Short fiction is an art slightly different from writing novels— telling a satisfactory tale in a small number of pages. I love writing short for fun, and sometimes feel I succeed at the engaging story in a limited space (and sometimes they’re more like first chapters of novels, and some turn into novels. Marked By Death and Alec both began as short stories, where readers wanted more.)
I am sometimes blown away by how well an author pulls me into a short work. Some favorites, that are not in series, include the freebie Up with an autistic MC by Al Stuart and Claire Davis; Toy Boy superhero fun by TJ Land; War Paint about art and disability by Sarah Black; Still Waters with a non-human Nix who is fascinating, by Alex Gabriel; Dry Bones 1890s Western by Lucius Parhelion; If It Ain’t Love Depression-era romance by Tamara Allen; and many more.
Lisa Henry writing as DiscontentedWinter blew me away with 9 pages of Sterek fic in Bite Marks and Bendy Straws.
Kate Sherwood, writing in her Dark Horse series, made me ache for Dan in a piece written in second person present tense! (Rough Broke) So many good stories out there.
On my Facebook Group – Kaje’s Conversation Corner – I post a short story most Sundays. They’re unedited and just for the entertainment of the group. But my group members began asking (as the list grew over 100 stories) for a published collection they could read on their e-readers and find favorites more easily than a search through the vagaries of Facebook.
I asked for recommendations of their favorites, and collected together 30 (including my unpublished short storied for Life Lessons and Changes) and had them edited.
The Distant Hills and Other Stories is now on preorder, and will release Feb 23rd. I’ll be interested to see how much interest there is in bite-sized fiction, and what folks outside the group think of these stories.
Can a farmer still love the man who stole his horse, and broke his heart?
What kind of relationship begins with a passive-aggressive bottle of wine?
How’s life treating Mac and Tony of Life Lessons, ten years later?
Thirty short stories, ranging from flash fiction to 10,000 words, bring laughter and tears, triumph and heartbreak, and the quiet moments in between. And love, always love.
Do you have ten minutes, or an hour, to spend with a story? Check out this collection, filled with a wide range of contemporary, paranormal, and fantasy stories to feed the gay-romance-loving soul.