Making things Beta

On By TomIn Uncategorized

A glance at my Work in Progress will give some idea of my intended output for the next few months. I enjoy variety in my writing as I do in my reading, so apart from working on novels this year – I aim to produce two anthologies.

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A Time for Courage - 1My next anthology of short stories is due for publication at end of March 2016.

I’ve already adjusted the font, and the angle of the plane on the cover for about the fifth time, but I believe the latest version does the job.

A Time for Courage is a collection of 12 stories. There are two which appear in other collections, but they deserve to be included here.

As always I strive to produce a varied selection, even when adhering to a theme, and I’ve worked to develop these stories in each successive draft.

I’m now looking for volunteers to sample the collection. Ideally, I’d like readers to try at least two stories each, but if you’d like to experience variety I can supply a surprise third story based on your two choices.

If I’m fortunate enough to have more than one reader for any of the stories, it will only be a good thing for the final product.

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What do readers need to know?

Photographic Memory* and Duty Bound* are the two tales which are appear elsewhere, so they don’t require beta reading, but I’ll be happy to send them on if somebody particularly wanted to see them.

I tend to set myself a maximum word target of 3,500 for short stories, but in this list I have one tale which is 4,000 words. There are two which are under 1,000 words.

If you would like to sample any of these and provide me with feedback, please get in touch via email, Facebook, or use a comment here. You don’t have to use the title of the story, (or stories) – the number, (or numbers) will be sufficient.

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1. A Time for Courage
2. Users Guide: Soldier
3. Thanks Dad
4. *Photographic Memory
5. Special Forces ?
6. The Odd Couple
7. Walking Wounded
8. Brothers in Arms
9. *Duty Bound
10. Roamin’ Soldier
11. Blood Brothers
12. The After Life

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I’m presently editing a novel for a fellow writer, so I will allocate time in mid-month to revisit this collection for final amendments.

Thank you as always for reading and leaving a comment.

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10 thoughts on “Making things Beta”

  1. Reblogged this on echoesofthepen and commented:
    An eagerly awaited military themed short story collection from the pen of friend and fellow blogger, Tom Benson. Having read and reviewed several of the author’s many and previous works I know this will make a welcome addition to my reading lists.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hello Paul and I hope you’re taking it easy and things are good with you. Sincere thanks for the re-blog. You are a star sir. I think it’s a collection which will appeal to you. 🙂 Best regards to C.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Julia Lund

    Hi Tom. I will happily read a couple for you – I don’t mind which ones. Email me when you’re ready and just let me know what you’d like me to focus on.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you Julia. I’ll get a couple off to you. Nothing too detailed, but mainly interested in character development, and story credibility. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Hi Tom, I can beta read *1.* A Time for Courage and *12.* The After Life. Other beta readers will have to get everything else in between.

    Oh, can you send that in a html or Word Document so I can listen to it on my Kindle.

    Thanks,

    ~Pam

    *Pam Kesterson* Eternal Infinite on Amazon

    The Thief Who Stole Eternity on Amazon

    kesterson.pam@gmail.com 503-545-1933

    On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 6:19 AM, Tom Benson – Creative wrote:

    > Tom posted: “A glance at my Work in Progress will give some idea of my > intended output for the next few months. I enjoy variety in my writing as I > do in my reading, so apart from working on novels this year – I aim to > produce two anthologies. * My next anthology of ” >

    Liked by 2 people

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