Strong language and adult situations, for those of you who find such thing appealing. I was thinking…I particularly like those stylized black and white covers. Here’s a version that fits my short story template.
A writer torn between two genres, two worlds…and Horror always cheats.
If only the best writer of his generation, Richard O’Shea, had come down clearly on one side or the other between the horror and fantasy genres, none of this would have happened. But he didn’t, and now both worlds play dirty to get his soul. The fairy lands send their queen: a lusty, foul-mouthed punk with glitter and sex in her eyes. Hell sends something darker.
The two worlds won’t share him. They’re getting old, and need fresh meat, as it were, to revitalize their realms. Richard wants to believe that the punk charms of Fairy have won him over…but Hell doesn’t need Richard to like it in order to win.
Now the only thing between Richard and Hell’s dark charms is Victoria, his editor. An editor who carries both pens and swords…and has very sharp teeth…
“The Whispering Tree” will be free here for one week only, but you can also buy a copy at B&N, Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, Powell’s and more.
—
The Whispering Tree
The love of my life had just told me that the reason she’d been holding herself back was that she wasn’t human, but a Fairy. A real one. And that, if I had went to Fairy with her, according to the rules of fantasy, we would be setting inevitable machines of tragedy in motion that would work to keep us apart forever after.
I’d just told her that I intended to find a way around the rules. It was what I did, after all. Not break rules so much as just…weasel around them.
“But the rules—”
“When you have the rules figured out, it’s time to change the rules,” I said, more bravely than I felt.
She put her hands on the small, round table…and headbutted me. Oh, I don’t think it was intentional; in her next movement, she grabbed both sides of my head and kissed me. “Then run away with me,” she said. “To Fairy. And we will change everything.”
I saw stars and the inside of my skull felt as though it had a nosebleed. “Didn’t you just tell me that if I loved you we’d have to live here forever—”
This story is no longer available for free. Please see the links above or your favorite ebook seller to purchase a copy.