Back in February, I wrote a kind of pseudo-review of an anthology book called Malarky’s ImaginOmnibus. The theme was ‘They Walk Among Us’ and I was utterly honored to be invited to contribute.
You can read that blog post by clicking on this link here: THEY WALK AMONG US
And click on the picture below to go buy it!
Thirteen stories of magic and mystery reveal things that exist if you’re prepared to scratch the surface of reality. Within these words, you will find witches, demons, ghosts, vampires, angels, werewolves, centaurs, dragons, and creatures of the night, it’s a monstrous menagerie to cause delight.
From thirteen different authors, we bring you tales of those things that walk among us. The inexplicable, the strange, and perhaps deranged. What lies behind the everyday mundane reality that coats our world in a veneer of easy-to-digest simplicity? We bring you tales that just might be true, to enable you to see things anew.
Be warned, not all are for the faint of heart. There lies within; violence, death, adult content, and horror elements.
The FADE TO NOIR anthology collected stories by NT Anderson, Evelyn Chartres, SJ Covey, Rose J Fairchild, Kayla Hicks, Chris Hooley, Samantha Kroese, Peter James Martin, AC Merkel, Melissa Rose Rogers, Halo Scott, Ross Young, and yours truly!
What I never expected when I contributed my short story, was that the book would be:
a) So well received, and
b) It would spawn a series.
The book went to number 1 for a week or so in the UK, US, and Canada. Granted it was free, but even so…it was getting a boatload of downloads.
Buoyed by the success of that, RossBoss (the amazing author in his own right, Ross Young) proposed we did another one. So we did. Under his banner of SULK MEDIA we released a second anthology in the series. This one is themed on the title: FADE TO NOIR
When the light fades and the shadows whisper, do you ever ask yourself if it’s something sinister?
As the veil of night settles across the land, can you imagine things you can’t quite understand?
There are worlds of wonder beyond our reckoning, worlds where reality is torn asunder…and they beckon…
From fifteen different authors, we bring you tales of those things that walk among us. The inexplicable, the strange, and perhaps deranged, are all contained within the pages of Malarkey’s ImaginOmnibus.
What lies behind the mundane reality coating our world in a veneer of easy-to-digest simplicity?
We bring you tales that just might be true, to enable you to see things anew.
Allow Malarkey’s ImaginOmnibus to show you…
The FADE TO NOIR anthology collected stories by NT Anderson, Evelyn Chartres, SJ Covey, David Dewinter, Rose J Fairchild, Kayla Hicks, Chris Hooley, Eaton Krone, Peter James Martin, AC Merkel, Anya Pavelle, Melissa Rose Rogers, Halo Scott, Ross Young, and yours truly!
Now, when I contributed to the first anthology, I played it safe.
I wrote a short story that played out like a little prequel tale for my ‘Ballad of the Songbird‘ books. It’s a tale of what happened on the first day of The Rising. (If you’ve read Hunters, you’ll understand!)
A this point, however, I was getting bold. Experimental.
The Songbird books are BIG! Approx 160k words. Epic novels with dozens of characters and interlinking storylines. When I switched to writing my Femme Fatales novels, I’d stayed with a similar formula, but had tried to do them as around 70k words.
Mission accomplished.
Then I decided to write some character novellas connected to the Femme Fatales series. The first one was Knightingale. The challenge here was to come in under 50k words but to also write the book from a single character’s Point of view.
Mission two accomplished.
Malarky’s presented me with a different challenge, but also an opportunity.
CHALLENGE: Can you write a complete story (beginning/middle/end) in less than 6k words?
OPPORTUNITY: Can you write something outside your comfort zone?
For FADE TO NOIR, I decided to roll with both a story written from a first-person perspective (I usually write third-person) and also to shift genres and try a gritty cyberpunk noir style. The little detective story I wrote about a new character called Violet Chase, is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. I’m 99% sure that at some point I’ll write a novel based on this world and this character.
Not on the heels of the second book, RossBoss asked us if we’d like to contribute to a Halloween edition. Of course, I jumped at the chance.
The prompt was HUBBLE BUBBLE.
Within these pages await tales of misfortune, of harrowing battles, and cruel mistakes, of joy and relief, and of just desserts, of romance and fear, and all things between.
From twelve authors with Hubble Bubble on the brain, we once more welcome you to our world of the strange, the mysterious, the unusual, and the inexplicable. Witches, centaurs, ghosts, ghouls, vampires, fairies, merfolk, magic trees, and all that lies between hide within. What lurks behind the mundane, what goings on lie beyond your neighbours’ front door? Through these stories, we’ll take you through the eye of what might be and perhaps, what is…
Most of all, dear reader, there lies magic and wonder, the fantastic and harrowing. So make yourself comfortable and prepare to enter the world of Malarkey’s ImaginOmnibus…
The FADE TO NOIR anthology collected stories by NT Anderson, SJ Covey, KC Davard, Rose J Fairchild, Kayla Hicks, Alex Minns, Anya Pavelle, Melissa Rose Rogers, Halo Scott, Ross Young, and yours truly!
This one was interesting. The two genres I hadn’t really tried yet were comedy and romance. I seriously thought about whether or not I could write a funny tale of witchcraft…but I chickened out. Ross Young would have that covered, and I think writing comedy is perhaps the most difficult thing you can do.
I can write a funny scene or two. I’ve got some of them in my books. Allyson’s drunken phone call in Hunters comes to mind. But to write a whole story? Hard. Plus, as much as I wracked my brains I couldn’t come up with a funny idea.
Soooo…. I fell back on the Romance idea.
My story is called ‘A Cure For What Ales You‘ and I figured my story would be about a witch who runs a pub. She does the typical bartender stuff and listens to people’s problems, but the twist is that she then uses witchcraft to fix whatever is wrong by brewing potions that she slips into their drinks. The plan was to then have it somewhat backfire as she slips a love potion into a customer’s drink and they end up falling for each other.
But…that isn’t what I wrote.
The story ended up going off in a very different direction. I won’t spoil it for you, but I really love what I ended up with.
I’m not sure it’s the most Halloweeny thing in the book (In fact I KNOW it’s not) but I had fun writing it all the same.
I’d love it if you could hop on over and buy it. Take the opportunity to sample the work of some absolutely amazing Indie authors. These books are meant as ‘reader magnets’, a chance for readers to sample a little of the author’s work and see if their style grabs them. Then hopefully they’ll scoot over to Amazon or wherever and buy other works by them.
So if you like ‘A Cure For What Ales You’ then maybe consider picking up Hunters. Or The Scorched Sky.
The first two anthologies are FREE on eBook , so there’s no risk to picking them up. HUBBLE BUBBLE is priced very cheaply and well worth the price!
I hope you grab them, read them, and enjoy them. Oh! And if you do, PLEASE leave a review!
Thanks!
Love and Books (and Happy Halloween!)
