People Are Strange – a new anthology

Maria Savva, Ben Ditmars and Maria Haskins have all previously been promoted on Reading Recommendations. These three authors are now included in a recently published anthology of stories and poetry inspired by nineteen photographs.

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People Are Strange
edited by Robert Helle
Genre: Anthology
part of the Mind’s Eye Series

12 Stories and 7 poems, inspired by 19 photographs.

We are more than what we say
And less than what we wish

Living together, separately,
United by division

Connected, disconnected
Oh, People Are Strange

Contributors:

Editor:
Robert Helle is a free-lance editor who honed his skills at various newspapers, including The Daily Times in Ottawa, Illinois. As a Daily Times reporter, Bob earned a prestigious news-reporting award for his 1989 series on the plight of Viet Nam-era prisoners of war who were never found. Bob went on to serve other newspapers as a columnist and editor before turning to free-lance work. He is currently working on his own novel.

Photographers:
Martin David Porter is a third generation (at least!) artist hailing from Saffron Walden, Essex in the United Kingdom. Born in 1972, he has always had an interest in natural history, art, and music. All these subjects provide inspiration for his photography. Martin still lives in Saffron Walden with his partner Ruth and his daughter Rosie. Martin has worked with many big names in the music business, but is equally at home alone in the woods and fields as he is in front of screaming crowds and amplifiers.

Helle Gade lives in Denmark with her little diva dog. She is a poet, hobby photographer, nocturnal creature and chocolate addict. She has been writing poetry since 2011 and published four poetry collections since then.

Kim Stapf – Photography is my love, nature mostly. Reading rocks my world.

Poets:
Helle Gade

Ben Ditmars is an author of gnomes, plays, poetry and more. He was first published in his college publications the Cornfield Review and KAPOW and has since been featured in several online literary journals. Currently, he lives in Marion, Ohio where he works in education.

Short story writers:
Darcia Helle writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else.

Maria Haskins is a Swedish-Canadian writer and translator. She was born and grew up in Sweden, but moved to Canada in the early 1990s and now lives just outside Vancouver on Canada’s west coast with a husband, two kids, and a large black dog. She debuted as a writer in Sweden in 1989. Her first books in English are Odin’s Eye, a collection of science fiction short stories, and Cuts & Collected Poems 1989-2015.

Maria Savva lives in London. She’s a lawyer, and in her spare time writes novels and short stories in various genres, including drama, psychological thriller, and family saga. Maria is also a music blogger for Rock And Roll and Soundwaves Review.

J. Michael Radcliffe published his first novel in 2010, and has since gone on to write three other novels in the Beyond the Veil series. He has also written multiple short stories and collaborated with other writers. He lives in rural Kentucky with his family and their ever-growing cadre of cats.

Julie Elizabeth Powell cannot ignore her dreams, so many of them, with names and places and ideas that spark her imagination and compel her to write; to create stories, whether fantasy or horror, or mystery or psychological thriller or murder or even humour and adventure. So, her garden is sown, flourishing, with all manner of growth, and still the dreams come.

Thomma Lyn Grindstaff gets some of her best ideas when hiking in the mountains. She’s both a novelist and a musician: a classically trained pianist and composer. Other passions include studying philosophy, science,and spirituality. Last but never least, she’s a cat wrangler and shares her home with three Ballicai (cats). If you could sum Thomma Lyn up in three words, they would be Artist, Seeker, and Adventurer.

Purchase copies from:
Amazon

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Maria Savva and Ben Ditmars – update on a new anthology

Maria Savva was originally featured on Reading Recommendations in Dec. 2013, and Ben Ditmars was featured on the site in Feb. 2014. Both authors have contributed to this new anthology recently published.

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Tales From The Cacao Tree (Book 4 in The Mind’s Eye Series)
with contributions by Maria Saava and Ben Ditmars
Genre: Mixed – poetry, short stories, photography; an anthology

From a review by Maria Haskins on Amazon:
Tales From The Cacao Tree is the latest installment in the Mind’s Eye Series, a series of anthologies containing poetry and short stories inspired by, and accompanied by, photographs. This fourth book in the series, as you may gather from the title and the delectable cover, is all about chocolate.

Just like the other Mind’s Eye books, Tales From The Cacao Tree is an eclectic and enjoyable blend of different genres and writing styles, and as a reader you get to experience chocolate in every imaginable (and unimaginable!) way. There really is a bit of everything here: beautiful and evocative (and sometimes playful) poetry by Ben Ditmars, Helle Gade, and Richard Weatherly, and short stories by Darcia Helle, Maria Savva, Julie Elizabeth Powell, and J. Michael Radcliffe.

Many of the stories inspired by the accompanying chocolaty pictures involve nefarious and violent crimes: so, obviously, chocolate has a dark side…

The fantastic photos in the anthology were taken by Helle Gade, Kim Stapf, and Martin David Porter. And reader beware, you will probably end up craving chocolate while you’re reading!

Purchase this book from:
Amazon

Ben Ditmars

Author Photo Hello, my name is Ben Ditmars! It’s great to meet everyone.

What is your latest release and what genre is it? My latest release was a poetry collection last year called Haiku in the Night.

Quick description: I decided to explore the world of free-verse and off-verse haiku.I feel 5-7-5 can be restrictive so I opened it up to 3-5-3 and other lengths. The feeling behind haiku and connection with nature (personal and otherwise) has always seemed the most important part to me.

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Brief biography:
Ben is a bestselling author of gnomes, plays, poetry and more. He was first published in his college publications, The Cornfield Review and KAPOW. Since then he has been featured in several online literary journals including: Flurries of Words, Samizdat Literary Journal, and Shine Journal. Ben lives in Marion, Ohio, and is currently working toward his Master’s Degree in education at the University of Findlay while substitute teaching. He hopes to instruct high school social studies full-time within the next year.

Links to buy Ben’s book:
Amazon Worldwide – eBook & Print

Ben’s promo links:
Website
Facebook
Twitter

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a full-length collection of poetry called Inhale the Night. It completes a trilogy in the night series I’ve written and should be out this January. I have a lot of elements within it I have not tried before. There’s a five-page poem (the longest I’ve written), a prose poem collaboration with fellow poet Poppy Ruther Silver, tanka verse, and a historical piece about a prisoner of war at Berga Concentration Camp during World War II.

Ben’s reading recommendation:
Vacen Taylor has written an incredible fantasy series called Star Child. The characters are on a journey to the Valley of a Thousand Thoughts in the City of Souls. The magic, characters, and world the author creates are astounding. Everything feels like something I haven’t read before.