Through The Looking Glass

Hurray! Today is release day for a new collection of short stories called LOVE AND DARKER PASSIONS published by Double Dragon Press. My story, Through The Looking Glass, is one among several intriguing tales of love and darker passions collected in this anthology. I didn't design the cover, but I kind of like it even if does look like the cover for a horror novel. Don't worry, I didn't write a horror story for this one. I wrote a dark paranormal.

From inside the flap: Love and Darker Passions is a collection of provocative short stories by today’s up-and-coming authors of dark, urban and Gothic fantasy. 

Here's a short excerpt from the first few pages of my story:

“So tell us, Alice, how long have you been able to do this?” Jeff Lockhart, host of the talk show named after him, leans forward in his chair. He perches both elbows on his knees and steeples his fingers.

I want to roll my eyes, but instead I widen them so that I won’t appear rude. I get asked this question all the time. You’d think people could remember my answer by now. “I’ve been reading mirrors my entire life.”

Lockhart’s handsome forehead wrinkles with concern. “Twenty eight years is a long time. It must have been difficult for you as a child.”

“Not really.” I lean back in the studio’s comfy armchair and cross my skinny ankles. I shrug and say, “While other kids were watching Sesame Street on TV, I got to watch real life play out on a sheet of glass. That beats the Muppets any day.”

A muffled chuckle ripples through the studio audience.

Lockhart flashes me an insincere smile. He’s trying to unsettle me, to dig a little drama from the depths of my stoic soul, but that will never happen. I’ve been in the spotlight too many times to let personal questions get to me. I read mirrors. So what? It’s as normal to me as reading the morning paper.

“Do you hear voices coming from the mirror as well?”

I shake my head. “Jeff, you need to understand the mirror is no more than a visual recording device. It captures images beneath its surface. A mirror can’t hear, it can only see.”

He glances at the audience and nods, rubbing his chin as if I’ve just revealed the knowledge of a sage. I’m only telling him like it is. There’s no wisdom in that, just the truth.

“If you can’t hear what the reflections are saying, how do you know what’s going on?” he asks.

I smile. “I read lips.”

LOVE AND DARKER PASSIONS is only available as an ebook right now (Kindle & Nook), but the print book is forthcoming. You can buy the ebook direct from Double Dragon for only $5.09, or get it on Amazon.com for just 4.79.