Category Archives: Bibliography

First holiday story of the year

Sometimes you get an idea for a story but you just can’t figure out how to execute it. The underlying idea in this women’s fiction/crime story has haunted me for years, but I only recently figured out whose story it was to tell. I hope you enjoy it.

Clap Your Hands webEsme Blaylock, missing her deployed husband, wants to be curled up in her warm home with her baby daughter on Christmas Eve. Instead she’s at an upstate New York prison, assigned to interview Jennifer Duschanes, who poisoned her own children one year ago.

Jennifer sees a kindred soul in new mother Esme, and for the first time, reveals why she committed her heinous crime.

The truth will change Esme forever.

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

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Uncollected Anthology, Issue 6: Enchanted Emporiums

BugIt’s time for another magical trip into the minds of the Uncollected Anthology authors! Check out our new cover design, by the immensely talented Allyson Longueira…it’s perfect.

This quarter, the theme is Enchanted Emporiums: magic shops of all types. From a Manhattan bodega run by a two-thousand-year-old djinn to a magic shop that can cure a Halloween hangover, this issue gives you places to spend your hard-earned money—urban fantasy style.

Rebecca Senese is our Guest Author this issue. I can’t wait to read her story about a magical coffee shop! (Aren’t all coffee shops kinda magical when you need that hit of caffeine?)

All the stories are listed below—happy reading!

“What You Wish For”

Dermatis WYWF cover smallWhy does a two-thousand-year-old djinn own a convenience store and spice shop in Manhattan?

The world has changed, for one thing, and Wadid isn’t proud of some of the things he’s done in the past. But really, he loves that he can help the magical community—and enhance the cooking skills and palates of some of his customers.

That’s all well and good until two gunmen burst through the front door and threaten him and one of his customers. Wadid breaks his personal code and uses his darkest ability to make them go away.

Not that it matters. Because the next person who walks through the door is the last person he would wish for.

“What You Wish For” is kind of a sequel to my story “These Chains,” which appeared in Uncollected Anthology, Issue 5: Magical Libraries.

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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“Fear’s Mirror,” Michele Lang

Viv Levy, owner of the Sacred Circle magic store in New York City, knows she runs a big risk in her job. All kinds of supernatural currents, including quite dangerous ones, run under, through and above the streets where regular people walk. And evil often seeks a place of power…

A mysterious stranger seeks Viv’s help in dealing with a sinister magic mirror, and another stranger arrives when all appears lost. But will Viv herself have the courage to look into Fear’s Mirror?

An urban fantasy short story set in the world of the Ms. Pendragon series!

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“All Hallows’ Hangover,” Annie Reed

Teddy woke up the day after Halloween with the mother of all hangovers. The kind that comes complete with wagging tail and a lack of opposable thumbs.

Tabby owns a magic shop that carries just what Teddy needs, but Tabby’s dealing with her own brand of post-holiday hangover. The last thing she wants in her life is another complication.

Even if this particular complication has the cutest grin and the most soulful brown eyes she’s ever seen.

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“When Gods Hunger,” Leslie Claire Walker

Beth embraces her new, immortal life and forever job as apprentice to Malek, the serpent from the Garden of Eden cursed into human form. Neither immortality nor her magical gig changes her essential curious, risk-taking nature. In fact, the power Malek passes to her opens the door to greater risk—and more disastrous consequences.

When she takes a short cut with her new magic, she finds herself in Hell—or a hell, anyway. She comes under the watchful gaze of a new enemy—a power of Biblical proportions whose unrivaled skill at temptation threatens to trap Beth forever. Finding a way out—a way home—becomes Beth’s priority number one, but there are more lives and souls at stake than her own.

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

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“The Sweet Shop,” Leah Cutter

Tong Yi waits for something to happen—for his brother to return from the war zone, for his boss to trust him again, for his magical training to be expanded.

Something. Anything.

Then powerful wizard Uncle Bei takes him to The Sweet Shop—a magic shop more special and strange than Tong Yi has ever imagined.

Tong Yi finally returns to the war zone as well, delivering a message to a client he’d never expected.

But he must now make a decision about the war, about his place in it, about his magical training.

And everything, everything, has a price.

“The Sweet Shop” is a sequel to “Dancing with Tong Yi” and “War on all Fronts,” both also available from Uncollected Anthology.

Guest Author

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“The Magic Bean,” Rebecca M. Senese

After a safe life, an inheritance affords George the chance to leap for his dream: his own coffee shop. He even finds the perfect spot: a small, rundown shop.

Soon George is planning and polishing. Every day the shop looks cleaner, feels newer. Flaws melt away.

But every night strange images haunt him and threaten his sanity.

Is George’s desire to run a coffee shop a dream or a nightmare?

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. Check them out!

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‘Tis the season to be haunting!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And this year I even found a black T-shirt with that quote and witches and pumpkins and bats, etc., in orange on it. I bought one for Morgana for her birthday, too, because she has always been my partner in crime to go wandering through Michaels and Halloween stories cooing over things and singing that very phrase.

Related to this, I saw Crimson Peak last week, a movie I’d been slavering to see ever since reports came out that it wasn’t a horror movie, but a gothic. I love me some gothic. I eat up gothic novels with a spoon. I can’t stop thinking about Crimson Peak, and I’ll write something up about it soon-ish. I mostly loved it, but the wrong parts were wrong, and I want to see it again just to watch one particular arc because I wasn’t paying attention to it the first time ’round. When I told Ken I wanted to see it again, he said “For the setting?” and yes, I want to drool all over the costumes (which were, from what I’ve read, more period than I realized) and the houses, especially that house.

Because of the workshop I just came home from (see my last blog post), I’m behind in mentioning, pursuant to the season, I have several novels and short stories you might be interested in.

Although not as historically gothy as, say, Crimson Peak, What Beck’ning Ghost (romance) and Waking the Witch (mystery/women’s fiction) have old houses and ghosts and spookiness. Plus, What Beck’ning Ghost culminates in an All Hallow’s Eve ball, and Waking the Witch takes place in autumn, so they’re doubly season-appropriate.

WBG cover ebookTouch not the cat bot a glove…

The MacPherson family crest above the door gives Rachael de Young, genealogist and psychic, an unexpected chill. She doesn’t know that by crossing the threshold, her life will change forever. Because the MacPhersons are a family cursed by jealousy, betrayal, and fire….

Rachael grows closer to the truth even as she grows closer to the ghost of Jordan MacPherson, who died in the tragic fire…and could very well be the person sabotaging her research. But she must trust Jordan’s love in order to find the strength to face her own fears, break her one cardinal rule, and stop a madman before he can kill again.

wtw cover ebookWhat happens when four boys confess to the murder of a woman who died a hundred years ago…?

The violent encounter Rowan Everly survived in college jolted awake her psychic power to see past images while holding a related object. At the behest of a friend, she comes to the privileged prep school town of Millburn, New York, to investigate the current rape and murder, and hopefully clear her friend’s son’s name.

Rowan’s not sure she’s up to the task. Her deeply ingrained mistrust of men makes her question where her loyalties lie. The deeper she investigates, the less anything makes sense. The boys seem truly horrified by what happened—almost as if they hadn’t had control over it.

Her initial encounter with sheriff Toby Candusco isn’t pleasant for either of them. But his calm support of her, and his unwavering desire to see justice done, gives her the strength to not only face her fears, but to reexamine the core beliefs that shape who she is.

Only then can she face and destroy the real menace…and save everyone around her.

Short Fiction

My short-short contemporary fantasy story “The Pumpkin-Carving Contest” is in my collection Small Wonders: A Delightful Collection of Ten Short-Short Speculative Fiction Stories (it was originally published in Crossed Genres magazine).

Speaking of contemporary fantasy stories, how about the inconvenient haunting by “Some Old Lover’s Ghost”?

I’ve written a trifecta of stories about the Devil…all of which are funny:

Or if the spicier side of my writing is more to your bent, may I recommend “The Witch of Venice” by Andrea Dale. It includes a drink recipe…indulge and enjoy!

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“Pow, Bash! Yes! Yes!” podcast

I have been remiss in announcing that Teresa and I, as Sophie Mouette, have a story up as a podcast at Nobilis Eroticabig_Zaiatz-ETSupervillains! “Pow, Bash! Yes! Yes!” is superhero/supervillain lesbian erotica, and appears in the Circlet Press anthology Like a Mask Removed.

If you listen to the podcast, at the end you’ll get discount codes for the ebook and print editions of the anthology.

We hope you enjoy it!

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Damn those beguiling fae bitches

mirk cover webThis is one of those stories that I mostly forget about after writing it, and when I looked at it again, I thought, “Huh. That character would be great in a novel…dammit!” But for now, enjoy the short story, won’t you?

Bespelled by a faerie curse. Framed for stealing a baby. Watches her boyfriend get spirited away by the beguiling fae bitch. But Tamara isn’t someone who takes this sort of shit lying down. She has a legacy to uphold, and a boyfriend to rescue…and a secret that will rock both the faerie and mundane worlds. A mesmerizing fantasy short story from “one of the best writers working today.”

“Proof of Devotion” also appears in my collection Written on the Coast.

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

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Uncollected Anthology, Issue 5: Magical Libraries

BugI can’t believe we’re starting Year 2 of this project. Time definitely does fly when you’re having fun!

This issue’s theme is Magical Libraries, and what more can I say about that? Even the most mudane of libraries is magical simply for the worlds of wonders it holds in its books. Add some urban fantasy to the mix, and the sky’s the limit! I know I had a blast writing my story, and I get the sense all the other authors in this issue did, too.

Our guest author this month is USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith, who wrote for us a story set in his supremely popular (and supremely fun!) Poker Boy universe. All the stories are listed below—happy reading!

“These Chains”

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Madeleine works at a secret library beneath the New York Public Library, serving her final magical-juvie sentence. If she keeps her head down and does her time, she’ll finally be free. But when the most prized—and most dangerous books—are stolen, the ancient ones affixed with chains, all eyes turn on her.

Because her girlfriend—the girl she thought was her girlfriend—clearly had her fingers all over the job.

The Magical Council tells Madeleine to sit tight; they’ll handle it. Madeleine, however, isn’t any good at waiting for someone else to solve a problem. She has to get involved, even if she ends up being found guilty for doing the wrong thing for the right reasons…yet again.

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!

Lang Libraries cover small

“Kitty of Death,” Michele Lang

When you lose a Library Cat, the late fees are murder…

Corrie the Cat Librarian leads an orderly life in the strange little town of New Castle, Connecticut. As Keeper of Feline Deities, Corrie lends her cats out to magicworkers who need a familiar to complete their spells.

A safe and rather boring existence…

But when Idris, a minor Egyptian deity, goes missing, Corrie and the formidable litigomancer Elizabeth Royall must battle an evil, medieval necromancer bent on capturing death itself. And in the process, Corrie discovers the deadly power of a quiet magic.

“Lang is a writer to watch.” — Booklist

 

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“The Library of Orphaned Hearts,” Annie Reed

The books in Gretta’s library contain something far more precious than words. Something she lost herself in her youth and thought gone forever until a stranger made of shadows and smiles handed her a key and a book she couldn’t read.

The books in Gretta’s library can never be purchased, only loaned, and only to those truly in need.

The books in Gretta’s library can change your life.

If you’re brave enough to ask.

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“All the Words in All the Worlds,” Leslie Claire Walker

When Chris Garcia reads the magical morning Metro section of the newspaper, one and only one article stands out: a girl named Alice must find something precious she’s lost before nightfall or go to Hell. Chris figures his newfound magical skill of finding the lost will save her. Instead, he walks straight into a trap. If he fails to find a way out before the sun sets, he dooms Alice—and himself—forever.

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

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“The Midbury Lake Incident,” Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Mary Beth Wilkins knows she made a mistake the moment she sees her beloved library burn. She also knows what she must do next to protect herself and her secret. And although she failed to save this library, she has a more important purpose to fulfill—a magical purpose. If she acts fast.

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

Guest Author

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“The Library of Atlantis,” Dean Wesley Smith

Poker Boy specializes in asking stupid questions. But sometimes even stupid questions need answers.

To save the fabric of all things from unraveling, whatever that means, Poker Boy must go to the Library of Atlantis and do something that no one ever accomplished before.

Poker Boy saves all things. Again!

“[The Poker Boy] series is unlike anything else out there.
It’s quirky and a lot of fun.”
—Amazing Stories

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.

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

New SFF collection available!

I’m really excited to announce I have new collection available. It’s ten short-short fantasy and science fiction stories, spanning twenty years (!) of my writing career. (Holy moly.)

Here are the deets:

SWcover webThe ten stories in Small Wonders: A Delightful Collection of Ten Short-Short Speculative Fiction Stories each runs no longer than 1500 words, making each one a perfect little bonbon of speculative fiction. Whether you savor a morsel at a time or gobble up the whole collection, you’ll walk away satisfied. (But unlike a box of chocolate, you can always come back and enjoy this collection again and again.) In Small Wonders, you’ll find out why Dayle A. Dermatis’s short fiction has been called “really, really good”!

Includes the following stories:

  • The Power to Change the Shape of the Land
  • The Pumpkin-Carving Contest
  • Cycles
  • Creative Arsenal
  • The Sultan’s Sons
  • A Matter of Perspective
  • Accidental Victim
  • Return
  • The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip
  • What Dragons Prefer

Order from Amazon
Order from Powell’s (coming soon!)
Order from Barnes & Noble

Also available in ebook format:
Amazon
 | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks | OmnilitSmashwords

Praise for Dayle A. Dermatis

“…One of the best writers working today.”
USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith

“Another awesome flash piece is, ‘The Return’ by Dayle A. Dermatis. This coming of age flash blends ancestor worship and lunar travel through a poetically inventive conceit of ‘speaking trees’. This piece is a flash SF triumph, recommended for both theme and technique.”
—sfreader.com

“I was particularly struck by the little gem, ‘Sultan’s Sons’ by Dayle A. Dermatis. This was, in my opinion, the…strongest story in the entire collection.”
—horrorreader.com

“You want something new and something fresh and I think I got that when I accepted [‘The Sultan’s Sons’] from…Dayle Dermatis.”
—Armand Rosamilia, Editor of Clash of Steel

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Like a hint of romance in your fantasy?

proof cover webLike a hint of romance in your fantasy? Like curses and holy wells and scary faeries? Then do I have a story for you!

If Claire can’t prove Jason loves her, a faerie curse will rip them apart forever. But how do you prove someone’s devoted to you? Short story “Proof of Devotion” cleverly blends fantasy and romance in magical Wales.

“Proof of Devotion” also appears in my collection Written on the Coast.

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | Omnilit | iBooks (coming soon!)

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

Uncollected Anthology, Issue 4: Portals & Passageways

BugSo much has been happening with the Uncollected Anthology project! This biggest news is that USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch is now a permanent member of UA! We’re thrilled to have her with us.

This issue’s theme is Portals & Passageways: urban fantasy stories about doorways. When I was first pondering the Uncollected Anthology idea—well before I even figured out how to uncollect the stories (if that makes any sense). I love secret doorways and passages: I cut my teeth on Narnia, The Secret Garden, any number of Nancy Drew books and Gothic romances…you get the picture.

We’re also excited to have bestselling author JC Andrejeski as our guest author this month! So many doorways to open…if you answer the call to adventure and magic…

“Save a Prayer”

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Former Hollywood party girl Nikki Ashburne sees ghosts—in fact, many of them are her friends. Okay, they’re kind of her only friends. Most ghosts stick around because they’re happy here and have no desire to move on. So when she encounters a trapped and, quite frankly, batshit insane member of the formerly living, she’s driven to help…even though she hasn’t a clue how.

Another story in the Ghosted urban fantasy series featuring Nikki Ashburne.

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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“Darker Streets,” Phaedra Weldon

The Cavanaugh Family is known for banishing the last of the Twelve High Demons of Hell with the help of the magic sword, November.

Fifty years later, the most power of those Demons escapes its prison and kills the Demon Hunter who imprisoned her. The Demon’s next target—Taylor Cavanaugh, the latest and only Heir to November.

But Taylor doesn’t know how to swing a bat, much less a sword. Her family’s failure to educate her about any of its history could prove to be her undoing unless she proves herself the Heir and wields the sword before the Demon known as Abbadon destroys her.

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“Rites of Passage,” Annie Reed

Finn guards this world from the monsters from the other side. Slays their servants before they can finish creating passageways into our world for their masters.

Important work. Lonely work. Work that killed Finn’s own master when he got careless after too many decades on the job.

And Finn’s been doing this work for a very, very long time.

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“Silver Dust,” Leslie Claire Walker

Silver had it all—eternal life, long-term memory, and a real sweet princess gig as the heir to the Faery King’s throne. But then the Faery realm caught a terrible disease, and she tried to save her people by taking the sickness into herself. She ended up banished with a price on her head and only days to live. The cure cost her memory and left her in hiding, a stranger to herself.

When her one friend in all the worlds disappears while trying to help her find a way home, Silver must come out of the shadows to save him. She must face the danger and the unknown lurking in the Human and Faery realms—and in her own strange heart and soul.

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

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“The Streets Where We Live,” Kristine Kathryn Rusch

When Portia receives a call from an old friend she hasn’t talked to in years, she knows something terrible has happened. But when Portia realizes just how terrible—fifty kids missing from a Chicago theater with millions of dollars in damage left behind—she knows she’ll need backup from her magical sisters. Nothing about this latest case makes sense, magically or otherwise. And when she finally starts to discover the truth, Portia realizes that truth might be darker and more insidious than she ever imagined.

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“War on All Fronts,” Leah Cutter

 Tong Yi carries the mysterious message of Zhang Gua Loa back to his boss.

The immortal had said there would be war. But between whom? And why?

Huli Transport takes advantage of the situation to become the messenger service of choice in the war zone. They promise to remain neutral, and to deliver messages to all sides.

In the meantime, Tong Yi has battles of his own to fight, both with his older brother and his own growing understanding of magic.

But in the middle of a war, is it possible for him to remain neutral? Or has his side already been chosen for him?

This novella is a sequel to the story, “Dancing with Tong Yi” which appeared in Uncollected Anthology, Issue 1: Magical Motorcycles.

Guest Author

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“Kirev’s Door,” J.C. Andrijeski

 Kirev is a seer. Raised in an alternate version of our Earth, where his people are enslaved under human owners, Kirev joins a resistance army of rebel seers after spending most of his youth in work camps and brothels. He wants to help his people, but during his first mission with the seer rebels, Kirev faces a terrifying new future when a voice from his past intervenes and sends his life into a whole different direction.

~ A spinoff story from the ALLIE’S WAR series ~

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.

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

New fantasy story available: A Father’s Blessing

AFB cover webMarble and granite, alabaster and onyx: all stone speaks to Farais, and she wants nothing more than to be a Sculptor and release their secrets. But Farais is the last one in her family left to recite their lineage, a task at odds with her dreams. To achieve Master Sculptor status, she must obtain her father’s blessing…and her father believes in family and tradition. Farais must find a way to appease him, or she will lose everything she holds dear.

“A Father’s Blessing” 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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