch Store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/bamwrites/shop

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Sharon Black

 

🖋 Interview: Sharon Black – 42 Stories Anthology Contributor & Promoter

Full Name: Sharon Black

Story Title in the Anthology: A HAIR BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A HAIR

Location: Smith Center, Kansas

Writing Space: Home and at work

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🧠 Bio

Sharon Black has written stories for thirty years and one film, Home on the Range. She was an extra in the movie Sod and Stubble. Sharon writes for Positive News for You and has won several writing awards in Kansas.

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🎶 Favorite Things

Songs/Bands: Simple Minds – “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”

Movies/Shows/Actors: Ed Harris, Johnny Depp

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🎧 While Creating…

I listen to Classical Music when I write, because the music inspires a plot or character.

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🧬 Creative Roots...

I discovered Eudora Welty is a relative through ancestry search on the Black side.

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💡 What Inspires You?

I make art with objects such as shells, jewelry, junk. I recently became interested in Tramp Art.

Mainly, for writing, I find a true story and write about it, either fiction or nonfiction. I have begun to write more screenplays, and to my amazement have placed in contests.

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📘 First Published Work

“Deeply Rooted” published in Hadrosaur Tales.

🔗 Links of work

🌐 www.positivenewsforyou.com

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📚 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42²

Featuring Sharon Black and over 1,200 other unique voices across 42 themed chaps.

Explore the full anthology here: https://42storiesanthology.com

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Jessica Sarlin

 

✦ Interview with Jessica Sarlin ✦

Location: New Jersey, USA

Works in the Anthology: 

- Fight Chapter Cover 

- No Time For Canoodling; Toss Me That Wrench  

    (J. Sarling: Steampunk)

- I Think I Left The Stove On Back On Earth (L. 

   Cairns: Satire)

- Enough About Alim; Take My Picture Already 

   (Drea Casters: Sports)

Creative Space: Home

Website: jesssarlinwriter.wordpress.com

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✦ Bio

Jessica Sarlin (she/her) is a freelance writer and artist from New Jersey. Her work can be found in Door Is a Jar Literary Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Coffin Bell Journal, Gargantua (Air and Nothingness Press), The Forge, and other cool places.

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✦ Favorites

Movies/Shows/Actors

The Sting (with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and a hundred other amazing actors) is one of my favorites. It’s a nearly perfect movie. There is a fair amount of nostalgia there for me, too, because I remember watching it with my grandfather.

Islands/Beaches

I finally got to see Hawaii this year and it did not disappoint. Travel is so inspiring because it reminds you that you can get stuck in one perspective.

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✦ Writing Focus

Who is your target audience? Why?

I think my target audience is myself, essentially, because I write better when I am tickled by my own work. Luckily, my sense of self is hazy, so I could be anyone!

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✦ Process & Reflection

How do you relax?

My new thing is very long walks by myself in nature. I always find something surprising.

How do you handle rejection, and celebrate acceptance?

By now, I have a tough skin for the rejections. Some sting more than others, but I’m able to remind myself that it’s not personal or a catastrophic verdict on my work in general. I do have an ongoing struggle with celebrating the acceptances, though. I am uncomfortable tooting my own horn, even when a happy social media post (or a congratulatory cupcake!) is perfectly warranted and necessary. I’m getting better at it. GO TEAM GO.

What was the first piece you made, and was it purchased? Elaborate.

When I first started pursuing art as a career, I went back to school for graphic design. Most of my classmates were half my age. For one assignment, I made a larger decorative piece with recycled materials. I hand-painted birds on bottlecaps and plastic lids and pasted them on a flat tree structure made out of newspaper and cardboard. It was a hot mess, but cool. After class, a student asked if she could BUY it from me. I declined, but I was completely flattered and confused. Someone wanted to buy my homework?

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Socials & More:

https://jesssarlinwriter.wordpress.com

🛒 Check out the full 42 Stories Anthology here: https://www.42storiesanthology.com

å🎁 Anthology merch, mugs, and more: https://www.redbubble.com/people/bamwrites/shop

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Scott Russell Morris

 

🖋️ Author Feature: Scott Russell Morris

📍Location: Mount Vernon, Iowa, USA

🧠 Writing Space: My office on campus, sometimes at home, often in cafeterias for pre-writing

42 Stories Anthology Contribution:

Title: THE BEAST WHO HAUNTS THE MOON-FILLED WOODS

Name: Scott Russell Morris

🌐 Find More from Scott:

🔗 Website: www.skoticus.com

📸 Instagram: @magpiezines

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📚 Bio

Scott Russell Morris is a writer and enthusiast. He teaches at Cornell College. Scott is the creator and editor of Magpie Zines and the author of the essay collection Points of Tangency. He's obsessed with squirrels and owns over two-hundred boardgames.

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🍫 Favorite Sweets

Warm brownies, slightly undercooked, with vanilla ice cream. But also, all sweets. I have an incurable sweet-tooth and love trying new foods.

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👥 Do You Have a Writer Circle?

I used to have one, but I’ve just moved (from South Korea to Iowa, USA) and I haven’t really established an artists group yet. It’s on my to-do list. The group in Korea got me through a lot of low points in my creative life, so I really appreciate the power of meeting regularly with people who encourage your practice.

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✍️ What’s the Best Way to Write?

To sit down and not think too much about it. I’m a big proponent of just letting it come out. I refine and revise later, but at first, it needs to be a bit spontaneous, messy, imperfect.

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🛠️ On Editing...?

I do a little of all of them: I always have a few people—my partner, my writing group—look over the essays and stories I write before publishing them. I have hired professional work for my book-length projects.

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💡 What Inspires You?

Not entirely sure that this is “inspiration,” but I get really grumpy when I haven’t had time to do something creative. And it can be really anything: cooking a nice meal, coloring with the kids, doodling on a piece of paper. I just feel most at ease when I am being creative, it’s an excellent mental health thing for me.

I suppose you could say that the inspiration part for me is that I find real pleasure in having made something, and that I am also really pleased with seeing what others make. There’s no grand social goal (though I suppose I have some) but there is just a general overall good when I am being creative and appreciating creative work.

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🗂️ How Do You Organize Your Creative Talents?

Very poorly… I have a full time job, kids, and too many hobbies. I have a long to-do list of creative projects I’d love to tackle (zines to make, novels to write, collage arts, book arts).

Luckily, my job as a professor encourages artistic practice, but it’s still up to me to carve the time in.

It helps when I tell my partner what I have on my project wish-list because then she’ll encourage me to go do it. I’ve usually got a sticky-note (or five) with project ideas on my desk at all times. I have art supplies at home and at my office, and I go pretty much everywhere with my notebook, so I’m always ready when inspiration strikes.

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About 42 Stories Anthology

🛍️ Merch:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/bamwrites/shop

📖 Website:

https://42storiesanthology.com

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Jacqui Greaves Interview

 

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Jacqui Greaves Interview

Story in the anthology:
CITY PLAN FOR BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF HUMANS

Location: Aotearoa / New Zealand
Writing Space: Home office

Author Bio:
Jacqui Greaves is an award nominated, published author of speculative fiction from New Zealand. Most of her stories are weird and some are unnecessarily spicy. She doesn’t believe in happily-ever-after. She’s childless and lives with a cat, who has very sharp teeth.

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Do you have a writing circle?

Yes. I have an in-person critique group who are award-winning powerhouses of speculative fiction in New Zealand. Some days I pinch myself to make sure this life is real.

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What fuels your writing sessions?

Can’t start without coffee, then fueled by buckets of tea.

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What should humanity stop doing?

Hating women. I’m a feminist and make no bones about it.

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How do you unwind?

I read and stream weird shit. I also play golf, because my body requires exercise and I need to interact with others for my mental health.

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What drives your creativity?

I have a ridiculous imagination combined with an abundance of female rage. Writing permits me to express my fury in a way that doesn’t endanger lives. Speculative fiction allows me to challenge and critique aspects of human behaviours, society and culture from a safe perspective. I love stupid humans, and I want and expect more for and from us. My hope is that through my stories readers will not only be entertained, but they will also unwittingly question their values and unconscious prejudices.

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How do you manage your creative projects?

Messily. I struggle with the 24-hour system and sleep odd hours. I do my best to write five days a week. I’m a slow writer, so set myself the goal of writing 800 words per session. If I write over 1000 words in a day, I reward myself with wine. Right now, I’m juggling six interconnected space-opera novellas and writing to a deadline. It involves a teetering pile of bright coloured folders, a collection-bible festooned with sticky labels and a fat notebook filled with things to check and go back to. Organised chaos.

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Where can readers find you?

• Website: jacquigreaves-author.com

• Newsletter: Subscribe here

• Facebook: JacquiGreavesAuthor

• Mastodon: @jacquiG@mastodon.nz

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📘 About 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42²

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42² features 1,764 stories, each exactly 42 words long, spanning 42 different genres. This global collection brings together 1,281 authors from around the world—new voices, seasoned writers, and everything in between—united by the challenge of saying more with less.

Available now in print, ebook, and audiobook formats:
🔗 www.42storiesanthology.com
🛍️ Merch & author designs: BAMWrites Redbubble Shop

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Karla Hailer

 

Story in the anthology:

THE TRUE SACRED CATHEDRAL OF MY REBELLION

Location in the world:

Boston (because I love that dirty water) Massachusetts

Writing Space:

Office in my home

Pen names in the 42 Stories Anthology if applicable:

Frances DeLisle (for steampunk)

Bio:

Karla Hailer is a retired teacher and lifelong Red Sox fan who has spoken educational conferences, at the Thoreau Society about misreading “Walden.” She is in “Bolts of Fiction,” an anthology of flash fiction and publishes steampunk under the name Frances DeLisle.

Best animal in earth?

The best animal on earth are cats because they understand boundaries, and are furry purry fuzzy wuzzy balls of love.

Books/authors you like? 

Far too many to name them all but I love that George Plimpton taught me at an early age that you can get paid for writing about sports, even if I ended up as a political journalist for a while. Ursala K. LeGuin ignited my passion for fantasy and H. G. Wells my love of science (speculative?) fiction. As a history nerd, I am glad John Meachem, David McCullough, and Rob Chernow all have eBook editions so I’m not breaking my arms carrying their books. Henry David Thoreau started as a “You need to read…” in school and he quickly became the man who opened up the whole world to me - even if I misread “Walden,” at the age of 15 and felt he was telling me I needed to learn how to garden.

Artists/paintings...?

Raphael… so much love for Raphael and the Madonna Della Seggiola inspired me to go to Florence to see the original. Like books and authors, there are just so many! I adore Milton Glasser’s work, Peter Max, R. Crumb, and Bob Waldmire (who Fillmore from “Cars” is based on).

Songs/bands...?

Jonathan Richman’s “The Morning of our Lives” is a song every writer with imposter syndrome - which is all of us - need to take to heart.

Places...? 

I am a Boston girl, born and bred. As Jonathan Richman of the Modern Lovers once said, “I’ve been all around the world but I love New England best.” Outside of New England, I love Amsterdam, the Grand Canyon, and Key West.

Countries...? 

Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy.

Do you have a writer?

I am a member of Activated Authors and Heartbreathings writing communities.  Having a wonderful circle of people to sprint and goof with is truly inspiring.  I am also a member of the Boston Urban Sketchers group who draw what’s going on around them live reminds me how much I enjoy just going out in the wild to paint and draw.

Who do you write for? Why?

I love writing Middle-Grade fiction - which is the steampunk stuff.  Currently, I am writing it in serial form on Ream Stories and Substack to build an audience. Because of my “misread” of Thoreau as a teen, I am working on a series of Middle-Grade fiction about the Transcendentalists where Thoreau is fighting off a Kelpie at Walden pond or Louisa May Alcott is trying to soothe a Puckwudgie’s feelings after her father accidentally insults it. The idea of using the paranormal to introduce that philosophy appeals to my goofy side.

What inspires you?

I was first inspired to write when I read “Paper Lion” by George Plimpton. I was way too young and most of it went over my head, but it was the first time someone told the story of sports and I realized you could get paid for being a writer. I’m not a football fan, but I love that it inspired me to think of writing as storytelling.  We all tell stories, whether it’s about something that happened to us yesterday or a well-crafted narrative tale. The thought that it could be about fun things made my heart sing.  Most kids grew up with game recaps that were the box scores in words.  Guys like Plimpton and Frand DeFord wove a tale of the game that inspired imagination. Like listening to a baseball game on the radio - it’s such a visual game and yet, a good broadcaster is weaving threads together to make it real.

When I am creating a Steampunk world or taking someone back to Walden Pond during the time of Thoreau or to my “magical” contemporary town in Maine, I am doing what those people did for me growing up: taking symbols on pieces of dead wood and turning them into compelling stories for others to see.

Tell me about your outline process.

Until fairly recently my outlining process was “This is why we can’t have nice things” or “everything blows up here” or “wacky, tragic misunderstanding for why they can never be in love…” such things.  Then I started using some software that has helped me more and more with the outlining process.  While I will never be that 32-page Jeffery Deaver level of outliner, I am no longer that Lee Child form of “So, what do we have to write today?”  I have to admit that the skeleton blurb Protagonist must do this or this horrible thing will happen sort of statement to help set up the stakes really does help me be able to craft things before I start writing.

Kind of ironic coming from someone who, until recently, taught kids how to pre-write and then write essays using graphic organizers when I was sitting down with the people in my head and saying, “So, what part of the story do you want to tell me today?” Now that I can do better pre-writing, I feel my narratives are stronger and I can tell my story with more clarity.

Social media links or links to your published works:

Instagram: @pikagirl59  (Karla Hailer) and @authorfrancesdelisle (Frances DeLisle, my steampunk penname)

About the Anthology:

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42² features 1,764 stories, each exactly 42 words long, spanning 42 different genres. This global collection brings together 1,281 authors from around the world—new voices, seasoned writers, and everything in between—united by the challenge of saying more with less.

Available now in print, ebook, and audiobook formats:

www.42storiesanthology.com

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Karen Petersen

 

Stories in the anthology:

ESCAPING DEATH ONE SLEEPY SUMMER AFTERNOON (Escape, as Karen Petersen)
BEWILDERED REFLECTIONS UPON AN ACHING LIFE (Romance, as Kushka Girl)

Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Writing Space: Bed
Website and social media: karenpetersenwriter.com

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Selected Q&A with Karen Petersen

(Karen answered every question. We didn’t have the heart to cut it.)

Favorite artists/paintings?
Renoir

Favorite movies/shows/actors?
Black Orpheus

Favorite countries?
Madagascar

Do you have a writer/artist circle?
No. Only a few people I occasionally use as a touchstone for edits.

Who’s your audience?
I write for adults. Define that as you wish.

Do you drink anything to get in the mood to write?
No. I just sit down and focus.

What do you wish humans would stop doing?
Being cruel to other sentient beings, and being careless towards the environment.

What’s the best way to make art?
I don’t like the way the question is posed.

How do you relax?
By watching British detective stories.

Best animals on earth?
The elephant (land) and the whale (sea) because they are ancient and wiser than we are.

Greatest achievement in writing?
Finishing.

What got you into writing?
Been a writer forever. Created a neighborhood broadsheet when I was 8.

Books you’ve read recently?
All the Light We Cannot See

Best writer besides you?
Absurd question. There is no hierarchy, only differences.

Do you write with music or shows on?
Nope.

Is anyone in your family a writer/artist?
Father. Mother. Grandmother.

Living or deceased writer/artist you'd like to meet?
So many...

What’s the greatest award you hope to receive?
Anything with serious money attached to it. Being poor is exhausting.

Are your friends writers/artists?
Yes. But they like their privacy, sorry.

Have you ever been in a writing group or workshop?
Avoid them like the plague.

Most drafts you’ve done of a piece?
3

Main distractions?
My ass gets sore from sitting too long.

Pet peeve?
Incompetent editors with tin ears. But when you find a good one, priceless.

Editing process?
Alone, then sometimes a friend.

Writer/artist you hate?
I hate all poseurs.

Fill in the blanks:
A reader who likes poetry and short stories will enjoy my story, which they can find in links on my website: karenpetersenwriter.com

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Longform Answers

What inspires you to write, and what keeps you going?
The stories of the world. I have a duty of care to tell them.

How do you handle rejection and celebrate acceptance?
Shrug and move on. Small smile.

Do you outline?
WTF who outlines? Lol

What do you do if you get creative block?
Stop writing and go outside into Nature to relax. Watch murder mysteries. Sooner or later, a sense of guilt and anxiety hits me and I go back to writing.

First story you ever created? Was it published?
An elegy on the death of a friend from a drug overdose one summer in Italy. I was 19, and it ran in The Vassar Quarterly.

How do you organize your creative life?
Organize? An artist’s life is not a normal one. It dominates everything. Total commitment.

Your current goal?
Finish and deliver my book before the year is out. All else will follow.

Was there a question we didn’t ask that you wish we did?
Why are you bothering with this?

Where can people find your work?
Kushka53 on Twitter, FB, and LinkedIn.
https://karenpetersenwriter.com

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📘 About 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42²

42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42² features 1,764 stories, each exactly 42 words long, spanning 42 different genres. This global collection brings together 1,281 authors from around the world—new voices, seasoned writers, and everything in between—united by the challenge of saying more with less.

Available now in print, ebook, and audiobook formats:
🔗 www.42storiesanthology.com