I'm entering a short story competition for the first time in many years. It's being held by the Hunterdon Libary System (LINK HERE), primarly through the main branch where I conduct workshops. I also run an adult writers group at the Clinton, NJ, branch. I don’t think it’s appropriate to share more than an excerpt before the competition (and I’m honstly not invested in winning – this is just me doing something I haven’t done since my 40s or earlier). You CAN listen to the audio version at the link above.

It’s called ‘God’s Teeth,’ and it’s about a woman who’d had a lifelong belief in God, only to see it shaken after the death of her husband. It’s one of my favorite stories, and I hope you’ll enjoy it. Once the contest is over in November I’ll offer the entire piece.

GOD’S TEETH 

Miriam had always believed in God. His presence in her life had been a fact since she was a small child barely able to speak. She remembered looking up from her crib—she could not have been more than a year old—and seeing his face shimmering in front of her as he looked down and smiled, showing his magnificent teeth. She’d made the mistake of telling a friend about it once in high school, and the girl had laughed at her, saying it was her dad or her uncle or big brother she’d seen. There could be no other explanation. Miriam said, No, it was God, and her friend asked how she would know the difference when she was only a baby then.

“I just knew,” she said. “I knew my father’s face, and my uncle’s face and my brother’s face, and this was not it. This was bright and . . . what’s the word? . . . luminous, self-luminous, illuminating. It made its own light, his face, and the smile was so big I was part of it, like it covered me, and I reached up —”

“This is pretty detailed for a baby’s dream,” the friend said.

See my profile on the Eleven Reader App

I’ve been using Eleven Labs to create audio editions of my blog posts, articles, and some fiction for the past several years. I also use it as the platform for my own Wondervox venture, offering AI/synthetic audio production for clients who want that.

Before going further … I embrace technology. I consider AI a tool that can be used to make my work less time-consuming, and to make my writing available to more people. I always wonder: how many people who criticize, if not hate,  AI have insisted on using taxis instead of Uber or Lyft because of the toll those services took on taxi drivers and their families? How many of us refuse to use self-checkout because of the toll it has taken on cashiers? There are dozens of ways in which we take advantage of changing technology because of the convenience it provides us. As an author and artist, I personally do not consider what I do to be of some higher-level than the rest of humanity. A taxi driver or cashier is every bit as valuable as I am, and whatever my creative endeavors are. Writers are not special, as much as we like to think we are.

As another practical matter, I cannot afford to hire human narrators for everything I write. I’ve hired several  over the past 15 years and paid them, sometimes substantially.  I simply can’t do that anymore. I also can’t hire graphic artists to do book covers, let alone the flow of images I use on my websites. So the idea that I’m putting anyone out of work when I could not have hired them anyway is just not a strong argument.

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE

I’m inviting people to let me know which workshops they might be interested in taking, then I’ll arrange them online via Zoom, or in person. I have a wonderful workshop space available to me in Lambertville, and I’m more than happy to offer these in other venues (libraries, private spaces, and even homes!). If you’re interested in one or more workshops, just fill out the survey, provide your name and email, and look for something as soon as October. – Mark

Fiction Writing Essentials
They’re Alive! Creating Vivid Characters
Self-Publshing with KDP (Kindle Direct Publshing)
2-Hour Autobiographical Journaling Introduction

Narration provided by Wondervox.

By Mark McNease

I’ve written in several genres, formats and mediums over the years. Each has its own requirements, expectations and parameters: short stories, novellas (generally under 40,000 words), novels, poetry, screenplays, television scripts, and stage plays. For now let’s focus on some working definitions for genre fiction, nonfiction, and biography/autobiography.

For that past 15 years I’ve written primarily mysteries, thrillers, and some horror/supernatural fiction. I’ve also written countless blog posts, columns and articles, but that’s for another day and would require more words than most people want to read on this, so let’s narrow it down. Note that a lot of these apply to the genres in any form: movies, stories, TV shows, books  and more.

Horror

Horror is designed to evoke fear, dread, and a sense of the uncanny. Horror as a literary and cinematic form explores the boundaries between safety and danger, reality and the supernatural. There are also degrees of horror, from the everyday to the gruesome, from blood splatter to something simple but startling. We can be horrified without being repulsed.

FICTION WRITING ESSENTIALS
Thursday, October 2   10:00 AM – 12:00 PM  Via Zoom
REGISTER HERE: 2 Hour Fiction Writing Essentials October 2 | October 02, 2025

THEY’RE ALIVE! CREATING REALISTIC CHARACTERS
Thursday, October 9   10:00 AM – 12:00 PM  Via Zoom
REGISTER HERE Character Creation: They’re Alive! Creating Realistic Characters | October 09, 2025

SELF-PUBLISHING WITH KDP (KINDLE DIRECT PUBLISHING)
Thursday, October 16 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Via Zoom
REGISTER HERE 2 Hour Self-Publishing Workshop (with KDP / Kindle Direct Publishing) (copy) | October 16, 2025