Tag Archives: Shifting Sands Short Stories

books, excerpts, prompts, Shifting Sands Short Stories, short stories, Uncategorized

Storyteller 2017 in final countdown with excerpts

June 28, 2017 emmapalova Leave a comment

In between story circles, hit hard

For the last week, I’ve been posting about the short stories in Shifting Sands Short Stories collection that span more than two decades as part of the Storyteller 2017 book campaign.

Thematically and chronologically, I have divided them into three circles: early years of immigration with stories Danillo, Honey Azrael, & The Temptation of Martin Duggan.

The second circle of stories from retail experience includes: Tonight on Main, Therese’s Mind, Boxcutter Amy, Orange Nights and the Death Song.

The third circle of stories is from the media business; both print and digital.

These stories include: In the Shadows, Iron Horse, Foxy, Riddleyville Clowns and Chatamal.

In the final countdown, I would like to touch on stories like “In the Shadows” that fall into a dark period of life. Husband Ludek lost his job in the mid-2000s due to crisis in the automotive and housing industry.

The story was inspired by us living apart, when Ludek had to take a job in Prairie-du-Chien, WI.

Ludek and I had to Cringe confronting the reality of the crisis.

We didn’t want to lose the house, because of the unsure future, so I stayed in Michigan.

On several occasions, I took the Amtrak train 500 miles out west to visit with him on the Mississippi River, or we stayed in Milwaukee.

“In the Shadows” story is set in Milwaukee and in the botanical gardens. It was inspired by a wedding party in the gardens.

The characters lived in the state of impermanence Transient

Excerpts from “In the Shadows”

With a shaking had speckled by age spots, Agnes Loire dressed in pink and white purchased three tickets to the Boehm Botanical Gardens near Bales Corners in Wisconsin. An elderly clerk taped a red band to her tiny wrinkly arthritic wrist refusing to give her a discount.

As Agnes reached into her pocket to feel an amulet with dried periwinkle in it, the clerk looked somewhat familiar.

“Do I know you from anywhere?” she asked the old man.

He shook his head and turned back to his business of taping red bands to people’s wrists standing in a long line in the glass atrium.

Just before Agnes entered the new modern building with a two-story atrium and a vaulted ceiling, she paused to watch a white limousine arrive. The morning sun illuminated the vehicle and the grounds. The internationally renowned gardens were a marrying haven for couples.

The flowering pink, white and maroon crabapples in the arboretum swayed in the southerly wind spraying the area with petals of blossoms.

Agnes breathed in the early spring scent, fresh with promises.

In the meantime, the photographers had eagerly gathered to take the first shots of the bridal party. Bridesmaids in bright green dresses and beige high heels stepped out of the limo.

The last girl was taller, her dress a tone lighter and she was wearing flat shoes with no heels.

Finale countdown to be continued……..

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fiction, history, inspiration, Uncategorized

Emma’s book signing in Lowell

June 26, 2017 emmapalova 1 Comment

Emma’s booksigning of Shifting Sands Short Stories will be held in downtown Lowell on Oct.19 @Sweet Seasons Bakery & Cafe from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. during Girls Night Out.

Come, bring your book and chat with the author about the egotistical characters like Rachel in Orange Nights or the math professor Martin Duggan in the Temptation of Martin Duggan.

“I am very excited about my new book Shifting Sands Short Stories which is gaining momentum on the market. ”

My book is now available at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids on 28th Street and in Lansing at the Eastwood Towne Center and the Meridian Mall.

Ask author Emma about her new book.

Everyone is invited to the book signing event in the historic Lowell downtown.

“History is one of my many passions that also fuels my fiction,” said Emma. “I’ve always been interested in history, as a kid. And then of course, I lived it with the Russian invasion of former Czechoslovakia.”

Watch for Emma’s newsletter filled with writing tips and excerpts from the book.

You can order the Shifting Sands Short Stories book on Amazon at:

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books, fiction, immersion, immigration, passion, psychology, publishing, Shifting Sands Short Stories, Uncategorized

Storyteller 2017- Fueling the passion with book excerpts

June 23, 2017 emmapalova Leave a comment

Fueling the passion of the Storyteller 2017 with book excerpts, part IV

I have named my book campaign Storyteller 2017 because I am so excited about this epic year full of big changes.

Follow me on my journey from writer journalist to author of Shifting Sands Short Stories to be released on June 30 on Amazon.

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This is the fourth part of the Storyteller 2017 series following the introduction on June 20, the Beginnings on June 21 and the Impermanence of characters in the Shifting Sands Short Stories on June 22.

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As I have mentioned in the previous installments, I have divided the 13 stories in the Shifting Sands Short Stories collection thematically and chronologically into three circles.

The first circle of stories draws on the early years of immigration experience of learning French in Montreal, and taking creative short story writing at the International Correspondence Schools, ICS.

Those were the transformative years or impermanence for me and the characters like Danillo in Danillo, Vanessa in Honey Azrael and the couple Martin and Ellen in the Temptation of Martin Duggan.

The second circle of stories reflects the time for assimilation into the American culture. These include: Tonight on Main, Therese’s Mind, Boxcutter Amy, Orange Nights and the Death Song.

The characters in the second circle suffer from the boredom of a daily routine in a store, but they fear change. The setting is rural Midwest America. I created the town of Riddleyville with its secrets and vices. The Riddleyville characters range from robust Big Irma, Shorty, philosophical Ula, pretty Rachel, boxcutter Amy, sick Therese to deceitful Vadim in the Death Song.

Here is an excerpt from Orange Nights:

The store kept its secrets in the backrooms where the employees gathered for breaks and meetings. Things not said on the floor, were exaggerated here freely over nasty coffee and lunches brought from home in plastic containers.

The kid who extended his stay at the store instead of going to college usually cleaned the backrooms and the public restrooms. Sometimes he worked in the smelly bottle room. Customers and employees called him “Shorty.”

It just caught on.

“Hey, people, do you have to make such a mess or what?” he asked.

If Shorty was in a bad mood, he’d complain, and mop the floor under your feet, and knock down your lunchbox.

He wasn’t a typical loser, he just acted like one.

The second shift already faced the remnants of the day, including the bad attitudes and unfulfilled dreams of yesterday.

The saying around the town of Riddleyville was that at one point in time, everyone has worked at the store for a million different reasons.

My passion for writing continued to grow as I took journalism classes at the Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) in the mid-1990s. At that time I wrote feature stories for the GRCC paper the “Collegiate.”

I wrote a chunk of the short stories, while taking these classes and working at the store.

The passion continues in the next part V of the Storyteller 2017 series.

The book Shifting Sands Short Stories is now available for pre-order on Amazon at:

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Daily Post prompt, fiction, immersion, immigration, inspiration, local author, passion, publishing, short stories, Uncategorized, writing

Impermanence in Shifting Sands Short Stories with excerpts from book

June 22, 2017 emmapalova 6 Comments

Storyteller 2017 journey from writer journalist to author

By Emma Palova

Author’s note:

In the Storyteller 2017 series leading up to the June 30 publication of Shifting Sands Short Stories, I write about the origins of the characters and the stories.

I’ve named my campaign Storyteller 2017 because of the big changes taking place this year. These changes continue to inspire me, along with my passion for history, arts and nature.

I can divide the 13 stories in the book into three circles: The first circle draws on my early years of immigration to North America, and living in between Canada and the USA.

These stories in the first circle include: Danillo, Honey Azrael and the Temptation of Martin Duggan.

The second circle of stories is from the time of assimilation into the American culture. These stories draw on my experience of working in a Midwest retail store. They include: Tonight on Main, Therese’s Mind, Boxcutter Amy, Orange Nights and the Death Song.

The third circle of stories is from the newspaper business for various media; on staff and freelance. These stories include: Foxy, In the Shadows, Iron Horse, Riddleyville Clowns and Chatamal.

The characters in the first immigration circle of stories Danillo in the story “Danillo”, Vanessa in “Honey Azrael” and Martin with Ellen in the “Temptation of Martin Duggan” embody impermanence as they struggle under the burden of immigration.

They find themselves in a transient state between their old countries and the new American world. They have trouble adapting to the new culture in everything that surrounds them: food, people, spices and love.

In that aspect, the characters are living in a state of impermanence, and as such are transient for the rest of their lives like driftwood on the beach.

Also the featured photo of transient dew on grass in the morning.

Transient

They adapt or go back to the old status quo in their homeland. Either way this struggle transforms the transient characters into a new state.

Excerpts from “Danillo”:

He had trouble adapting not only to the winters Up North, an expression Danillo never quite understood, but also to the language. And of course loneliness. He had no friends, except for old Jose on the apple farm.

His family was thousands of miles away. His only connection with the warmth of home was the phone, the letters and memories of the past; the rising and the setting sun on the horizon of the small bay.

Danillo was living between the sunny past and the cold present. Back home by the Sierra Madre, he used to drive to the warm waters of the bay, but here Up North, the waters were cold.

Another cold wave came and washed more sand from under his feet.

About the design of the cover to Shifting Sands Short Stories by Emma Palova:

People have also been asking me about the cover design to the Shifting Sands Short Stories collection.

I used the hour-glass with the shifting sand as an anchor to the cover. The grains of sands make up the characters like the genetic make-up of our DNA. This was inspired by Dali’s fascination with genetic spirals. The grains shift like the destinies of the characters, like the fluid energy of our lives.

Further the mood/tone of the stories is expressed in the shade of the hour-glass and the fallen mauve colored petals of a tulip at the base.

Watch for more excerpts from Shifting Sands Short Stories now available for pre-order on Amazon

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books, fiction, immersion, immigration, inspiration, Uncategorized

Storyteller 2017 with excerpts from book

June 21, 2017 emmapalova 1 Comment

The beginnings of Shifting Sands Short Stories

I have named my book campaign Storyteller2017 because I am so excited about this epic year full of big changes.

Follow me on my journey from writer journalist to author of Shifting Sands Short Stories to be released on June 30 on Amazon.

I started writing short stories in grade school in Stipa, Czech Republic when I won a short story contest with a story from a summer camp in Texas under the tutelage of Czech language teacher Mr. Dolezal.

But, a more coordinated and structured effort came with the creative writing program at the International Correspondence Schools (ICS) in Montreal, Canada, 1990-1993.

The first circle of stories was inspired by the early years of immigration from our homeland former Czechoslovakia to Canada, and then to the USA. During that time I wrote short stories that I now call the first circle: Honey Azrael, Danillo and the Temptation of Martin Duggan.

For 3.5 years, we lived in Montreal, and I went to the French language immersion school COFI. The French classes and the students inspired the story Danillo. I transported the character and the setting to the shores of Lake Michigan and to one of the apple farms.

The common elements in the first circle of short stories are the powerful forces behind immigration. These are loneliness, being homesick and the fear of the new strange culture. The main character Danillo longs to go back to his home country, as he struggles to assimilate into the new American culture.

Honey Azrael depicts a woman chemist Vanessa who is no longer in love with her first husband, Rudi. She loves her collection of beetles more than she loves Rudi.

In the Temptation of Martin Duggan, the couple who left Czechoslovakia due to the 1968 invasion of their homeland by the Soviet Army, tries to desperately fit into the small pretense culture of a small university town close to Lake Michigan.

Here is an excerpt from Danillo:

Dragon fly trapped to the ground.

“He came with the warm southern winds, and the birds. On the first spring day, Danillo was 23. Young and strong, with a body designed to love. It was a body pure and perfectly cut for any woman. The skin covering his muscles was tight. The color of Danillo’s skin was the color of the sand that he was standing in.

He was half dreaming, subconsciously perceiving the light spring wind. From the vantage point, Danillo could see the green water coming in and out of the small bay. Each wave washed away some sand from underneath his feet, like small grains slipping away from his brief life. He felt cold and the chill surprised him. Danillo was counting the endless waves, as well as his years.

This was his third birthday Up North, as he learned to call it from the locals. He never quite understood the expression Up North. Every spring, he came to the beach to watch the winter birds arrive from the South.

To be continued………in the Storyteller 2017 series leading up to the release of Shifting Sands Short Stories on June 30.

You can pre-order now at:

https://www.amazon.com/Emma-Palova/e/B0711XJ6GY

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books, healing, inspiration, therapy, Uncategorized, writing

Why writing is so important?

June 2, 2017 emmapalova Leave a comment

Writing opens a new window into the world.

Writing as a form of therapy. Writing is healing. Once you write on a regular basis, it becomes a part of you and who you are.

You discover and rediscover yourself and your surroundings. You see people that you have known for years through different eyes.

You gain new insight, as you better connect with the world.

The advantage of every day writing is that you get to compare your underlying emotions from one day to the next. You get to monitor them, as they change with every minute.

Writing opens a new window into the world. Yours and mine.

I firmly believe that if there were more writer’s in the world, there would be less violence.

Follow me on my publishing journey of Shifting Sands Short Stories. The ebook will be released on June 30.

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Daily Post prompt, events, nature, prompts, publishing, short stories, Uncategorized, writing

Reprieve

May 26, 2017 emmapalova Leave a comment

There is no Reprieve from writing. Call it passion, obsession or both.

The writing demons in my head woke me up early in the morning, somewhere between the night and the day.

The persistent insomnia caused by the flow of ideas perpetuates itself from day into the night and vice versa. It is a dream come true for any writer; that is fluent writing time without blocks.

It is especially important now as I am moving into the publishing finale of my “Shifting Sands Short Stories.”

It is in this quiet time without outside disturbing energies, that I manage to write the most. Plus, I have the rest of the day to reflect on the morning production to improve it and carry it forward.

Just to illustrate how early this morning’s start was is that when I checked the Daily Post prompt for today @reprieve around 6 or 7 a.m. there were no responses yet. As I write this some five hours later, there were 64 interpretations of the “reprieve” prompt.

I find the reprieve theme very fitting before the Memorial Day long weekend. It will be a good quality time spent grilling, gardening and at my favorite spot on Murray Lake.

On Monday, I like to go to the Memorial Day parade in Lowell to honor the veterans at the Oakwood Cemetery.

Sexton Don DeJong makes the cemetery a place to observe history with his historical cemetery walks. DeJong has compiled the cemetery info into several books over the years. Watch for more stories.