I am very pleased to present this guest blog by my friend and fellow author Michael Fedison. Mike is the author of the YA fantasy The Eye-Dancers. As you will read below, he does a magnificent job writing blog entries that tie in to his book.
Many thanks to Mike for organizing this TWELVE AUTHOR PROMOTION. Check out the varied works that are ALL BEING OFFERED FOR FREE OR REDUCED PRICE FOR THE NEXT TWELVE DAYS. My own novel, You, in Your Green Shirt, is FREE today through November 16.
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In the first-season Twilight Zone episode titled “What You Need,” which aired on Christmas Day 1959, an old peddler named Pedott walks into a drinking establishment, carrying with him his sack of wares.
He approaches a young woman, seated alone at a table, and asks her, “Something for you, miss?”
She hands over a bill, asking for some matches, but the old man stares at her, looks into her eyes, and exclaims, “You don’t need matches, miss. I’ll tell you what you need.” And he hands her a small bottle of cleaning fluid, “guaranteed to remove spots of any and all kinds.”
“It’s what you need,” he assures her, and she takes it, no doubt baffled by the display.
Pedott approaches the bar, where a man referred to as “Lefty” is drinking liberally.
“Whaddaya got, pop?” Lefty asks between drinks.
“Many things,” the old peddler answers. “Many odds and ends. Things you need.”
Lefty tells him there’s no chance he has what he needs in his bag full of merchandise–a new left arm.
The bartender breaks in, explaining that Lefty used to be “quite a pitcher in his time.” He even pitched a couple of years for the Chicago Cubs. But then “his arm went sour.” Now Lefty comes into the bar each night, “looking for a baseball career at the bottom of a bottle.”
Pedott tells Lefty there are other opportunities, new career paths he can pursue. Pitching isn’t the only way he can earn a living. Lefty scoffs at this, his demeanor downcast, bereft of hope.
Suddenly the old man has a brainstorm. “I think I know what it is you need,” he says, reaching into his bag and fishing out a bus ticket to Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Lefty laughs. “Now, what’s in Scranton, Pennsylvania, old man?”
But then the phone rings. It’s for Lefty–a job offer from one of Lefty’s old managers to coach for a minor league baseball team in Scranton. He tells Lefty to take a bus to Scranton and meet the GM to interview for the job.
Lefty of course wants to know how Pedott knew he’d get a call from Scranton, but the old man has quietly departed the scene, exiting the bar. Oh well. Lefty isn’t about to stress over the details. He finally has an opportunity. He just wishes he had nicer clothes.
“I sure wish I could get this out,” he gripes, pointing at a stain on his jacket. “I’d like to look halfway decent when I meet the GM.”
The woman with the just-procured cleaning fluid walks up to him, shyly saying she couldn’t help but overhear, and that she has just the thing.
She tries it on the spot, applying the fluid to Lefty’s jacket stain. “When this dries, you won’t even know you had a spot there,” she says.
As she applies the cleaning fluid, their eyes meet. There is an unmistakable attraction.
The old peddler certainly knew what each of them needed . . .
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I am especially fortunate to be a part of a multi-author, cross-genre promotion that, just maybe, can give old Pedott a run for his money. The talented wordsmiths taking part in this promo offer a wide assortment of stories and styles–there is something here for everyone.
The details of the promo are straightforward. Each of the authors involved will run their own special promo on their books, beginning today and ending on November 22. What titles are they featuring in the promo and what, exactly, does their promo entail? Where can you find and download their books? I invite you to click on each of the links below to discover the answers.
I hope you enjoy this eclectic literary smorgasbord!
Barbara Monier –Contemporary Literary Fiction
John Howell — Fiction Thriller
Shehanne Moore — Historical Romance
Janice Spina –Middle-Grade Junior Detectives Series
Luciana Cavallaro –Historical Fiction–Mythology Retold
Evelyne Holingue –Middle-Grade Fiction
Jo Robinson –Nonfiction Publishing Guide for Newbies, Short Stories, and Mainstream Fiction
Sonya Solomonovich –Time-Travel Fantasy
Jennifer Chow –Adult Cozy Mystery (The beginning of a new series)
Nicki Chen –Historical Fiction–WWII China
Katie Cross –YA Fantasy
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As for The Eye-Dancers, as part of this joint promotion that includes authors from around the globe, I am discounting the e-book version to 99 cents, straight through to November 22. You can find it at the following online retail locations . . .
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Eye-Dancers-ebook/dp/B00A8TUS8M
B & N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-eye-dancers-michael-s-fedison/1113839272?ean=2940015770261
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/255348
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-eye-dancers
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I thank each and every author involved for joining together and taking part in this cross-genre event. It is an honor to be a part of this with you.
And I thank everyone for reading!
–Mike
