An Amazing Experience at 'The Pit Stop'

Anyone up for a short story?

...because I found a good one. I originally found this author sometime before Christmas, but ended up not reading the work I had downloaded. This occasionally happens, because my reading moods change fairly quickly. I'll download a high fantasy, for instance, then decide that what I really want is a scifi story with emphasis on starships.

I know, I know...

Bad Rebecca! Don't do that!

The good news, though, is that in this case I came back to the writer after I saw another author tweet about her.

::hint, hint:: Tweet about authors that fit my review guidelines. You may end up giving them some extra exposure.

What did I find, you ask?

Cover by Jeff Boyce

I was fortunate to rediscover Carmen DeSousa. Her paranormal short story, The Pit Stop was spectacular!

While DeSousa has more than enough reviews on Amazon, I discovered that on Nook the number of reviews for The Pit Stop was surprisingly low. Fortunately, that meant she still fit the review guidelines, using my either/or clause.

So what's it about?

Officer Gino Canale and his wife make a pit stop for gas that causes Gino's memory of his grandparents' peaceful deaths to the resurface after twenty years. His nerves on edge, Gino's gut tells him that their deaths may not have been as simple as they appeared.

"This Stop Could be Life or Death"

DeSousa's extremely short story took less than an hour to read, which was fortunate, because I didn't want to stop. The story builds at a suspenseful pace, holding the reader in a tight grip throughout.

Even more exciting to me was the way that this story was written. This story was originally only 500 words long. Friends and family wanted her to lengthen it, and so she did...

She brought in her readers, and invited them to make suggestions on how the work would continue.

Pretty awesome, right?

Over time, that 500 word drabble was transformed into a stunning short story of nearly 10,000 words.

Furthermore, DeSousa impressed me with her ability to produce a realistic male protagonist. Oftentimes, I find that protagonists that aren't the same as the author are somewhat two-dimensional. This isn't always the case, of course, but it's very common - even among well established, high profile authors.

Carmen DeSousa, however, produced an overwhelmingly believable male in the field of law enforcement, rather than the 'stereotypical cop.' That is a huge accomplishment. Having been surrounded by family and friends in law enforcement for the majority of my life, I find this ability of hers to be quite rare.

The Pit Stop can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.