THE ASSEMBLY
Recently I sorted out
a cupboard, mainly because I needed more room to store hardcopy manuscripts. I
came across a box filled with short stories that dated back twenty- five years.
Mostly they’d been print published, some in magazines designed to attract women
readers. Some had ended up in anthologies, others in newsletters. They came in
several styles – contemporary and historical romance, fantasy and science
fiction. There was a fantasy that my daughter begged me to turn into a book,
which I did, and then there was general relationship shorts or stories that I’d
entered in comps. Usually they ended up in writers’ newsletters etc. Many of
them had been placed, or had won various prizes . . . or had been published
more than once. Gathering together the strictly romantic ones I put together a
collection of electronic romance short stories with Belgrave House.
The leftover stories
were oddments, contrasting as to style, subject and length rather than a theme.
Yes . . . some do have traditional romantic values. For instance, Rogue of
Hearts is a short romantic novella, while Kira Kira is a tribute to the
Australian aboriginal people and the generation of lost children due to Australian
government policy at the time. Breaking it down further: Two stories are very
short romances I overlooked the first time round, and two stories border on the
ridiculous. Three are otherworldly and two have no romance at all.
