originally published on Helen's Blog May 2020
Melody Mayhem - Published 7th May 2020
"No matter where you are, there’s always time for a short read... Melody Mayhem is a collection of light and entertaining stories inspired by classic songs from yesteryear, including Me And Bobby Mcgee, Under The Bridge and Copperhead Road. The second half is a bit of a free-for-all with stories ranging from footballers to highwaymen, medieval England to the present day. These usually finish with a neat twist at the end – the 'Well I didn’t expect that!' moment. If you’re looking for some light entertainment you couldn’t do better than this collection."
Early Reviews:
"A wisp of a dream, the echo of a song you barely remember. These stories take inspiration and give it wings."
"Richard Tearle has a knack of dropping you into the world of recent history so you feel like you remember the 50s and 60s, whether you were there or not."
"From contemporary to historical, Richard Tearle invites the reader to come on a journey where characters come to life and storylines are both funny and poignant."
"I enjoyed all these stories, the historical and the contemporary, and particularly liked the clever and introspective Windows."
"Richard Tearle's short stories are delivered with a light touch and yet are full of character, atmosphere and deep emotions."
Please welcome Richard Tearle and his first anthology of stories...
First of all, thank you, Helen, for inviting me to do something I have never done before: writing about my writing!
But before I do that, I must pay tribute to you for your unwavering and continuous support for Indie writers and 'newbies' such as myself. Not just through your wonderful Discovering Diamonds Review Blog, but also the personal role that you have played with other authors as well as myself. And don't you dare cut this bit! [*blush* my pleasure Richard]
What made me start writing? I had always enjoyed writing stories from my schooldays and later in life enrolled on a course of creative writing. Still, though, I had no particular desires to make a living as a writer. Enter Helen, Discovering Diamonds and the invitation to take part in a light-hearted series of short stories with 'Diamonds' as the theme. My submission was accepted and, to my surprise, was well received by the other participants.
That story is included in this, my first anthology, Melody Mayhem, as are the others that I have contributed to the subsequent series which have been stories based on songs. Even then it was just a lot of fun but never serious. Until a chance conversation between Helen, author Barbara Gaskell Denvil and publisher Gill Trewick led to me being offered the chance to actually have my stories published. I jumped higher than the nursery rhyme cow!
All I had to do now was write some more stories ….
What I wanted to do was entertain and the two other stories published on #DDRevs were clearly fit to be included. I wrote a couple more on that theme of being song inspired. But I wanted more. I wanted to explore and exploit my own interests in history and places, which is why there are stories of Richard III, highwaymen and … the football club Tottenham Hotspur!
But I also wanted to thank my mentors and invited them to contribute a couple of stories each. As I said, I wanted to entertain, not to 'show off' my writing skills because I know I still have a lot to learn.
So there we have it. Stories written, submitted to Gill, sit back, have a cup of coffee, wait for the royalties to thunder in!
Not a bit of it.
Writing was the easy part. Editing, proof reading, re-editing, more proof reading, paying attention to the formatting details to ensure they were consistent, starting a Blog for the purpose of promotion, sending out some ARC copies for quotable quotes (thanks to authors Alison Morton, Annie Whitehead and Mercedes Rochelle for supplying those as well as offering advice and spotting a few more typos) and pre-publication 'teasers' to be posted on Social Media; honestly, how do you authors do it?
The time is nearly here. On May 7th in this year of Our Lord, 2020, I will become a published author! My very own book in both paperback and this new-fangled e-book format! As with all Indie authors, you won't find this on the shelves of W.H. Smith or Waterstones, but it will be universally available through Amazon. Click HERE to order your copy!
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