It's been a long time since I've felt the peculiar mingling of joy and anxiety that comes from seeing my name in print. The first time, a small publisher picked up my two short stories, "A Dark Place Inside" and "Strong Spirits," to feature in a horror anthology. I remember being inordinately proud of these works, despite the latter being the product of a creative writing workshop assignment done around midnight the night before it was due. (I used to think that I worked best under the whip of sheer panic, but honestly, the results have been mixed.) Both stories revolved around blurring the line between the paranormal experiences and mental illness, revealing my profound fascination with the latter. I had to wonder what that said about me.
That was 12 years ago, and I had a lot of things try to distract me from writing since then. Post-graduation malaise, a teaching career, going back to school for my law degree, graduating from law school at that unfortunate moment that the economy went swirling down the crapper, becoming a litigator, leaving litigation behind to work for the state... Busy times, those. But never did I forget how much I'd loved seeing my name in print, and I never stopped yearning to share my stories with the world once more.
Now I've got a creepy, wistful, violent, and hopefully unexpectedly rewarding story published in ALIEN ABDUCTION, a science fiction and fantasy anthology put out by Robot Cowgirl Press. It follows the story of a fairy** who is lured out of her realm and harmed by an unscrupulous magician. Robbed of something vital in the encounter, she sets out to seek revenge. But is revenge all it's cracked up to be? You'll have to read "The Wicked Fairy" to find out.
I'm very pleased to have my work featured in this collection. I haven't read all of the other stories yet, but from what I have read, I'm in good company. Anyhow, I hope you'll give it a chance, dear readers. I talk so much about writing in my life, on my blog, and all around social media. Now you get to see proof that I've actually done some of it. I'm not all blog, you know. ;)
Peace out, homies.
Buy the Kindle version here.
Buy the paperback version here.
** You might wonder what a fairy's doing running around in an anthology called ALIEN ABDUCTION. The call for submissions encouraged potential contributors to play with the concepts of "alien" beings--be they the usual extraterrestrials, supernatural beings, or something else entirely-- and "abduction." Thus, the content of the anthology is not limited to the traditional science fiction stories of those who are kidnapped and probed. There's actually a pretty healthy mix between science fiction and fantasy, from what I've seen so far.
