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Featured
Author: Kelly Steed |
Like
many anthologists, Kelly Steed writes in many generes.
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Advice
to Writers: A Compendium of Quotes, Anecdotes, and Writerly Wisdom from a
Dazzling Array of Literary Lights
Advice to keep you writing and get you published. Here are literary lions on everything from the passive voice
to promotion and publicity:
James Baldwin on the practiced illusion of effortless prose,
Isaac Asimov on the despotic tendencies of editors,
John Cheever on the perils of drink,
Ivan Turgenev on matrimony and the Muse.
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Kelly Steed is a published poet, novelist and freelancer. In 1984, Kelly received the Daughters of the American
Revolution Good Citizen Award while a senior at St. Clement High School in Centerline, MI. She graduated with a BS in US History Secondary Education Curriculum from Northern Michigan University in 1989. Kelly is a Distinguished Member of the International Society of Poets, a member of the Military Order of the Cooties, a Lifetime Member of the V.F.W. Auxiliary and a former member of The National Author’s Registry. Her biography has been published in various volumes of Marquis Who’s Who since 1998.
Kelly is a clairvoyant and writes extensively about her experiences. Her nonfiction stories have appeared in issues of FATE Magazine. Kelly’s essay “Pining” about a ghostly cat appears in Haunted Encounters Real-Life Experiences of the Supernatural (Atriad Press, 2003) and “Fiber Optic Hamster” about an after death visitation by her hamster Jolly was published in Haunted Encounters Personal Stories of Departed Pets (Atriad Press, 2004) http://www.atriadpress.com. Her essay, “As the Millennium Turned” has been accepted for publication in the anthology Spiritual Visitations compiled by Heather Froeschl, The Quilldipper http://www.quilldipper.com/. Heather signed a contract with Heliographica http://www.heliographica.com to publish the anthology in 2005.
An interview with Kelly appears in DARE TO BE PUBLISHED: 50 Authors Help You Write, Market and PUBLISH in the New Century (Sell Writing Online, 2004) by Dallas Hodder Franklin It is available in PDF Format as a free download http://www.sellwritingonline.com.
Kelly Steed is the co-author of the award-winning Hard Sci-Fi Horror novel Stasis (PublishAmerica, Inc. 2001), about the dangers or cryonics technology. She is currently seeking agency representation for Camelot's Revenge, an alternative history about JFK’s assassination, for her YA novel Late Return about the ghost of a boy seeking justice for his murder through a library book he had in his possession at the time of his death.
Stasis by Kelly Steed & Colleen Elliott
Excerpt
“This is Zelda Star from the Luyet Institute of Chicago. I’m calling to inform you that your grandfather, James Harris, has been resuscitated and would like to see you.”
“What?” Brad slipped off the desk scraping his tailbone. He winced. His thin jams were no protection against the pointed edge. His bent lower arms caught him. He nearly lost the phone.
Zelda repeated her former statement.
“Excuse me, is this some kind of joke? My grandfather is dead.” He propelled himself in an upright position using his hands and paced the floor, the receiver clinched tightly to his ear.
“Oh, he wasn’t dead, just on ice. You see, at his request upon his death twenty years ago, his body was frozen at our cryonics institute. He has been revived and needs to be back in the bosom of his family.” I should write poetry. I’ll start my book tonight. She made a notation on her digital diary for this momentous decision was too important to forget. It could mean a whole new career for her. Smiling, she kicked her feet back and forth in excitement.
He laughed. “All right, who put you up to this?” He wished the dorms had vidphones, which would prevent the majority of prank phone calls. As it was, the only people who could use vid capabilities had personal computers. The vid technology employed an automatic tracer system that gave the receiving party the name, address, and number registered to the transmitting unit. Callers would have to go to great lengths to bypass the mechanism. As at most universities, building upgrades came slowly while the tuition costs still rose; and the students suffered for it.
“I can assure you sir; this is not a joke. We’re one of the foremost new life institutes in the country, our ads are run in all the major scientific journals; and our infomercials run every evening. You can look us up, we’re in the phone directory.”
“Have you spoken to my aunt, Evangeline Wentworth?”
“My contact with her has been unsuccessful.” The woman is an absolute sadist. “I had to track you down through the FBI. Look, I realize this has come as a shock to you. Why don’t you take some time to digest all of this and then call me back when you feel more comfortable? I’ll set up an appointment for you to tour the facility and speak with the cryobiologist assigned to his case. There won’t be any gray areas and then you can decide if you want to meet your grandfather or not.”
“Yeah, I really need to talk to my aunt before I do anything. I was never told any of this.”
I’m not surprised. “Okay then, I’ll look forward to hearing from you in the near future. Brad, I would also like to warn you that you might be contacted by the news media. We try to keep a tight lid on the identities of our clients and their families; but the reporters find ways around even our strictest safeguards. If you are, could you please refrain from comment until after your visit?”
“Oh, I know how to handle the media. Don’t worry!”
“Thank you, for your understanding, good-day.”
“Bye.” Brad hung up the phone. He paced the floor from the desk to the door and back. He stopped at the desk. “No way.” He picked up the phone. “This has to be a joke.”
He punched the number for off-campus information. “Au…yes Chicago, please? The number for the Luyet Institute?” Luyet wasn’t actually located within the city, just like the Detroit Lions played ball in Pontiac for years. Chicago was a large city, a reference point people would know. The automated information system, unable to find the listing in Chicago, checked the business name searching the state. It was located in Oak Lawn, a suburb west of Chicago. Brad didn’t bother to write the number down since he was automatically connected at the end of the recorded message. “Luyet Institute. This is Zelda…” He cut her off when he abruptly hung up. It was true. He sat on the edge of the lower bunk, his mind in a massive state of confusion. He’d been told very little about James Harris. The only people around that remembered him were Aunt Evangeline, James’s sister, and the parish priest. At least they were the only ones to admit an acquaintance. His other relatives never brought him up, and when asked, they referred him to his aunt. It was like they had never known him, even though their ages clearly spoke differently. He was just a name on a lineage chart as obscure as a name on a headstone from the 1800’s. The why behind all this, had always been a mystery. He stopped asking about him years ago. Just the mere mention of his name made his aunt agitated. She seemed to blame his grandfather for everything from the loss of the family business to the death of his parents. Now he would have to broach the subject again a task he wished he didn’t have to perform, yet it gave him hope, that he might finally get some concrete answers to questions that had plagued him since childhood. From the vagaries he did know of the man, he wasn’t one to back down from a fight and thrived in the limelight. She could hide from a dead man but not a living one with such a dynamic personality.
Visit Kelly Steed online at:
Kelly Steed, Sci-Fi
http://www.authorsden.com/kellyrsteed
The Steed Zone
http://home.att.net/s.c.ninlil.c.b
Email: kellyrsteed@authorsden.com