The Snippet
It was a dark and stormy night and Mr. Robert Ingersoll,
a writer, philosopher, and retired lawyer from Dobbs Ferry, New York, was lost
in the woods. He was unsure how he came to be in the woods or even which woods
he found himself in. He supposed that he must still be in New York, but where
in New York, he was uncertain.
An hour previously, Robert had woken at the
base of an impressive conifer, which led him to believe that he must have been
beaten and robbed. However, the fact that he felt no pain and appeared not to
have a single bruise or scrape countered the theory that he had been the victim
of a thrashing.
“They
must have chloroformed me,” Robert surmised. “Surely that is the case, for I feel
quite undamaged. They were gentlemen, these robbers, inasmuch as a robber can
be a gentleman. This will work in their favor if they are ever brought to
justice.”
The Plea
I promised that I would never again do a multiple blog hop post for one of my stories, but on this occasion, I am looking for beta readers for a 4000-word piece of dark humor/speculative fiction that I will be submitting for publication in an anthology. I will provide the link in case you decide that you'd like to submit a piece too!
Fair warning that the piece does contain offensive language. The three travelers are:
Robert G. Ingersoll, an American author renowned for his agnostic viewpoints
His Holiness Pope John Paul II
Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church
Fred Phelps' dialogue mostly consists of his own words, which are homophobic in the extreme.
If you would like to look over the piece and make sure that I'm seeing the forest as well as the individual trees (in other words, read for clarity) I would greatly appreciate it. I can pay you back in kind by proofreading, beta reading, or reviewing one of your stories, or I can provide you a guest post on Readers Roost.
Leave a comment including your email if you'd be interested in helping. If for some reason you can't comment (i.e. because Blogger and WordPress don't play nicely with each other) or would prefer not to leave your email address in a comment, email me at chartley65 at gmail dot com and put BETA READER in the subject line in all caps so I'll be less likely to miss it.
If you send me an email and I don't respond within a reasonable amount of time, i.e. a few days, drop me a comment to let me know I have an email waiting. This inbox tends to get cluttered with junk and I sometimes miss emails that I actually want to receive.
Many thanks!
Hoppin' and Boppin'
Good luck. I hope you find a suitable beta reader or two. Sadly at the moment I cannot volunteer. And I hope this comment goes through.
ReplyDeleteThat's okay. I wouldn't be able to volunteer either unless it was a you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours situation. I've got quite enough on my plate just now!
DeleteI love the tone and POV of this piece. Pulls me right in with lots of questions I want answered. Sorry I can't offer to BETA. Struggling to find time to do my own writing at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI certainly understand that. Thanks anyway!
Delete"It was a dark and stormy night..." Really?! I'm detecting author humnor there but might it not throw your readers off a bit? Best wishes with the project. I did like the 'voice' of the snippet.
ReplyDeleteWell, it actually IS a dark and stormy night for Mr. Ingersoll. But, yes, it's a nod and a wink to any authors who might be reading the piece.
DeleteHope you find a reader.
ReplyDeleteMe too. Thanks. :-)
DeleteHi, Cie - If it's only 4000 words, I can do it. Send it to me as doc by email, along with a bit of an intro about what you're trying to achieve and what kind of comments you're looking for. I like what I've read so far.
ReplyDelete