Like many writers I started out by practising my craft through stories; everything from Flash to almost Novella length.
When I felt I was good enough to start trying to get published, I sent my stories out into the world to be considered for various Anthologies. Some of them were rejected, but others weren’t – so I have a number of stories out there in the world that are part of something more than just my work. Some of them were done for the contributor copy, some for the fun of it, some I recieved a nominal payment; but they were all a learning experience.
I still write short stories and will contribute to anthologies, but I’m less likely to write them for free now – anthologies, historically, don’t make a lot of money for the publisher; they’re more about showcasing the talent of the authors within, so I tend to write for charity anthologies (where the profits go to a good cause) or if I’m asked to submit something.
That’s what this page is about – you’ll find a cover image and a blurb for each anthology that I have been in, with a buy link if they’re still available…
Please Hold, Your Murder is Very Important to Us
Anthology of deliciously fun murders about those who serve us badly and those who abuse the service providers
This was an anthology that a couple of Writing Friends from a previous anthology put together. It sounded like fun and was in a form that I hadn’t done for a while – Flash Fiction – so I joined in and ended up with one story in this anthology and another on my computer, waiting for my next story collection!
To Buy – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DD6XB72
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Hearts and Other Dead Things
Jeremy wants Maggie back. Rosa hates Simon. Adam can’t get laid. Graham hates cats. Maisie brings her new boyfriend home to meet Mom and Dad. Yuki wants revenge. Jake really should get over his dead girlfriend. Bradley gets offered a donkey. Doris should know better. And Peter calls a number, hoping for a good time.
A handpicked collection of sad, mad, bad stories and poems from the realms of romance, sardonic or macabre, alive with cautionary tales and comic turns, to make you glad you’re single – or wish you were.
A Cake & Quill anthology. Writers are: Bradley Darewood, Cat Nicolaou, J. Cassidy, Charlotte Stirling, S.A. Shields, Adam Oster, Angelika Rust, Ken Alexopoulos, W.D. Frank, Tina Rath, Yvonne Marjot, T.M. Hogan, Chloe Hammond, Jay Robbins, A.E. Churchyard
This is a Charity Anthology – but I’d already written the story and posted it on my Facebook page for my friends to read. One of them (who was involved with Cake & Quill) suggested that I submit the story to the anthology and I got in!
Cake & Quill – Writing for the Greater Good since 2015
http://cakeandquill.wordpress.com
To Buy – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hearts-Other-Dead-Things-Angelika-ebook/dp/B01BNIOUWG
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Bump Off Your Enemies
Murder like humor is such a personal thing. One person prefers to kill with a revolver, another with a rope . But just try to talk to people about murder and they will look down on you, law enforcement particularly so. After a lifetime of rejection arising from your occasional murderous utterances you learn to keep such musings to yourself.
Until now. In the *Bump Off Your Enemies* literary event of March 15, 2013, forty-six exceptional authors bumped off fictional enemies in 200 words or fewer. True murders of real enemies were forbidden. This literary event was an exercise in imagination.
We live vicariously through these stories of death. We release our bottled-up hatreds. This relaxes us, makes up happy. And isn’t making people happy the reason we were put here on Earth? Plus the bastards these authors bumped off really deserved it.
This is one of those fun anthologies – exercising the imagination, writing muscles and entertaining all at the same time. Put together by a group of Writing Friends, it was a great way to relax!
To Buy – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bump-Your-Enemies-Candace-Bowen-ebook/dp/B00CJWAVAQ
*****
Words to Music
Short story anthology written by 40 authors from 12 countries.
Authors from Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom and United States collaborated with the common goal to entertain readers around the globe.
The authors have chosen to give their royalties from this book to several deserving charities. The stories in this book run the gamut of fiction genres.
The fiction genres include: Crime, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Literary Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction and Westerns. There are also non-fiction stories.
One of the Charity Anthologies that I really enjoyed working on. We were assigned a song and we had to write a story inspired by that song. My first effort was way too long and became a novella that I’m still working on. My second was accepted for the anthology.
To Buy – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Words-Music-1-Michael-Wells/dp/1456532081
*****
Flash!
Each entry in this collection, in the space of a thousand words or fewer, tells such a story, a unique story, with its own voice and style.
Take a moment-no, take as long as you wish-to peruse these clever, moving, chilling, and wryly humorous examples of a lively literary form – Flash!
This was the very first Flash Anthology that I submitted to. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to curb my tenedency to go overboard with words!
To Buy – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flash-C-Douglas-Birkhead/dp/1617060283
*****
Novus Creatura
Here there be New Creatures (Novus Creatura) who will become the new Frankenstein Monsters and Draculas. Mirroring society, they reach from within these pages to clutch at your throat, your very soul.
Don’t open this collection without first lighting your room and locking your doors, because the new masters of horror and fantasy await within these pages to carve their words into your brain, to share their creatures with you: spider-children and environmental horrors; gene-spliced monstrosities and black worms; shadow-people and midnight drivers.
All these wait beneath the fabric of society to crawl into your mind by the turning of the page.
This anthology came from frequenting a particular website. The people there were very kind to help an Apprentice Writer and the story in this book was the result of a lot of help and feedback on my work at the time.
To Buy – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Novus-Creatura-Michael-C-Pennington/dp/145373824X
*****
Aurora in the Dawn
Aurora Wolf Literary Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy is a visual online magazine compiling short stories.
Aurora in the Dawn is made up from twenty-two contributing authors that stretched their creative talent. Within the reader will experience extraordinary journeys to other realms.
AuroraWolf.com publishes speculative fiction with strong characters and morals that uplift the down trodden, conquer the forces of evil and bring hope into our world.
This anthology is a mix of the best fairy tales, sword and sorcery, hard science fiction and true fantasy taking place in the past, present and future.
This was the first anthology I was in where I got a contributor copy! I was (and still am) so chuffed to have my work in print with these editors, because the journal that the anthology came from is one of the best I’ve ever read.
To Buy – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aurora-Dawn-Literary-Journal-Science/dp/145287309
*****
The World of The Teigr Princess 