Tag Archives: YA short stories

Spotlight: Jeffrey Cook & Lesia Tiongson -THE LOST TRAIN ANTHOLOGY

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Pepper Allphin -Old Tree 300dpi VERY FINAL

Old Tree – by Pepper Allphin

THE LOST TRAIN Anthology is coming soon. Release is September 1st. Just a couple more posts about the Authors and Artists that were paired to create works for the project…

Lesia Tiongson
Jeffrey Cook

Jeffrey Cook is a FVP Featured Author, and he was paired with Lesia Tiongson. Jeffrey’s story of tales told in an abandoned rail car inspired Lesia to add ghosts into her mosaic on stone of a train in the moonlight. The resulting artwork and story are captivating! Both their works will be in the Anthology, but here’s a peek at some of Lesia’s other work and a snippet of Jeffrey’s Anthology story. Be sure to follow their links to more…

Lesia Tiongson:

Find more of Lesia’s work at PNW Mosaics by Lesia on Facebook

STORY DESCRIPTION:

Young Adult Fiction – An old train lost on an abandoned stretch of tracks inspires teens to imagine haunting train whistles in the night and other RAILWAY TALES.  By Jeffrey Cook * Paired Artist: Lesia Tiongson

Snippet of “Railway Tales” by Jeffrey Cook:

Angie settled back into her usual pace. She kept an eye on them, making sure Riley’s wandering, or Cam’s daredevil moments didn’t get them in too much trouble. But she let the girls choose the course and fell into step again each time the group moved forward.

Just as Emma called for a break, Riley – who had wandered ahead again – stopped just around a bend. “Whoa!”

“What is it?” called the out-of-breath Emma. She picked up her pace, trying to catch up.

“You guys have got to come see this!”

When they rounded a dense collection of trees, the group spotted the trio of old train cars Riley had found, all as worn down as the train tracks. Rusted links still hooked them together – the cars decorated in badly faded and chipped graffiti, plant growth, dirt, and the general weight of time.

“Neat!” said Cam and Emma in unison, exchanging a grin at the perfect timing.

“Just a minute, girls…” Angie dug a flashlight out of her hiking pack and moved closer. “Hello…hello,” she called out. When there was no answer, she used the light to check under, around, and finally inside the cars that were open. The only residents turned out to be squirrels, so she waved the girls over. “You can look around. Just be careful, okay?”

The trio dashed in and investigated the train cars...Read more…

Find more from Jeffrey at clockworkdragon.net, on Twitter @jeffreycook74 , under Jeffrey Cook on Amazon, and on his FVP Author Page

All Proceeds from the Anthology benefit non-profit Arts organization North Bend Art & Industry. Thanks for supporting the Arts!

GET THE LOST TRAIN ANTHOLOGY HERE

THE LOST TRAIN COVER

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Victoria Bastedo – A Reason to Sing – Anthology Sneak Peek IV

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As you may know, FVP’s new Anthology, Free-flowing Stories, will be released online and at our sale on Dec. 6th.

Here’s a teaser and a snippet from the fourth story:

Vicky's author photo anthology ps b and wA REASON TO SING  by Victoria Bastedo

In this companion story to ROOTS ENTWINE, the trees all around them in the forests begin to sing. Lewolenan’s dying father sends him on a mission to discover why. With his family life in splinters, Lewolenan travels and discovers danger on the road, as well as hope.. 

The mass of trees began to sing, suddenly and with voices that echoed with power and flowed in through the open windows. The choruses made people leap to their feet, fall out of their chairs and run outside. Everywhere in Lewolenan’s village human voices rang as well, exclaiming and even wailing until the unending note of the trees was almost drowned out. In Shenandya the trees were the world, and the Wildenbury tree was the height of mystic focus. And now the Wildenbury trees were singing, pouring out their non-human voices as if sound was a river draining from a spout. All over the village people were stunned with amazement.

But Lewolenan didn’t run outside with the rest. His breath caught upwards and tangled where he tried to suck it in. As miraculous as the sound outside was, there was nothing more involving to him at this moment than his dying father’s face.

At first when the singing began his father hadn’t moved. He hadn’t spoken in hours, no matter how Lewolenan had longed for him to say something. But when those trees began to sing the skin that was gray found a little color. The chest that was deflated peaked and filled with departing breath. And the eyes of his father opened wide and stared at the ceiling.

Outside people shouted, but in their house Lewolenan and his father were suspended in the moment. Time stood still and the ethereal beauty of the trees’ song began to weave around Lewolenan’s spine, holding him upright as he knelt by his father’s bed….

Want more? You can get the Anthology December 6th, December 13th & December 18th at our events. We’ll have a link to Amazon for online purchase as soon as it is released.

Anthology 2014 final cover frontAnthology 2014 final cover treats