Sale and Giveaway

Reading Bella’s Rebellion is like savoring the delicate taste of a few longed-for bonbons and then realizing, toward the end, she’s made an entire cake for you. – Lee Tyler

Whether she’s writing about a mirror world, vengeful goddess, or a grown child confronting past wrongs, expect her unique fingerprint on each tale Ann Stanley spins.  – S. J. Henderson, author of the Daniel The Draw-er series.

On sale for $0.99 for a limited time only! May 8-14, 2016 only. Enter the giveaway here.

A book for women, about women dealing with difficult mothers, hoarding, mothers they never knew, unfulfilling careers, and hard times.

Bella’s Rebellion

In compiling this book, I picked the stories which seemed to best fit the theme of women learning from tough situations: conflicts with their mothers; unfulfilling lives; conflicts between ethics and romantic desire; and a zephyr nursemaid trying to keep alive her young charge (a fire). Except for this loose concept, the stories are quite varied. Some stories are short, some are long. Some are contemporary, some speculative. I even threw in a dash of magic and a science fiction story.

Here’s an excerpt from Photo Shoot:

The camera, so much a part of her that she hasn’t even realized she’s lifted it to her eye, is clicking. This is good stuff. She can’t ask Zelda to stop; she could never capture all this energy and madness in a pose. Zelda is still on point, falling and catching herself. Her hair loosens out of her bun, covering her shoulders with thick black curls; she rips her bodice off to reveal a black tank top, a tattoo painted on her upper back. The running shorts come off, leaving her in tight black lycra shorts. She’s a pop star now, still in pink point shoes, still throwing in a ballet move or two.
Sweat pouring off of her, Belinda doesn’t let herself think, she has to become one with this dazzling creature if she wants to capture her on film. She runs, chasing Zelda and the light.
It’s over. Zelda, like some creature of the night, prances off the stage, except it wasn’t the stage, only the dance studio. She returns, panting, to where Belinda holds her cramped stomach, trying to catch her breath.
“You okay?” Zelda asks.
Belinda moans. She promises herself that she will start working out. Tomorrow.

Cover Reveal & Publication date

It’s here! Big thanks go to Margie Deeb for the design. Margie is an author and visual artist, as well as a teacher, who has two short pieces in our free anthology, Mosaic. Thanks, Margie!

I’ll be doing a big launch April 26 to send this compilation on its way into the world. Join me for that!

In the meantime, I’m busy getting this ready for publication. Lots of details still to take care of, from formatting and double-checking it for errors, to writing up newsletters and asking people to be on my launch team.

For something fun, while you’re waiting for this, go over to http://shortfictionbreak.com and read the first few installments of our serial novel, The Time Traveler’s Scheme – it’s a fun romp through time as Melina figures out what Daeva is up to, and how to get to her, and Daeva continues to build her empire.

If you’re interested in being on my launch team (you’ll get a free copy of the book two weeks before it’s published, in exchange for telling your social media buddies about it on launch day, and leaving an honest review over at Amazon; if I can figure out how to do it, you’ll also be entered in a drawing for something to be determined), leave me a comment below.