Journey Into Time

Journey into Time cover imageThe short-story anthology Journey Into Time was released in October 2024. It was jointly published by the Houston Writers Guild (HWG) and Women in the Visual and Literary Arts, and was the result of a writing competition put on by HWG earlier in 2024. One of my stories was chosen to be included among the final winning collection. 

If you like short stories but are wary about purchasing a collection because you don’t know what you’ll get, no worries! I’ve read the entire set and below is a rundown of the table of contents and a one-line summary of each story’s subject matter. There is something for everyone here—real-life drama, humor, sports, sci-fi, time travel, and fantasy.

The end of the book also has an “About the Author” for each of the 13 writers, so if you are looking for new writers to follow, it’s a great way to discover some new ones.

 

  1. Shimmer, by Catherine Gentry…a 50-year-old woman faces down a mid-life crisis
  2. Al Muqaddim, by Joy Beguine…a Muslim woman finds a way to escape her abusive husband
  3. The Black Magi, by Timothy Gene Sojka…a journalist recounts his interview with a Black pitcher from the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, who now lives in a nursing home near the Texas Gulf Coast
  4. Racing to a Full Stop, by Gail Bergan…a woman rushes across the country to be with her dying sister, encountering unexpected hardships along the way
  5. Getting Bob’s Attention, by Gunnar Birgisson…a journalist interviews someone with an unusual personality disorder
  6. Marama: Sword of Power, by Fern Brady…Thyrein completes his endurance mountain climb and searches for his next test—the Great Sword embedded in stone—assisted by the mist-dragon Marama
  7. Get Whatever You Want, by Tassie Kalas…a teenage girl learns to shop, balancing the lessons of her bargain-hunting mother and her spendthrift father
  8. Found and Lost, by Jean King…an elderly woman awakens, confused to find herself in a nursing home
  9. Look Mom, No Hands!, by Cynthia Klopsteck…a woman walks through the silent home of her recently deceased mother
  10. Midnight Reckoning, by Lynn Long…a vampire and a sheriff forge an unholy alliance
  11. Open Minds Through Time, by Tod Tinker…a time-traveling conversation via the telephone
  12. Jexa, by K. M. Sokulski…time travelers conduct a private war
  13. Dancing with Grandpa, by Cyndi Whatif…a ten-year-old Air Force brat describes her fifth move, and what she discovers in the attic of her grandma’s house

Two ways to order

You have two ways to buy this book. Both have pros and cons for me as the author and you as the buyer. You decide what works best for you.

Order the paperback from me!

Buy from me!
  • PRO (for you): You’ll always get a signed copy when buying directly from me. This includes any gift copies you may buy.
  • PRO (for me): I’ll retain maximum royalty dollars because there’s no middleman. Readers may be unaware that the big retailers such as Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble can take 70 to 90% of the proceeds of book sales. That means on a paperback, for example, we might make only a dollar or two on each sale. In addition, they can take months to forward that dollar on to us. Buying directly from me means I get paid immediately. 
  • CON (for you): I can’t offer free shipping or 1- to 2-day delivery, unlike Amazon. However, using the US Postal Service’s Media Mail service, I get rock-bottom, flat-rate pricing. Depending on your location in the US, Media Mail takes between 2 to 8 days to deliver. PLEASE NOTE that while I can accept international orders, I can’t use the US Media Mail service for those, and international shipping will cost considerably more.

Order the EPUB or paperback from Amazon

Buy from Amazon

I get it. I’m an Amazon Prime member too, and I love that free shipping. If you prefer to buy from Amazon for any reason, you do what’s best for you. I’d rather you read my book than quibble about how you buy it. Here’s the rundown:

  • PRO (for you): Free, 1- or 2-day shipping if you’re an Amazon Prime member and buying a physical book.
  • PRO (for you): If you’re buying an eBook and have a Kindle, the book gets seamlessly delivered to your device or app. 
  • CON (for you): No signed copy from me.
  • CON (for me): I’ll pay out maximum royalties to Amazon, and may wait up to 90 days to get paid.

Last, but not least…please write a review!

Authors live or die by the number of book reviews they receive on Amazon. Believe it or not, it makes a huge difference for us, in their giant algorithm machine. No reviews means our book doesn’t rise to the surface when people do searches. I’ve also learned that those panels at the bottom of product pages: “You may also like this” and “Customers also viewed this” are driven by reviews! So please, if you have an opinion, good or bad, about the book, drop a review on Amazon. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, it just needs to be honest. And thank you!