Category Archives: Fantasy/SF

What if you didn’t have a soul?

soulsearching cover webLayde leads a double life: as a Duchess on the Hll, and as a mysterious assassin in a blood-red cloak. Born without a soulstone, set apart from every other person by her difference, she wanders adrift until she falls in love with Sehra, also a hired killer…and a mother. Layde takes jobs to fill the hollowness inside, but Sehra kills by a code. Their differences threaten to drive them apart, and tragedy threatens to destroy Layde. Only the love of a child has a chance of bringing her back from despair’s edge.

“Soulsearching” is a brand new short fantasy, never before published!

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | Omnilit | iBooks

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Uncollected Anthology, Issue 3: Heartspells

BugAmazingly, we’re already at issue number 3 of this odd and fun little project. The time really has raced by. With two issues under our collective belt, we decided to branch out a little and add a new twist: we invited USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch to be our very first guest author. As you might guess, she accepted!

This issue’s theme is Heartspells: urban fantasy romance. Once again, an amazingly gorgeous and diverse group of stories…just in time for you to start getting into the romantic, Valentine-y kind of mood.

I set my story on a rainy night in Vienna, drawing on my memories of the few days Ken and I spent there…

“This is the World Calling”

Dayle HS cover small

Tansy and Ki’s families are two of the most powerful witch dynasties—and the feud between them puts the Hatfield and McCoys to shame. So why, then, did their parents not care when the two would run off and play as children, lost in their own little world? When they meet again as adults, Tansy and Ki’s mutual attraction makes it vitally important that they find the answer to that question.

Buy it at any of these fine online retailers:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Omnilit | Smashwords | iBooks

The other incredibly fabulous authors—go check out their stories!

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“Heartfire,” Leslie Claire Walker

— Vengeance is mine. —

Someone kills a woman in the alley behind Snake Bite Tattoo—a clear declaration of war against its dangerous proprietor, Malek, the serpent from the Garden of Eden made an immortal man. If he can work a spell in time to bring the woman back to temporary life, she can tell him who murdered her and why. He’ll track them down and make they pay. End of story.

But he doesn’t count on remembering that he once knew her, or the feelings that rise in him along with the memories. Or that the reason for her death and the declaration of war are not what they seem.

“For more than a decade now, I have adored the work of Leslie Claire Walker.”
— Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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“Lovebirds,” Michele Lang

Nancy gave up on love a long time ago, and lives a well-researched, rational life in Buffalo, New York. But winter gives way to spring, and the voodoo love store downtown sells not just lovebirds, but the potential for a different kind of life. When she finds the courage to say yes, love swoops out of Nancy’s dreams on borrowed wings.

“Lang is a writer to watch.”
— Booklist

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“The Midnight Gardener,” Leah Cutter

Joanie finally found her heart out in the backyard, hanging in an old fir like a Christmas ornament, covered in bees…

Now she must discover what it means to hold her heart open for another.

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“Love Stinks, Inc.,” Annie Reed

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Dyte started her anti-Valentine’s Day business as a way to get even with her dad, none other than Cupid himself, after he scared away her boyfriend. She just never expected Love Stinks, Inc., to become quite so successful.

The last thing Dyte wants is the title Zeus plans to bestow on her: Goddess of the Chronically Single (her company’s profits were that good, and boy do the old gods have a thing about tithes and offerings).

With Love Stinks on the verge of a record-setting year, Dyte has two choices to avoid the dreaded title: admit her dad was right and she was wrong about the whole boyfriend thing (like that will ever happen), or find true love (without the benefit of spells or magical arrows) before the clock strikes midnight on February 14th.

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“Switchback,” Phaedra Weldon

Skylar loves Erin. Erin loves Skylar, only as a friend. Because Erin loves men.

Frustrated with her feelings and the impossible situation she finds herself in, Skylar seeks out a local witch for advice. The witch gives her a spell, with a warning, that once the spell is sealed with true love, there is no going back.

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Guest Author
“Track 61,” Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kessa possesses only small magic. But her skills allow her to help those who wield bigger magic.

Her latest job takes her deep into the bowels of New York City’s subway system, hunting for bits of history long since forgotten.

And what she finds deep down in the dark will both threaten her life and change it forever.

“Rusch is a great storyteller.”
—RT Book Reviews

Final Info

As a reminder, we do have a website and a newsletter, for the sole purpose of telling you when the next batch of stories is available.

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Free story! “Desperate Housewitches”

BugAs part of the Uncollected Anthology series project, all the authors will be publishing their stories for free on their websites, each one for two weeks only!

“Desperate Housewitches” appeared in Issue 2, Winter Witches.

Available from these fine retailers:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Omnilit | Smashwords | iBooks

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Kimberly reigns as the witchy Martha Stewart of her neighborhood coven…until Philippa moves in across the street, with her snooty English pagan heritage and her magical one-upmanship. When the annual Winter Solstice ritual goes horribly wrong, can Kim and Philippa put their differences aside and bring back the sun?

This free story was available for two week only. If you missed this one, click on the links above. And please check out the Uncollected Anthology website (and maybe sign up for the newsletter!) to find out when the next issue will be available!

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Highland inspiration

seeds of hope cover web“When Glynis Mac Tavish went to find the wind…” So begins this short story of loss and longing, inspired by the Highlands of Scotland and Celtic mythology. Glynis, the last of her clan, asks the personification of wind itself only for what she has lost. But all the wind can do is give her the tools to find within herself what she truly seeks.

Personal note: I don’t always know where my ideas come from, but for this one, it’s clear. This story wrote itself one afternoon while I sat on the back of our motorcycle as we wove our way through the Scottish lowlands into the highlands. The wind on my face, the scraggy fields, the grey-blue sky all came together and gave me this tale. I hope you enjoy it!

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | Omnilit | iBooks

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Two older stories, available again

bane she cover webSpurned by a legendary bard, Eithne begs the King of the Selkies for a singing voice that would fill people with greatest emotion. But every gift comes with a price, one she would pay for generations to come. This haunting short story includes the bonus tale “…Of Human Sacrifice and Parents’ Tears.”

“Bane, She” originally appeared in Haunts, January 1996 (Issue 30) and was reprinted in Vermont Voices III, League of Vermont Writers, 2000. “…Of Human Sacrifice and Parents’ Tears” originally appeared in The Witching Hour, Silver Lake Publishing, 2001.

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | Omnilit | iBooks

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New contemporary fantasy short story: “The Rising”

rising cover webThe tragedy of 9/11 raises ghosts and insecurities, opens old wounds. Doug Masterson leaves his wife, Deborah, and embarks on a quest to understand his purpose in the world, while Deborah, with the help of the spirit of a woman who once lived in their house, struggles to piece her own shattered life back together. “The Rising” is an uplifting short story about hope and humanity.

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | Omnilit | iBooks

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Venetian courtesans and curses

masked cover webVenetian courtesan Catarucia Rigarda Archisani, spurned by her lover, wishes to be so beautiful that she will never be forgotten or ignored. When the capricious gods Venus and Amor grant her the wish, her only escape is to remain masked, except in the presence of her blind musician, Giancarlo Salvi. Accused of bewitching the men of Venezia, Catarucia must not only defend herself, but find a way to break the curse she so foolishly brought upon herself.

“Masked” originally appeared in Written on the Coast: Thirteen Tales of Magic and Mayhem Written in Lincoln City, OR, Soul’s Road Press, 2012.

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | Omnilit | iBooks

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Uncollected Anthology, Issue 2: Winter Witches

BugI’m still so excited about The Uncollected Anthology, and chuffed to bits that we’re already at Issue 2 of these urban fantasy stories. This issue’s theme is Winter Witches, to get you thinking about the holidays ahead.

Wow, talk about a diverse group of stories! All urban fantasy, but all very different—and I loved each and every one of them. There’s a reason I suggested this project to some of my favorite authors. (It was because I’m selfish and wanted to read more stories by them, on themes I thought were cool and fun.)

Anyway, here are the deets on my story:

“Desperate Housewitches”

desperate cover web

Kimberly reigns as the witchy Martha Stewart of her neighborhood coven…until Philippa moves in across the street, with her snooty English pagan heritage and her magical one-upmanship. When the annual Winter Solstice ritual goes horribly wrong, can Kim and Philippa put their differences aside and bring back the sun?

Buy it at any of these fine online retailers:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Omnilit | Smashwords | iBooks

The other incredibly fabulous authors—go check out their stories!

Annie Reed  |  Leah Cutter  |  Leslie Claire Walker  | Michele Lang |  Phaedra Weldon

As a reminder, we do have a website and a newsletter, for the sole purpose of telling you when the next batch of stories is available.

Want to chat about this post? Join me on Facebook or Twitter.

Two new (and very different) stories available!

 

FR Fantastic Detectives ebook cover NEW WEB 72DP“Living With the Past” is part of the Fantastic Detectives anthology from Fiction River, edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (former editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction). I need smelling salts, please, because my name is on the front cover. With Kevin J. Anderson and Dean Wesley Smith. And you may not know of Karen L. Abrahamson, but I do, and she’s a phenomenal writer (check out her Cartographers series!). (Alastair Kimble is a new author to me, but I’m eager to read his work.) Seriously, the whole table of contents is amazing.

“Living With the Past” features the heroine of my novel Ghosted, Nikki Ashburne, a former Hollywood party girl who can now see ghosts. Ghosted should be out in a month or so, fingers crossed. (I’ve been saying that for ages, though, haven’t I?)

Available in print at Amazon, and in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
(rest of the links coming soon, I promise!)

paying cover webMeanwhile, from Soul’s Road Press comes “Paying It Forward,” another erotica story from my Andrea Dale pen name:

Pamela believes in paying it forward—which is why every year she picks another naïve young man and teaches him how to properly give a woman anal pleasure. Warning: Adult content.

“Paying It Forward” originally appeared in Orgasmic: Erotica for Women, Cleis Press, 2010, as Kendra Wayne

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

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The 7 meme

I was tagged to do this 7-7-7 me!me!, which involves going to the seventh page of your manuscript, counting down seven lines, and posting the next seven full sentences. I don’t usually do these, but this one seemed like fun. I’m not, however, tagging anyone else—writer-friends, if you’d like to participate, I look forward to reading your entries!

From urban fantasy Ghosted:

I did not know that acoustic tile ceiling.

Everything came into focus slowly, including my brain. I took in the IV—the source of the pinching—the whiteboard on the wall across from the foot of my bed with the date and time and “your nurse’s name is Jeannie”; the annoying puffs of air in my nose that turned out to be an oxygen feed; the streaking sunbeams that made me squint.

I felt kinda floaty, and yet my head hurt, which seemed unfair.

I’d learn later that I had a very nice private room in a wing of the hospital most people don’t even know about. The rich-and-famous wing. The spare-no-expenses wing.

From spicy romance Love, in Stitches (the “sequel” to Out of the Frying Pan, both written with Teresa Noelle Roberts under the name Sophie Mouette):

She was tempted to stop at Starbucks, a familiar one between the parking garage and Luscious Couture, but the usual barista didn’t know how to make proper sweet tea, and technically Luanna couldn’t even afford a bottle of water right now. Tap water for this girl, damn the contaminants, full steam ahead.

Tears prickled behind her eyes (where had she found the moisture?), but she fought them back, pressing her lips firmly together and straightening her back. Her parents wouldn’t approve of her getting hysterical in public, though they’d have different reasons for it. Daddy would remind her that she’d made the honorable choice, even if it was hard, and that meant there was no point in crying. He’d also recommend a bourbon and branch water once she got home to make the hard choice easier to swallow.

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