The Well is an e-Festival of Words Finalist!

I'm honored that The Well has been selected as a finalist for Best Short Story in the e-Festival of Words Virtual Book Fair. Voting is now open, for anyone who feels so inclined. Click here to vote.

The Well - JT Therrien

Blurb:
December 24th in war-torn and drought-stricken Muhajeria and Sharon convinces her husband to try to fix the broken village well.  Jean-Marc is a busy doctor, reluctant to take time away from his patients, but disaster strikes and he must initiate a dramatic rescue. When Jean-Marc's life hangs in the balance Sharon is overcome with regrets. It just might be too late to reveal her Christmas secret. 

As always, readers can get The Well free at Smashwords.  

A heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who has read/downloaded this sweet love story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

~JT~

My Two eFestival Nominated Stories!

Yes, it's true! You've read about it everywhere and I can now confirm the rumors... two of my short works have been nominated in the wildly popular eFestival of Words Virtual Book Fair. They are:

Best Novella

The Betrothal

Best Short Story

The Well

The competition looks fierce in both categories, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

See the complete list of nominations at the eFestival site: efestivalofwords.com

Voting begins July 1 (don't worry I'll remind you) and I would appreciate people reading the stories and then casting a well-deserved vote or two my way.

The Stories:
The Well is a love story, and The Betrothal combines two genres (contemporary and historical) in one sweet romance.

Where to get the stories:
The Well is always free and can be downloaded in any popular ebook format from Smashwords. And, as a special nomination celebration bonus (read bribe), you can get The Betrothal for free at the same site here.

So, don't be shy and spread the word, there are plenty of copies for everyone!

If you're not registered with Smashwords, or if you're not a fan of their site, send me an email and I'll set you up. I know a guy...

I hope you have a chance to read them.

~JT~

The Well - Cover Explained

This post is in reply to those who have asked about the cover of The Well, my new inspirational love story.

The cover tells a subtle story that is at once both tangentially and explicitly related to the subject matter of the events in The Well. Obviously, the cover is an image of a well, as viewed through a television camera. More precisely, it shows an electronically transmitted image of a well, as seen on an older television set, hence the reception lines. It's a way of showing the West's (I suppose I should say North Americans') attitude about social problems that occur halfway around the world. Problems such as the decades-long drought in the Sudan, for example. Imagine, not having any potable water... for over ten years! I don't know about you, but I can't do it.

We are mostly made aware of these very real and troubling social issues through the media, and in particular, through the medium of television (or the internet). TV does an amazing job of relating all these diverse issues. Unfortunately, we quickly become accustomed to the exposure, from our comfortable seat on the couch. As the networks report from around the world night after night, one disaster segues into the next one. Add to that the creation of unnecessarily hyped news items, such as, "The Dow Jones closed 100 points lower today!!!!! and viewers are not solely to blame for developing jaded and cynical views about what is really (read ethically) significant in reported news.

The cover of The Well is an attempt to point towards a more enlightened awareness of this mass media coverage of world events and our blasé attitude towards it.

If you haven`t downloaded your free copy yet, I hope you'll have a chance to read The Well. It is available in a variety of e-reader formats at Goodreads, Smashwords, and also on my website.

You can also purchase a Kindle version from Amazon.

~JT~

New Release - The Well

I'm celebrating the Fine Form Press release of my new inspirational novella/short story, The Well.


The Well
December 24th in war-torn and drought-stricken Muhajeria and Sharon convinces her husband to try to fix the broken village well. Jean-Marc is a busy doctor, reluctant to take time away from his patients, but disaster strikes and he must initiate a dramatic rescue. When Jean-Marc’s life hangs in the balance Sharon is filled with regrets. It just might be too late to reveal her Christmas secret.

The Well is available for free on Goodreads, Smashwords, and on my website. If you must pay for it, you can get it from Amazon. (They wouldn't let me give it away for free.)  

I hope you enjoy this sweet love story.

~JT~