From Character to Collection: Author Spotlight Illuminates “Tears”; Dark Bits Flash Anthology Up on Smashwords

And now for something a little different.  It’s not an interview, not exactly, but UK blogger Morgen Bailey’s AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT (cf. August 28) is up today, and it’s shining on me.  The way it all works is that I was requested to supply a biography — which in this case I also used to give a précis of THE TEARS OF ISIS — and follow it up with up to a thousand words of my own thoughts on writing or a writing related topic.  In both cases, some of what’s there is stuff I’ve talked about before, in various interviews.  I’m not proud — if the thoughts are mine, I’m happy to self-plagiarize.  But in every case if I follow an idea a second time, I’m able to consolidate parts and expand on others, not quite to produce a manifesto but going perhaps somewhat in that direction.  What are my thoughts now?

So, what indeed are they?  Starting from basics, they have to do with what stories are made from (at least in terms of my current opinion), but this time to continue beyond the completion of “story,” to look at how stories might then be combined to form a collection  — and so, again, to THE TEARS OF ISIS as a case in point.

But see for yourself by pressing here.

Meanwhile in other news Jacob Haddon of Apokrupha LLC has announced that DARK BITS (cf. August 10, June 30, et al.)  has just been published.  To quote the blurb, “a collection of 52+1 horror flash fiction stories.  Short, but not sweet, they move quick to grab you. Got a minute?  Go ahead, try one.”  And, as quick as that, the electronic version went up on Smashwords last night, for which one can press here, with a Kindle version expected today and Kobo, Nook, and iBooks to appear over the next week.  And, as for the print version, that should be out in about a week also.

My own part in this is “The Third Prisoner,” a tale of intrigue and executions and . . . maybe zombies?  With 53 stories (they’d originally planned for 52, for one per week, but apparently found a last minute extra they couldn’t resist) there’d better be zombies somewhere in the bunch.  And, if the link to Smashwords, above, is not your cup of tea, the DARK BITS site with links to all vendors as soon as they’re live can be found right here.