Flights of Fiction - Release Day

 It's FLIGHTS OF FICTION's Release Day.

Oh yeah, I'm jazzed.

I'm also delighted to be in such fine company.  The Western Ohio Writers Association (WOWA) is a wonderful group of talented authors and I'm proud to be part of the group and of this anthology.

Flights of Fiction came into being in rather an unusual way. Instead of a book in search of a publisher, this was a publisher in search of a book.  Handcar Press, an independent author imprint of Loconeal Publishing, LLC, wanted to do an anthology of stories based in southwest Ohio.  A representative from Loconeal reached out to Gery Deer, the founder of WOWA, and asked if we'd be interested in contributing. Gery grabbed the opportunity and ran with it.

Eleven stories were selected for the anthology.  Gery contributed the introduction, in which he points out that his story didn't make the cut. 

Here's a blurb on Flights of Fiction:

Pull up a comfy chair and lose yourself in eleven original stories set in and around the southwest Ohio region. Written by just a few of the talented authors from the Western Ohio Writers Association, these soon-to-be classic tales let you follow one man’s tragic story at the end of the world in “Dead of Winter”; experience a night at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in “Nose Art”; and get lost in a haunting image from the past in “Tabitha’s Portrait,” plus many more. From detective tales to a trek into the mysterious world of wrestling, Flights of Fiction has something for everyone.

Sound good?

One little note - If you would like to purchase Flights of Fiction (bless your little heart), the "Buy Now" button on the right will take you to Paypal to purchase it directly or you can click on the cover image to buy it on Amazon. If you use the Buy Now button, I'll cover the shipping and you'll receive a signed copy.

So, that's what's new and exciting in my world today. What's going on in yours?

Headline of the Day:

What were the chances?

Cover Reveal - Flights of Fiction

Okay, I'm excited. 

Next Monday is the release day for FLIGHTS OF FICTION, published by Handcar Press.  

Why am I excited? Because one of the eleven stories in this anthology is "Motive" by LD Masterson.

It's my first real honest-to-gosh publication.

Here's the cover.

I'm saving the details for next Monday's post but I had to show off the cover.

Can I get a woo woo?

Mind Boggler for Today: Since this was a short post, I offer this...

At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, (AAFS) President Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death.

Here is the story:

On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head.

Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a 10-story building intending to commit suicide. 

He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency.  

As he fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly.   

Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.

The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife.  

They were arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun!    

The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window, striking Mr. Opus.    

When one intends to kill subject 'A' but kills subject 'B' in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject 'B.'     

When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant that they thought the shotgun was not loaded.       

The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her.      

Therefore, the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had been accidentally loaded.    

The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about 6 weeks prior to the fatal accident.     

It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother.     

Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder even though he didn't actually pull the trigger.    

The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.    

Now for the exquisite twist...     

Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus.  

He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder.   

This led him to jump off the 10 story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window.    

The son, Ronald Opus, had actually murdered himself.     

So the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.

(I said it was mind boggling.)