First up, "Day Dreamer" by Devin Hodgins!
I was awarded "Day Dreamer" in my first-ever meandering during a Musa blog hop last month (which was pretty nifty, by the way). It's not a full novel, but rather, a novella. Perfect for a quick read, and priced at just 99 cents. The true genre of "Day Dreamer" is a bit two-fold, I thought. It definitely has a speculative fiction edge, but that edge is curved, wrapped around the mysticism that accompanies nighttime dreams, which are interestingly enough, a blend of reality and fantasy.
The dreams themselves, which in "Day Dreamer" are brought into daylight and propel the story forward, encompass the main character's entire, young life. Through his dreams, a very realistic and thought-provoking story about two characters who share a resonating and artistic bond forms. I refuse to go into spoilers! You'll just have to read it for yourself!
All this becomes quite interesting when you consider how short the book is. I definitely felt like I wanted more-- yet I was still satisfied by the scope of the story-- which to me, personally, is a trademark of great short fiction. And hey, short fiction's damn hard to write (I say as I scowl at my pile of short stories that have awarded me with quite a stack of market rejections).
The prose in this novella has a very natural, dream-esque flow to it, which heightened the themes of the story for me. The descriptions are beautiful and sensory. Devin Hodgins, the author, told me that for him, "Day Dreamer" was a different sort of tale to write, and that struck me as very interesting. As writers, when we dive off into the unknown, that's sometimes where our best ideas come from.
Enough prattling from me, though! Check out Devin's website for more information about the author and his current projects. For more information about "Day Dreamer," make sure and check out its page on Musa Publishing's site.
Oh, and hey, for other Musa authors out there that foray into science fiction, fantasy, GLBT fiction, and other regions of speculative fiction, if you'd like me to give your book a read and babble about it a bit, let me know here, on Facebook, or on Twitter. I'll buy the books, of course! I'm currently looking for new reading material. :D
(And yeah, yeah, I'm also due for an update about Captive and my other writing goodies! I'll update you guys soon, I promise!)
