She Makes Me Smile [Kindle Edition]

Mandy DeGeit (Author), Kelli Owen (Editor), Robert Ford (Illustrator)

Book Description

Everyone wants to be happy, but some of us are willing to go further than others.

Do you know who your friends are?

Happiness is subjective. What makes you smile?

***

What do you do when a short story you submitted to a publisher has been altered beyond recognition? Adding story points that were not previously there, changing character genders, and inserting typographical errors into the title? You get your story back and publish it the way it was meant to be seen, which is what Mandy DeGeit has done here. However, she's decided to do even more than just that. In her own words:

50% OF EVERY SALE will be put away in order to pay all the authors who were in Cavalcade of Terror $25 and a contributor’s copy of the now defunct Cavalcade of Terror, for their stories. The rest of the money will be used for hiring a contract lawyer based in Massachusetts to look over other contracts that may have been butchered by three certain presses.

For the full story, please read Mandy's blog.

http://mandydegeit.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/when-publishing-goes-wrong-starring-undead-press/

Product Details

• File Size: 108 KB
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0085KMVAO
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #607,814 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Start May 23, 2012

By Christopher S. Eubanks

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was a nice, tight well written story that will make you wonder about how much to trust your friends. Too short to go into detail about (just read it, trust me, it's worth the buck), She Makes Me Smile will give you the creeps and make you never want to fall asleep when you aren't at home. I look forward to seeing DeGeit's future work.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars SMMS Delivers May 24, 2012

By Nelson and Deb Pyles

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Given the build up of the release of this short story (which I won't go into here) there was a whole lot of pressure and speculation as to the quality of the story. Sure, she got screwed obviously with the unwarranted rewrite of the first incarnation of it, but the elephant in the room has been "Is the story any good?"

Yes. Yes it is.

The author takes time building a nearly claustrophobic atmosphere leading to a deliciously creepy payoff. Building tension and delivering the goods is difficult to do, and DeGeit does an effective job with both. The tight editing by superauthor Kelli Owen (a nice example of solid editing as I've read the legendary botched edit) adds to the story, moving it along to the gruesome end. I can't go into details as it is a short story and anything really would spoil the whole damn thing. But, the cover is amazing even more once you're done.

Give it a read-at 99 cents, it's a steal and the money goes to do some good.

DeGeit has a solid future as a writer. What will be interesting to see is the next set of work that comes out of her. Give her a shot.

N

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes me smile June 3, 2012

By Lucius Stricklyn

Format:Kindle Edition

After comparing this to the version that was originally published, I can see what all the fuss is about. I liked the other version, I won't lie, but this seems so much more personal somehow, more disturbing, to be sure. It isn't perfect but it is a valiant first effort (hopefully there will be many more to come.) Very enjoyable.

More About the Author

My name Mandy J. De Geit.

I dropped the "J" and smashed the De Geit together after my first story was published and I realized more words in my name meant the longer my autograph would be... Chalk it up to either time management or laziness, they're both pretty much the same.

I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I've lived here since 1999 I think, it's been awhile anyways. Home for me was originally Timmins, Ontario, it's a little town up four hours north of North Bay. *(I'm hoping to be the next big thing from Timmins, put it on the map for something else other than that Shania girl.)

I chose to make Ottawa my home, for the last... 13 years or so. I'm kinda gypsy-like/nomadic and I don't like staying put for too long, but aside from travelling around Canada and the US, I haven't strayed too far from Ottawa... yet.

I have a few things under my writing belt now, but it all started with She Makes Me Smile, in May 2012.

*(I should add here that a lot has happened regarding my short story She Makes Me Smile. It went from published to pulled to self-published and well... It'll be easier if you just see my blog for more information. Otherwise, SMMS can be found here on Amazon, along with a few of my other stories.)

You can find a full list of publications here. http://mandydegeit.wordpress.com/publications/

At the moment, I call myself an author of creepy fiction as I'm not sure how else to explain what I write. I try to write about things that just might happen. I write more about the darkness that resides inside people around us, the secrets our friends might carry or the things that people close to us think about and are capable of. There's really no category for that yet so creepy fiction works for me for now. I see myself heading off into other genres, such as bizarro and comedy, but I'll always come back to horror.

Thanks stopping by, happy reading!
MDG