The Surprise Book: Shadows is a Collection of Flash Fiction Stories That Lost Then Found a Home

 

Earlier this year, I was comfortably employed at a publishing company, working as a YA Editor. This company had many imprints, and one of the editors put out an open call for flash fiction collections. Up until then, I had been writ8ing flash fiction and submitting the stories out to publications as part of my work as a freelance writer (which I still do today). However, once I saw this call for submissions, I decided to go for it. I did have some flash fiction stories lying around that hadn’t been published yet. (I prefer to have NEW material in my books of stories, although one story in my forthcoming YA horror collection of stories was previously published.) I also started writing new stories for this book. The call had a limit of 20 stories, with each story being no more than 1500 words, so I decided to aim for the maximum amount of stories. Once it was finished, I submitted it and waited.

 

Then the news came that this publishing company shut down. All of my books and pending books with them were now homeless!

 

Still, I bided my time. Experience has taught me that if I just sit tight, I would find a new publisher for this book.

 

Thankfully, I did. A fellow author shared about a publishing company in the UK on Facebook. He said some good things about them so I checked them out. I liked what I saw so I submitted my flash fiction collection. Three days later, an acceptance for this manuscript was in my inbox. I was thrilled! They also accepted a micro-chapbook of poetry, as well as a novella. I have more books slated to go to them, especially for their new imprints.

 

Shadows was published by Unveiling Nightmares on July 6 and I’m very pleased to see this book not only find a new home but also get into print. Many thanks to Crystal Baynam for accepting and editing the book, as well as Christy Aldridge for the fantastic cover! I’m very happy with my experience with Unveiling Nightmares and I look forward to working with them again on future books.

 

I call Shadows my “surprise book” because it wasn’t a book I planned to write. Before the year started, I made a list of what books I would submit. (That is a list that has seen many updates!) This book was not on the list. I hadn’t written it or planned to write it. It never even occurred to me to put together a collection of flash fiction stories. That call for submissions is what put the idea for this book into my head. It also prompted me to write more flash fiction stories just for this book in order to bring the total to twenty.

 

Here is the blurb for Shadows:

 

What sort of horrors lurk in the shadows? What monsters are waiting to attack?

 

Shadows is a collection of 20 flash fiction stories bringing our worst nightmares to life.

 

From Halloween scares to Christmas creepers, these terrifying tales will take you into worlds of fright.

 

Shadows offers stories of ghosts, zombies, demons and werewolves. But not all monsters are creatures of the imagination. Be careful who you trust; within these pages are people just as monstrous and evil.

 

Here’s the buy link