In keeping with tradition for this anthology series, I have three diverse stories in our final installment, Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity.
My New Mexico ghost story, “So Hungry…” is discussed in another blog post here. My other two entries include “Take a Cue from the Canine,” and “The Forest for the Trees.”
Both “So Hungry…” and “Take a Cue from the Canine” took Honorable Mentions in the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable contests in 2017 and 2019, respectively, and as a sneak preview to Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity, you can read “Take a Cue from the Canine” here on my website.
I was inspired to write the story when the Bethlehem Writers Group announced animal stories as their 2019 contest theme. I wanted to write a “boy and his dog” story, but with a fantastic and emotional twist that answers the question, what is at the other end of the fabled rainbow bridge?
Illustration by Laura Inglis.
“The Forest for the Trees” takes place in Finland during the great famine of 1697, but was originally one of three stories pitched to Crazy 8 Press for their ReDeus mythology series. They chose one of my other stories (“Root for the Undergods” published in ReDeus: Beyond Borders) so I rewrote “The Forest for the Trees” into the epic tale you will read in Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity, incorporating battles among gods, monsters, and mortals where willpower is the greatest weapon. Illustration by Michael Riehl.
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PHIL GIUNTA enjoys crafting powerful fiction that changes lives and inspires readers. His novels include the paranormal mysteries Testing the Prisoner, By Your Side, and Like Mother, Like Daughters. His short stories appear in such anthologies as A Plague of Shadows, Beach Nights, Beach Pulp, the ReDeus mythology series, and the Middle of Eternity speculative fiction series, which he created and edited for Firebringer Press. As a member of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group, Phil also penned stories and essays for Write Here, Write Now, The Write Connections, and Rewriting the Past, three of the group’s annual anthologies.
Phil is currently working on the second draft of a science fiction novel while plotting his triumphant escape from the pressures of corporate America where he has been imprisoned for over twenty-five years.
We look forward to launching Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity in February 2021. In the meantime, check out the first volumes in the series by clicking on a cover image below.
