Patricia Stoltey

Author

“You did what?”

By:

“You did what?” is the opening dialogue line of “Gila Monster” by Helen Ginger, one of the excellent stories in the Kindle book The Corner Café: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories by the BBT Café authors (alums of Dani Greer’s online blog book tour class).

Today I’m pleased to participate in the virtual tour for this book which is an experiment in group production and promotion of an online collection. Income from The Corner Café will be donated to charity.

Each story is tied in some way to a Corner Café, an interesting and fun idea that made reading the collection even more intriguing. Each time I started a new tale, I wondered what connection the characters would have to their own Corner Café, and I was never disappointed.

Most followers of my blog know I have a thing for killer first sentences, the kind that grab my attention and persuade me to read on. I decided as I read to look for a few killer first sentences in this collection and use them as the basis for this post.

The one that serves as today’s blog title captured me immediately, leading me on to discover who, what, why, when, and where. And it only took three words.

I also liked Karen Casey Fitzjerrell’s first sentence in “What’s Next?”

Dawn, first day of October, wet and overcast, the kind of morning that could make a body rejoice in the promise of changed seasons or wail against the enormity of time. 

I’ve known mornings like this, and I wondered what was going to happen on such a day in this story.

Who could resist a first sentence like this one?

My left ear had come loose again. 

“Living Well at the Corner Café” by Red Tash yanked me into the story before I had time to ask whether I was reading about a teddy bear with a loose ear or an injured alien. It’s neither of those (just so you know).

Maybe it’s because I’m still a farm kid at heart, but my favorite story in the collection is “Love Song with Holsteins” by Bodie Parkhurst. It begins:

Orange pumpkins glow against the pre-dawn dark as Maggie runs down the peeling white steps.

Bodie’s tale takes an interesting twist that I loved. I can’t give away anything, of course. You’ll have to buy a copy of The Corner Café for only $.99 and see for yourself.

Remember you don’t need a Kindle to read Kindle stories. You can download Kindle for PC absolutely free, and there are Kindle apps for most gadgets.

To read more about The Corner Cafe project, the authors and their books, you can check out Dani Greer’s Blog Book Tours blog. There you’ll find the schedule and links to all the stops.  Tomorrow’s host will be S. B. Lerner at Novel Thoughts.

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Comments

  1. Hi Pat .. I’m looking forward to reading these .. they’ll be fun ..

    First lines draw us in don’t they .. My left ear had come loose again. …. now what?!

    Great thoughts here .. cheers Hilary

  8. I’m working my way through the book one chapter at a time. That’s what’s great about a selection of short stories. I can read them during brief downtimes.

    And I’ll tweet this post!

  9. Good first lines in stories and novels are just like good pick-up lines in a bar: They never fail to hook you up with something interesting.

    Time to visit the Kindle store.

    Thanks Pat.

  12. Great post and it gives me an idea for the next collection. Just have to figure out how to work the lead sentence prompt into the title. Moodle-moodle.

  13. You are so right about the power of a good first line. I agree about Helen’s. It definitely made me want to find out what “what” was.

    How’s that for a convoluted sentence? LOL

  14. I don’t read short stories as much as I’d like, so it was great fun having this collection on my Kindle. I’m hoping there will be another BBT Cafe authors book sometime in the future…

  15. Thank you Pat for including Gila Monster in your first lines post. I know when I read stories or even books, the first line is really important to whether I keep reading.