the Author
April
27
9 Comments

Social Distancing Journal 05: Short story, Winter

Posted in self-publishing, Short Stories.

And it’s Monday. Today’s short story is Winter. Mike Resnick was editing an anthology about Deals with the Devil, and he wanted a story. So I wrote him a story.

I would have bowed out of this one because it was before the birth of my first child and frankly, I couldn’t under­stand why morning sick­ness was called “morning” sick­ness, as I was nauseous all day long, with maybe an hour or two of sort of normal. That hour or two was the time in which I could sit at a computer and write. And it was early days, and because I was young and new, I really didn’t want to make another profes­sional angry.

But I liked the story I did write. It’s here. Click the link and you should be able to “save as” in your browser, or to down­load it from your browser as well. The down­load is .pdf with an unfor­tu­nately huge cover — hope­fully I will easily figure it out and the next story will not have an over­sized cover. It is free to down­load and read. If you want to buy it, the book page is here. The Kobo, Amazon and iTunes links are live. B&N goes through Smash­words, so I’ll add that when the story goes live there.

***

I am still writing the next, unti­tled Cast novel (Cast 16), and the unti­tled first book in The Burning Crown, the final West arc.

And reading a lot of news. And studies. I feel in desperate need of choco­late or coffee or other comfort food >.<.

Edit: infor­ma­tion changed to reflect reality.

9 Responses to Social Distancing Journal 05: Short story, Winter

  1. Sharon Corbet says:
    April 27, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    The amazon​.de version at least is now live. And yes, choco­late is very impor­tant at the moment.😀

  2. michelle says:
    April 27, 2020 at 3:29 pm

    @Sharon: I was looking at the kdp dash­board, and… it’s still listed as in process. But! I imme­di­ately skipped that part this time and went to Amazon​.com — where, you’re absolutely right. It’s there. I’ve added the link :)

  3. Joey says:
    April 27, 2020 at 4:01 pm

    I like “Winter” — I know I have the orig­inal publi­ca­tion and your collec­tion. Has it ever been published in translation?

    And yay coffee AND choco­late AND other comfort food!

  4. michelle says:
    April 27, 2020 at 4:03 pm

    @Joey: not that I know of, and: it’s ONLY YAY if you have any T_T

  5. Tyronne Lorne Hodgins says:
    April 27, 2020 at 4:41 pm

    I just finished reading Winter. This story resonated within me. l’m not sure why yet. I’ll be pondering this over the next day or so. I know it has some­thing to do with my husband’s recent passing which devas­tated me and from which I am still recov­ering. There are times the grief is simply over­whelming. Your story is both beau­tiful and tragic, and yet, appro­priate (the only adjec­tive I can think of that fits). I have always believed that Lucifer and his demons should be pitied and that someday he and they find redemp­tion. Thank you for this story. You made my day!

  6. Thomas Wiegand says:
    April 27, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    I tried but Soma is closed. I promise choco­late when I can visit again.

  7. Jo-Ann Pieber says:
    April 27, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    Thanks so much for another story to savour. So very appre­ci­ated — and it’s thoughtful of you to provide a pdf version for those of us who don’t have e‑readers. I would prefer to buy it and so direct some amount toward your much deserved upkeep — but on a limited income that is stretched in these times when I cannot compar­ison shop or take advan­tage of sales (when what delivery is avail­able both costs money here and is often 2 weeks out) — free is Also appre­ci­ated, if a bit sheepishly.
    Also! Your reddit panel talk was another welcome diver­sion — inter­esting and engaging to ‘hear’ your writerly voices talking about writing and other things. And get more book reccs. That is Always a plus for me though I’ve been deep in re-reads of your, ahem, oeuvre. I meant to mention this the other day — that it is — bolstering? reaf­firming? to me to read that Other readers of yours are re-reading as well — 2, 3, 4 times and more over. Still, at some point?.…I might again feel like visiting a universe other than your own. But for now, Elantra and its denizens are my favoured companions.
    I myself did manage to stock up on my own comfort foods — sorry to taunt? — (though coffee is more of a Neces­sity for me). But quite seri­ously — I’m Dreaming of Greens. No one who is helping with shop­ping seems to know what rapini IS or can read labels — if in fact any of it is on the shelves. Finding it hard to be reliant on others to do my shop­ping when my all-too-specific likes/wants (there are many more of course) get reflected back to me as more than a little ‘strange’.

  8. michelle says:
    April 28, 2020 at 10:27 am

    @Tyrone: I’m sorry for your loss. I’m also well aware that grief and loss echo – some­times in direct propor­tion to happi­ness. I’m grateful to know that my story brought you comfort in any fashion.

    @Thomas: T_T. I wasn’t drop­ping any hints, I promise! Thank you for the thought, though <3

    @Jo-Ann: Please, no guilt! A *lot* of people are having finan­cial diffi­cul­ties, given the various shut downs. Those of use who are used to digging ourselves out of diffi­culty the old fash­ioned way — more work — are caught in a precar­ious place, because it’s not very easy to find that “more” when it’s almost impos­sible to, oh, get interviewed.

    Also: rapini imme­di­ately makes me think of Rapunzel. Not sure what that says about me…

  9. Mook says:
    April 28, 2020 at 8:43 pm

    This story gave me goose­bumps!! Thank you.

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