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Saturday, May 17, 2014

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?

via https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKQ-ZKHZpR_Tx0856Gc0EB4Ni_9QFELbaYOKQkMQpHWmhncXxmC5AnlvykZgkI2eIfYkPTECPLTQaEujK00jYPE4d-bX1fh2jEGeHBH-aZQyUB3nD_Q1W5_63hR_null6pHI4nYMsGMa4/s320/The+Pit+Stop+Cover.jpg
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.



3 comments:

  1. Thank you for the awesome review, Rebecca! I'm so glad you decided to pick my story back up. It's funny, as you said, this was just a fun exercise, which turned into another short story, 'The Depot', because readers asked to see more of a character who played a rather short role in the story, and then...more requests flowed in for 'the full story', so I ended up with a follow-up novel, 'The Library'.

    It's wonderful people like, you who take the time to read and review, that keep me going, cheering me on, and giving me new ideas. Yes, I have a lot of reviews on Amazon, but I assure you, I still read EVERY ONE! Thank you again. I hope you'll take another hour and read 'The Depot'. Personally, I like it more. But...don't tell anyone. ;)

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  2. I really love the whole 'story behind the story' that caused the creation of this work. The I-wanna-give-you-a-great-big-hug-for-making-your-readers-a-part-of-this type of love. I'll be sure to read The Depot at some point, as well as The Library, which I discovered while writing this review!

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    Replies
    1. Awesome! Thank you. I hope to do another 500-words-at-a-time story again some day. :)

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