Thirteen Tales of Divergent Inspiration
by
Size: 5.50 x 7.50 in
Pages: 263
The mind of a befuddled muse...
is full of odd nooks and crannies.
This quirky, thoughtful, engrossing collection of short fiction contains twelve short stories and a novella across sci-fi and related genres including Time Travel, Alternate History, Hauntings, Circus Noir, Historical Fiction, Interspecies Communication, emails with the dead, and more...
The Stories include:
Curved Space:
The crew of a sleeper ship awakes to find themselves lightyears from earth and in danger of starvation. They are shocked when a pizza deliveryman knocks at their airlock.
The Daemon Muse
A man tries to ignore his muse and finds out she is not a jealous lover, but she demands his creativity to express her inspirations.
Times of Life and Death
A field historian specializing in Tudor England becomes entranced by Lady Jane, England's nine-days queen. He convinces her to forgo her execution and come with him back to 2085 where, he says, she will be safe.
Heart's Desire
The newly elected president of the United States finds out that even when the devil loses his bet, he wins.
A Sticky End
A freak accident leaves an astronaut dying and stuck in the airlock with his robot. As he prepares for his end, he desperately tries to find humanity in his one remaining friend.
The Singer of Starfish
A young dolphin is convinced that she is the long-prophesied "Singer of Starfish" who can finally communicate with the strange animals keeping her and her pod captive.
The Offering
A sculptor weeps as he carves a memorial for his painter friend who had completely failed to understand the brutality of the French Occupation of Algeria. Both is French family and his secret Algerian family would pay the price of his naiveté.
The Big Gumshoes
A Clown PI must solve the murder of his friend and mentor in both his careers. Along the way, he breaks up a corrupt side-show, finds love, and returns a kidnapped dog to its owner.
A Day in the Life of the Great Space Explorer
A nursing home finds a unique way to entertain its staff and residents by celebrating the writing of their resident Sci-Fi author who can only remember the day he is living at the moment.
Something That Will Not Let Go
A woman returns to her childhood home to hide from the law. Once there, she finds out her imaginary friend, who helped her live through the abuse from her father, is not so imaginary after all. Together, they avenge the pain they suffered as children.
Pea Soup
A mild-mannered, puzzle-loving court reporter is duped by the beautiful, but corrupt prosecutor.
The Severed World
The Field Historian and Lady Jane from Times of Life and Death find out her decision to travel back to his time has dramatically changed history and that his promise that she would be safe in 2085 could not have been more wrong.
A Thread Across The Veil
An internet scammer discovers that he can converse by email with his recently deceased lover and that she wants to reform him from his evil ways.
Illustrators:
Narrators:
Genres:
Tropes: Chosen One, Haunted House, Interstellar Travel, Time Travel
Word Count: 78,000
Setting: Multiple
Languages Available: English
Tropes: Chosen One, Haunted House, Interstellar Travel, Time Travel
Word Count: 78,000
Setting: Multiple
Languages Available: English
Excerpt from
The Severed World
Canto Two in The Lives and Times of Lady Jane
March 1553
By the Blood of Our Savior, Jane thought to herself, what am I doing?
This wasn’t the first, the second, or even the third time tonight she ran these words through her head. A few hours ago, this escape had seemed an answer to her paralyzing fears. But the quest had not worn well over the long, meandering trek through the woods.
Now she could hear the baying of Lord John’s hunting hounds.
“Do you not hear the dogs, sir? If we don’t find your ship, we’re going to die!”
READ MOREIan looked panicked himself but pointed forward and said “I know where we are now, the ship is just through this clearing, over there in that copse of trees. Run! We can make it.”
Lady Jane ran with all her might and despite her long dress, she easily kept up with the older man. But she stopped short when she saw they were headed for a tiny shed sitting between two large oaks.
“This is your time ship?” Jane asked, spitting out the first word in disgust.
I’m going to die following this warlock, she thought. If I had become queen, at least I would have had a nice, dignified beheading. Now I’m going to be run down like a wild pig.
“My lady, we will be safe in there. Remember, I promised you wonders…”
“True. Well, this would be a good time for you to deliver.” She could hear the dogs just behind them, the clanking of the soldiers’ weapons and the hoofbeats of horses.
Ian got near the door of his shed and did something with that damned box he carried and the door made a hissing sound like a giant snake and slid aside into the wall.
“God’s Wounds,” she whispered, frozen in horror as she looked inside. Though the shed appeared no bigger than a horse’s stall on the outside, the room through the door was much larger. Jane was sure she was about to enter the HellMouth and for a moment she stood paralyzed, tears running down her face.
COLLAPSEM Collins on Amazon.com wrote:5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection of intriguing short stories
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023Songs of a Befuddled Muse is an exceptionally well-written, captivating, and entertaining collection of short stories. Comprising thirteen tales of divergent inspiration, this compilation showcases the talents of journalist, photographer, programmer, and writer William Cohen-Kiraly and during its almost 9 hours of playtime, listeners will encounter a diverse array of characters, such as the captain of a dying interstellar ship, a field historian specializing in Tudor history, a private investigator clown, and even the newly elected president of the United States. Each character has a unique and compelling story to tell, and Songs of a Befuddled Muse invites readers to explore their extraordinary narratives.
While the Publisher’s Summary provides additional details about some of the stories included in this collection, I personally appreciate going in blind, unaware of what awaits me, and it is always intriguing to see how authors can masterfully write across various genres.
By the way, there is a pun there and it’s intended because I am actually totally blind. Songs of a Befuddled Muse serves as a testament to the boundless limits of an author’s imagination.
The audiobook rendition of Songs of a Befuddled Muse is skillfully performed by the talented English actress and audiobook narrator Liz May Brice and she truly brings these stories to life. With incredible talent, urgency, and passion, Brice captures the essence of each tale. From science fiction to time travel, paranormal to clown noir. These adventures spring to life thanks to Brice’s compelling narration and Cohen-Kiraly’s vivid writing.
I thoroughly enjoyed all the stories in Songs of a Befuddled Muse and eagerly anticipate William Cohen-Kiraly’s future audiobook releases. Hopefully, Elizabeth May Brice will continue to collaborate with him, as they make a remarkable team.
If you’re in the mood for atmospheric stories that will delight and challenge your imagination, then you should definitely give Songs of a Befuddled Muse by William Cohen-Kiraly a try!
Margaret Adelle on A Happy Hipster wrote:Many Great Stories - Fun Read
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2022
Verified PurchaseThe writer did an excellent job crafting a collection of stories, covering several genres, that bend your mind. While reading them the thought "Well, I never saw that coming!" crossed my mind several times making the time invested definitely worth while. Download the book or buy a paperback - it's money well invested, too. Enjoy!
Love it when authors send me an audio book.
“Songs of a Befuddled Muse” is an anthology collection focused mainly on sci-fi mechanics. The stories vary wildly in tone and premise (we’ll get into it) but the biggest feature is a three-part story where a time traveler is trying to save Lady Jane Grey from her assassination during the Tudor era. Like I mentioned in the opening, I was sent an audio book of the collection.
If you haven’t seen me review an anthology collection before, I don’t usually review each story individually. That would take too long and risks spoiling something. Instead, I prefer to talk about the collection as a whole, general writing styles and the curation of the entire thing.
I loved each story individually, but the curation gave me whiplash. Going from a story about horrific war crimes to a clown private eye was a trip. There are stories of child abuse and “good for her” revenge up with funny sci-fi mishaps and cute plot twists. It was a lot to take in. I understand that this was the author first coming back to writing (there’s a lot of talk about the power of writing in a couple different stories) but I’d love to see a more cohesive theme in future stories. Otherwise it feels a little back and forth for the tone.
As for the audio book, I adored the narration. Liz May Brice was constantly changing the tenor of her voice not only for every character, but for every story. Her tone in the “good for her” story was particularly impactful on the themes. The one downside was the final story, which is told through emails. Both the email addresses and the time stamps are read out for every email, some of which are only a sentence or two long, so it got real repetitive real fast. But other than that, I highly enjoyed the experience!
The through story of time traveling Lady Jane Gray could have had it’s own novella, honestly. Not that I didn’t enjoy it (some of the talk of the sci-fi tech did make my eyes glaze over at one point, and the audio didn’t help much) but that I think it would stand better with a more drawn out narrative. Time travel stories can be tricky to understand at the best of times (lol), but jumping from one to the other in rapid succession can increase the confusion. Not to mention the greater worldbuilding that comes from changing the time continuum, where each era needs it’s own explanation. And I feel like the action-packed ending of the third one could have been drawn out more for even greater tension.
Overall, this anthology is a great read for both sci-fi and deeper literary themes. A true testament that you’re never too old to put pen back to paper.
