Crave
the Night is a collection of novellas recently released
from the Swell Cat Press. There are four contributors to this new release: me,
Michele Hauf, Lori Devoti, and Patti O’Shea. The title of this anthology makes
me chuckle, because I keep wanting to substitute other words, like “Crave the
Chocolate” or “Cave the Hunkman.” Not exactly helpful for marketing, I know,
but it leads me to the question of why get involved in an indie anthology? What
are we “craving” that makes us—all traditionally published authors—get together
and put out a self-published book?
Well, it’s not because it’s a low-effort
process. Authors are twice as hard on themselves as any editor could be. We
passed our stories to each other and went through them line by line. I was
actually kind of nervous! These are writers I’ve read and admired, and I wanted
to impress!
So why bother, if it’s not quick and easy? A
book like this is a chance to write something a bit special and unique. It’s an
opportunity to give life to one of those sparks close to an author’s heart. I
think this shows in the fact that, although these are all vampire stories, they
are all very different.
What was great for me was that I could offer a
story that comes from my Dark Forgotten universe but involves a location and
characters that don’t fit into the plot arc of my novels. When tied to a series,
authors rarely get the chance to chase the butterflies that flit through their
imaginations. This gave me the opportunity to take advantage of at least one!
I love the characters of Rafe and Lila and was
hugely pleased to bring them to life. Like all my protagonists, they surprised
me. Lila is very good at keeping secrets. I had no idea who the gargoyles
really were . . .
HIDDEN
by Sharon Ashwood
Rafe
returns to the Devries werewolf pack to rescue his people from a scheming fey
beauty. Pitting his will against her wits, he plans to seduce his way free of
the ice queen's trap. But surrender means death for the fey, and little does
Rafe know that he's gambling with more than hearts...
For buy links and excerpts of all four stories
visit the Swell Cat website here.
So, if you were going to see a short story in
the world of one of your favorite authors, what would it be and who would it be
about? Leave a comment and enter to win a copy!
7 comments:
I love to read anthologys to try new authors more than for authors that are already favorites (tho of course I read them too). Then I'll know if I want to commit the time to read one of their full length books. Often, if the short story is part of a series, and I enjoyed it, they've hooked me in for the whole series. This one looks interesting and I haven't read any of these authors yet.
sallans d at yahoo dot com
I actually came up blank. I couldn't think of a world or Author that I crave a side short story from. Sometimes short stories are such a tease.
My fav authors have already written loads of books about all the characters that I found interesting.
It's difficult to come up with a story I'm missing... But I love an anthology. In between regular books I want something short and surprising. A little snack ;) Then having one at hand is really great :)
The book is historical and not paranormal but the answer to your question came to the fore of my mind. I recently read Evangeline Collins' book Seven Nights to Forever, I found myself fascinated by the heroine's male buddy.
I agree with Di in that the anthology
is a great way to bring new authors in
to one's reading life. These are all
new to me authors. An anthology is also
a great read when you only have a short
span of time.
Pat Cochran
Thanks for your comments! It's heartening to know a lot of you read anthologies for "taste tests" of new authors.
I read anthologies to get a taste of authors work. It really give you a chance to try their books to see if its something your might want to read.
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