by Lisa Mason
The year is 1941, and Hitler’s armies have swept across Europe. Nora, a budding young Surrealist artist, has fled to Mexico with B.B., a much older and acclaimed Surrealist playwright down on his luck. Hundreds of European artists and writers have formed a colony in Mexico City, and Nora befriends Valencia, a fellow Surrealist artist and refugee. Together the friends explore Jungian psychology and the power of symbols in their Art.
But Nora is plagued by an abusive relationship with B.B. She embarks on a harrowing journey deep into her own troubled psyche.
The novelette was inspired by Lisa Mason’s favorite Surrealist artists, Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo.
An Afterword describing the lives of Carrington and Varo and a List of Sources are included in the ebook.
The Sixty-third Anniversary of Hysteria was published in Full Spectrum 5 (Bantam), which also included stories by Karen Joy Fowler, Jonathan Lethem, and Neal Stephenson.
Historical Fantasy
The year is 1895, and Danny Flint is a young man living in the shadow of his controlling father, a famous stage magician whose fortunes are fading. Uncle Brady, Professor Flint’s trusted assistant and business manager and Danny’s best friend, cannot stay in the same hotel as them—Uncle Brady is African-American. Danny is grieving over his mother’s recent accidental death, for which he feels he is to blame.
When a mysterious beautiful lady comes to them for help, Danny and his father will confront the ethical dilemma between spiritualist séances and faked séances performed by stage magicians like them.
He will learn to reconcile himself with his grief and guilt, learn the secret of Uncle Brady’s identity, and assume his place at center stage as a talented magician in his own right with the help of the beautiful lady.
“This is the type of story I was hoping for: a blend of fiction and magic history. The story is a nice juxtaposition between the magic ethos and spiritualism ethos and the Victorian era and the Old West. Mason knows her magic history (the title is from a Harry Kellar quote) and she knows San Francisco. My favorite story of the year!”
--Katherine Nabity, The Writerly Reader
Every Mystery Unexplained was published in David Copperfield’s Tales of the Impossible (HarperPrism), which also included stories by Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, and Kevin J. Anderson.
Historical Fantasy
Sing Lin is a mooie jai, a girl sold into slavery at the age of five to a wealthy merchant in Tangrenbu, the ghetto of her people in the new country across the sea.
One lucky day, while she is out shopping by herself, she meets another mooie jai. Kwai Yin is a bossy, beautiful girl two years older. Kwai has a secret. Before she was sold into slavery, she had a Teacher who taught her about Tao Magic.
But Sing watches Kwai succumb to the terrifying fate of all slave girls in Tangrenbu.
Soon Sing is destined to go to the same fate. But will her invocation of Tao Magic save her?
Five Stars A beautiful novella!
“The characters in this little book jumped off the page and you really cared what happened to them. It is a rare talent that can do that so well! This was a compelling tale of a girl sold into slavery as her culture allowed. I found myself hooked from the very first page as I followed her through the twists and turns of her life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a character-based story with a touch of magic and fantasy to it!”
Daughter of the Tao was published in Peter S. Beagle’s Immortal Unicorn (HarperPrism), which included stories by Charles de Lint, Karen Joy Fowler, Robert Sheckley, and Ellen Kushner.
“Knocked Up” meets “E. T.”
Nikki and Josh really want a child but have infertility issues. Gretchen and Mike have the same problem. When Nikki meets Gretchen at the Happy Daze Family Clinic in Pasadena, they discover that they share a love of music and have asked for a donor with musical talent.
Nine months later, they give birth to very unusual babies and, seeking an answer to why the kids are so special, they meet again at a pediatrician’s office. And the search is on: who—and what—is Donor Number 333?
For something fast and fun, U F uh-O, Lisa Mason’s screenplay for a producer looking for the next “Galaxy Quest” or “Men in Black” is now a novella.
5 Stars A very clever humorous novella!
“I found myself very involved with the characters and wholeheartedly cheering them on! I would highly recommend this 82-page funny novella to anyone who enjoys a well-written book with excellent character development in unusually subtle ways. I am looking forward to reading more of her works as I'm sure you will be, too!”
Genius. Visionary. Madman.
Nikola Tesla (1856--1943) was the pioneering genius who invented the AC electrical system that powers our world to this day, as well as radio, remote control, the automobile speedometer, X-ray photography, the AND logic gate that drives all our computer systems, and countless other devices and precursors to devices such as cell phones, television, and the Internet that we so effortlessly use today.
Strikingly handsome and charismatic, fluent in half a dozen languages, mathematics savant and master machinist, a reed-thin perfectionist who quoted poetry like a Victorian rapper, Tesla became one of the most famous men of his day. Friend of tycoons like John Jacob Astor and Stanford White and celebrities like Mark Twain and Sarah Bernhardt.
Yet Tesla was an intensely driven and lonely man, beset by inner demons, and cursed with a protean inventive imagination a century ahead of his time. He died in obscurity and poverty and, to this day, his name is not widely known. How did that happen?
Blending historical fact with speculative imagination, Lisa Mason explores the secrets of the Inventor’s inner life and his obsession with Goethe’s Faust set against the backdrop of sweeping technological changes at the turn of the twentieth century that have forever changed the world.
A List of Sources is included in the ebook.
TESLA, A Screenplay was read by the producer of “Aliens” and “The Abyss” and is currently under consideration at another L.A. producer.
Memoir About Writing and Inspiration
My Charlotte: Patty’s Story is a short, sweet memoir about a life in a garden and one writer’s first inspiration. The ebook includes Mason’s first story, Arachne, which was published by Omni Magazine worldwide, by Hayakawa in Japan, and by Replik in Sweden.
Reading Charlotte’s Web, the classic children’s book, inspired Mason to write her own novels at the age of eight. Her quest to discover the meaning of the spider led her to Jungian psychology, myths, and symbols. The classic myth of Arachne became the subtext of her first story, Arachne, published in Omni. Mason’s first two early cyberpunk novels followed, Arachne and Cyberweb, published by William Morrow, AvoNova, and Eos Books, now ebooks from Bast Books. Soon to be republished in print..
Passionate Paranormal Romance
On the eve of what Jenna Coltrane believes will be Brett Becker’s marriage proposal, tragedy strikes her life again—not just once, but twice. In the midst of trouble, she encounters Eon, a regal young man unlike anyone she’s ever met.
With him, she enters the magical world of the Arbor, discovering sensuous love and dazzling beauty beyond her wildest dreams.
But Jenna cannot stay in Eon’s magical world for long—she’ll die. And Eon cannot stay in Jenna’s ordinary world—he’s a god. They can only meet for a measured time through the Gateway Tree.
When Jenna discovers that Becker Construction plans to destroy the Arbor and build an office-condo complex on the site, she becomes the leader of an environmentalist movement to save the Arbor. But Becker Construction will stop at nothing and Jenna is swept up in a struggle in which her love for Eon and her life are at stake.
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