A Trip With Joe Gold and LB Waltz
Part 1 | Getting to know the authors featured in "Take Me There"
Welcome to an exclusive first look at our upcoming anthology.
Take Me There: A Speculative Anthology of Travel is a collection of short stories featuring characters on the move. Whether transcending to a higher plane of existence, exploring dangerous forests, or terraforming hostile planets, this collection has it all.
Now, let’s learn more about the stories and authors featured in this book!
Joe Gold’s Cubed is a portal fantasy set in Hungary. Ruby is training for an upcoming puzzle competition when she’s unexpectedly transported into a new realm, one where failure to follow the rules means certain death. Faced with this new, deadly game, Ruby will have to adapt against all odds if she wishes to survive. A mix of action and suspense, Cubed will have your eyes rip-roaring across the page until the grand finale.
LB Waltz’s Hyperbolic is a paranormal horror story set in an urban diner. The paralyzing prose grips you head-on, and you’re faced with a mysterious being sitting across from you. You want to escape from the booth, but you can’t. Time warps until every moment, every detail, becomes a horrifying glimpse into the choices that led you here. After reading this tale of hyper-focused terror, you’ll never look at diners the same again.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Joe Gold: Texas and Tokyo. Most of the entertainment I consume is from America and Japan, so I'd like to go to get a feel for the cultures at least once.
Would you travel to the setting of your story? Why or why not?
Joe Gold: Hungary? Yes. Very pretty architecture.
LB Waltz: Yes. Because I’m hungry, I haven’t been to a diner in forever, and if people are up to shenanigans in some dark corner of the restaurant, well. That’s none of my business. I’m just here for pancakes.
You get 24 hours to live in any fictional world/universe. Which one is it?
Joe Gold: The Shire from The Lord of the Rings would make for a good holiday. Nice countryside, nice Hobbits, and nice food. Very cozy.
Describe your writing style and what readers can expect from you in the future.
LB Waltz: My influences tend to be very gothic, and that is reflected in my writing. Which is to say, my prose leans towards “purple.” As for what readers can expect from me in the future, I’m afraid I’m not allowed to answer that, right now. But, you know. Keep an eye out.
Describe your all-time favorite vacation or holiday trip. Tell us what made it so special.
Joe Gold: Whenever I get to see my extended family in France. I'm an only child, so talking with my half-siblings is always cool.
If you only had eight words to describe your story, what would they be?
LB Waltz: Mirror, time, relative, food, future, betrayal, inevitability, crossroads.
Joe Gold: Puzzle, Competition, Sport, Cube, Emotions, Intelligence, Death, Hungary.
What is your favorite aspect of your story? What inspired you to write it?
Joe Gold: I like how strange it is. The Cube film series inspired it.
LB Waltz: Honestly, the various descriptions of the diner are my favorite aspects of the story. Atmosphere is where it’s at, baby. That said, a diner wasn’t what inspired “Hyperbolic.” Rather, it was born from an amalgamation of disparate elements, including but not limited to: having seen pictures of an infinity mirror, my general fear of immortality, and the idea of loopholes in a Faustian Contract.
What would you tell your readers before being launched in an exploratory spacecraft?
LB Waltz: They’re yeeting me into space against my will, send help.
Joe Gold: If you shoot for the stars, you'll at least hit the moon.
About the Authors
Hello, I'm Joe Gold, a writer of web novels and short stories. I'm the author of the web novel Slashers, an action comedy about 100 horror movie slashers fighting in a death game across 1980s Texas. You can follow me here: Twitter | Scribble Hub | Royal Road | Honey Feed
LB Waltz has been publishing creative works for over 20 years under various pseudonyms. They enjoy taking walks, biblically accurate depictions of angels, and reading about botanical folklore. Follow LB Waltz here: Twitter
Thanks for going on this journey with us. We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into a couple of the stories in our upcoming anthology. Feel free to participate by answering some of the questions in the comments below!
Take Me There: A Speculative Anthology of Travel
Embark on a journey across the realms of genre with "Take Me There: A Speculative Anthology of Travel," a specially curated anthology of 24 stories from emerging, visionary indie authors from around the world. Each tale is a gateway into the human experience, a portal leading readers into new and undiscovered territory. From interplanetary space travel to the deep recesses of the mind, this collection takes readers on adventures spanning time and space and everything in between.
Featuring stories by
Brian Reindel, Brylle Gaviola, Christopher Deliso, Clarice Sanchez Meneses, C.R. Langille, Daniel W. Davison, Devon Field, Galia Ignatius, H. A. Titus, Iris Shaw, J.M. Elliott, Jack Massa, James Castor, Joe Gold, LB Waltz, M.S. Arthadian, Melissa Rose Rogers, Olivia St. Lewis, Pamela Urfer, Randall Hayes, Shaina Read, Shannon Aaron Stephens, Victor D. Sandiego, Winston Malone
Great work, Winston. And what a roster! 👏🏻
Oooh, I'm excited to read the stories from these writers :) Gothic story involving a Faustian contract set in a diner? Strange fiction set in Hungary with competition + cubes? Sign me up!