Getting my first short story published in a commercial anthology was just as exciting as getting my first novel contract. I’m still doing my little happy dance from the ebook release, and I’ll probably dance a real Irish jig (even though I’m mostly Norwegian) if/when the anthology is released in print.

Here’s the cover art for Tales in Firelight and Shadow:

Contents:

Prologue
Mary A. Turzillo – “Pigeon Drop”
Jason Parent – “Moody’s Metal”
Patricia Stoltey – “Three Sisters of Ring Island”
Joseph Michael – “Nuckelavee”
Tenea D. Johnson – “Sugar Hill”
James Morrow – “Spinoza’s Golem”
Christina St. Clair – “Green Cat”
Alfonso Arteaga – “La Planchada” [“The Woman in the Ironed Dress”]
T.J. Weyler – “Keepers”
Ceschino – “Tailed”
Alexandra Dairo-Brown – “Mercy and the Mermaid”
Novella Serena – “My Bogeyman” montage – “Sans Lake”
A.J. Maguire – “The Nano-Fisherman’s Wife”
F. Brett Cox – “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”
Jennifer L. Julian – “Dance”
Alexis Brooks de Vita – “The Savant”

The opening paragraph of the prologue:

In the dark night of the human soul, a fire is lit and a tale is told, stirred from a chthonic pottage of dirt, blood and terror: the folktale. The flame that simmers our earthly supper does double duty as light through black hours toward the brave sun of day. We feed the body and the faltering spirit with hearth fire, campfire, candlelight, and electricity: flames promising that we are not alone.

The anthology editor and contributor (and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers member) Alexis Brooks de Vita includes this mention of my story:

Oh, but where is that folktale world so fondly recalled from childhood? Right here in Patricia Stoltey’s sun-spattered “Three Sisters of Ring Island,” a familiar story scraped to its bare bones-so to speak.

You can read the rest of the prologue at the Double Dragon website.

The Tales in Firelight and Shadow ebook is also available from other online booksellers. The links are on the Double Dragon website.