1. Travis Perry says:

    Rachel Kimberly Hastings (one of the anthology authors) will also blog about Beatitudes and Woes tomorrow. Check it out at:

    https://storytellertreehouse.tumblr.com/

  2. Jill says:

    I know you said this particular one wasn’t your idea, but I still find your anthology ideas fascinating. Also, your willingness to work with authors to put them together.

    • Travis Perry says:

      Jill, I started out publishing not really knowing what I was doing. I still am learning, but getting better and better (I think). But I find that I have an intuitive sense of what is good in a story and I do not deny what that sense tells me. It allows me to recognize great ideas, whether they are mine or not, and to edit in detail to bring a story along to its best version of itself.

      Of course we could analyze my intuitive sense if we wanted to and attempt to assign some of it to upbringing and some to what I have read and some to my brain function or whatever, but it’s simpler–also more TRUE–to simply call what I have a gift of God.

      I’d love to work with you again, by the way, Jill. You’re often off doing your own thing without time to join a group work (or so it seems to me) but you are among the most talented writers I’ve ever accepted a story from.

      If you have any loose stories floating around you haven’t already put in a collection of your own, please let me know. I’m interested!

      • Jill says:

        Thanks, Travis. I’ve been working on my Roswell alien novel in fits and starts, but I could take a break to write short stories. Yes, I’m always off doing my own thing. I don’t always like that about myself. But, for example, I’ve continued to read this blog passively since leaving social media and recently added it to my WordPress feed to stay more connected.

  3. Sounds interesting 🙂 I’m not usually into short stories(both in terms of writing and reading them) but I’ve been getting better about that lately, so I’ll probably try this anthology out eventually.

    • Travis Perry says:

      Autumn, the longest story in the anthology, titled the “The Path of Mercy,” by Rebekah Loper, has the feel of an immersive fantasy, even though it’s only about 15 thousand words. And its ending is, well–it surprised me.

      In my opinion, that one story alone is worth you getting the Kindle edition of this book, even if you aren’t into short stories. (It’s available for pre-order on Amazon by the way:
      https://www.amazon.com/Beatitudes-Woes-Speculative-Fiction-Anthology-ebook/dp/B07TVYXN49/)

      • Fifteen thousand words is actually longer than I was expecting these stories to be (even though that is still short). There have been several short stories I’ve liked, such as some I had to read for English classes. But, I dunno. I guess when I discover a story I love, I often find myself wanting more and more of it, so longer stories tend to work better for me from that standpoint. And then, regardless, my favorite long stories tend to take more precedence in my memory for some reason.

        That said, I am still interested in this new anthology, so I probably will try it some day. I’ll stick the link in my bookmarks and wishlist for later(I just got through buying a couple books yesterday, so…).

  4. Actually, I began doing something like this with the Psalm Series that I started with Mesu Andrews and Carole Towriss. https://psalmseries.com/

    The idea was to take the poetic sections of Scripture and write stories inspired by them or based on them. One is a fantasy parable based on Psalm 23. Another is a historical novel set in the New Testament time period, where the apostles use the psalm it’s based on as a centerpiece in their struggle. The last is a historical novel about Israel’s captivity in Babylon, based on one of the psalms that was written from the perspective of someone who endured captivity in Babylon. I’ve had to put a pause on the series because it’s been too much to keep two series going concurrently, along with the additional writing jobs I have. But it’s been fun so far. Sounds like a cool series, Travis! Also very cool to see Parker’s contributing. Pumped for it! Blessings on it.

    • Travis Perry says:

      Oh! Very cool. Never heard of the Psalm Series before.

      Yes, you’re right, it’s basically the same idea, though with longer books and longer passages of Scripture.

      SO NOT AS GROUNDBREAKING AS I THOUGHT–but that’s OK. We can “break ground” together. 🙂

What do you think?