National Short Story Month

national short story month, granny gave me a round tuit
Granny gave me a round tuit.

As National Short Story Month comes to a close, I’m reminded short stories come in many dimensions. “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” is at one extreme. This story is usually attributed to Ernest Hemingway, though that is unsubstantiated.

That flash fiction inspired Smith Magazine to put out a call to readers, which resulted in Not Quite What I was Planning: six-word memoirs by writers famous & obscure. Subsequently, Smith Magazine edited another volume, It All Changed In An Instant: more six-word memoirs by writers famous & obscure. Those six-word entries could inspire an incredible number of short stories for writers who go longer than flash-fiction. Or how about your own six-word nugget? You might become addicted to these mini-morsels. Mine is “Granny gave me a round tuit.”

 

VIRGINIA IS FOR MORE MYSTERIES

I have a story in the upcoming collection Virginia is for More Mysteries (Koehler Books, April 2016) titled “War and Murder at Nimrod Hall.” This is a sequel to “Death Comes to Hollywood Cemetery,” which appears in Virginia Is For Mysteries. It follows Clara as she escapes war-torn Richmond in 1862 only to encounter wounded soldiers and spies in Bath County.

Virginia is for Mysteries and Virginia is for More Mysteries
Look for “Death Comes to Hollywood Cemetery” in Virginia is for Mysteries, out now from Koehler Books.

You can find Virginia is for Mysteries on IndieBound, Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble.