Crooked Magic

So, the original anthology Crime Spells, edited by Marty Greenberg and Loren Coleman, is on the racks. It's a collection of stories about magic and crime, and there's a short piece by Yours Truly that anchors the final relay leg of the book, entitled "She's Not There."

I never was much of a short story writer, though I gave it a serious try when I first started in the biz. Until I began writing novels, I cranked shorts out, one a week or so, and most of those are holding down a shelf in the storage room. I was selling maybe one in four or five at my best, and the work needed to do them could, I figured, be better put elsewhere. A short story was worth a couple chapters in a book, so I mostly stopped doing them.

Dean Wesley Smith and Kris Rusch shamed me into writing a few for their hardback zine, Pulphouse, and since most of them were wild hairs but sold anyway, I was pleased.

Now and then, I get asked to contribute to an original anthology, and so that's pretty much my short story output these days.

I had fun doing this one.