I write a lot. It’s left me with too much to share, so today I’m offering an opportunity to get involved with more of my short fiction.
It’s taken maybe half a year to get the sequel to Under Ordshaw ready for publication (still tentatively titled Blue Angel), but I’ve got some half a dozen other novels waiting. Not ideas, whole stewing novels. The Worst Survive, an action-packed dystopian thriller from the world of A Most Apocalyptic Christmas, is waiting for its polish. A fantasy epic from 6 years ago is screaming for attention, too.
Those novels will all get professional attention from my editor eventually – when I can invest the time and money they deserve. And when they’ve got that attention, they’ll fly out into the world like beautiful butterflies. Or fiendish bats, whatever.
It’s another case for my short stories.
When Tracy Fells, won the short story competition we ran this year, she said her winning story had previously been entered in no less than 16 competitions. It had been revised many more times than that. She spent a lot of time on that short story – and she finally reaped the rewards.
I can sympathise with how much attention a short story needs. Sometimes it feels like as much work as a novel. The problem is, it’s easier to remember which novels I’ve written. I’ve got a whole heap of short stories that I took a few stabs at and then forgot existed.
That’s where I’m at: I have lots of unpublished work waiting to be shared, and the short stories have aren’t getting the love they (maybe) deserve.
Now, if you want to read them, I want to share them.
Hopefully, if you’re reading this then you’ve seen The Wrong Way. If you haven’t you can get it on my mailing list, right here. I also put Wheel, from the Estalia universe, sometime last year. They give a taste of my styles – I’ve got a little contemporary, a little fantasy, a little sci-fi, a little horror. A lucky dip of absurdity.
If you’d like to read more short stories for free, I’ll be sending some directly to the inboxes of those who show an interest. Mailing list members will have received this request already, you just need to click the link in the email. If you’re not signed up, join here and let me know you want more shorts!
