Wynne shouted Bobby’s name as the guitar case in the backseat bounced against the ceiling, then back down.BULL SPEC is pleased to announce that BULL SPEC ORIGINAL SHORT #1 will be C. S. Fuqua's "Rise Up:"
Time suspended.
Undergrowth tore at the car, and a tree slammed into the passenger side. The airbags exploded.
It's been quite a ride over the first several days here at BULL SPEC, and this is a story which went directly from the inbox and did not pass "Go" on its way to becoming our proud choice as our first original short story. A well-paced and crafted story which is hard to squeeze into a "genre," it is loosely "contemporary fantasy" or "dark fantasy" as it weaves a bit of musical folk magic into a story of the love between a mandolin player and a bluegrass singer. Set against the Appalachians, we hope readers from the Durham area and around the world enjoy it as much as we did. This is the second story utilizing the Sharps & Flats music store and its owner in a secondary role to the plot. The first story, "The Sharps & Flats Guarantee," written and published in the late '80s, was chosen by Karl Edward Wagner to appear in the annual Year's Best Horror Stories.
Chris' published books include Big Daddy's Gadgets, The Swing: Poems of Fatherhood (2008 EPIC selection for Best Poetry Collection), Divorced Dads: Real Stories of Facing the Challenge, Notes to My Becca, Music Fell on Alabama, and Deadlines, a four-novel audio series. A collection of his short fiction stories is scheduled for 2010 publication by Mundania Press. His work has appeared in publications such as GOTHIC.NET, BRUTARIAN, SPACE AND TIME, DARK REGIONS, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, MAIN STREET RAG, PEARL, CEMETERY DANCE, BOGG, Year's Best Horror Stories XIX, XX and XXI, AMELIA, SLIPSTREAM, THE OLD FARMER'S ALMANAC, THE WRITER, and HONOLULU MAGAZINE. He makes his home and Native American flutes in Madison, Alabama.
Original music contributed by the author will be weaved into the narrations to set the mood and give the story a rich depth of character. We're happy to point our readers their way as a bit of a "teaser" for a story we really hope you all enjoy:
"Rise Up" -- http://www.fluteflights.com/CHRIS/Rise_Up_CSFuqua.mp3
"Rest Your Soul" -- http://www.fluteflights.com/CHRIS/Rest_Your_Soul_CSFuqua.mp3
"Mandostophales" -- http://www.folkalley.com/openmic/song.php?id=12176
Look for BULL SPEC's production of "Rise Up" online, in e-book, and audiobook as BULL SPEC ORIGINAL SHORT #1 in January. Thanks very much to Chris, and all of our other submitting authors, for trusting a new market with his story. We're still working through the process to pick story #2 this submissions period, and it's incredibly hard to pick just one. So please bear with us as we keep working.
Question: Due to some scheduling concerns, we may not be able to produce this in all languages and formats at the quality level we'd like by January. We'd love to see comments on whether folks would like to see simultaneous release in all formats/languages, or have these trickle out as they are available over the month, with a minimum "gravity" on the official release day. Love and kisses, sincerely yours, BULL SPEC.
Awesome! Looking forward to hearing it. :)
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