Print-on-Demand now available for C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2012

C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2012 is now available in both normal-print and large-print versions from CreateSpace. This collection includes the contents of the four anthologies released in 2012. In print-on-demand this is the equivalent of a two-for-one deal, with extra content thrown in. In e-book version its four-for-three with extra content. Check it out :-)

New Release: C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2012

This is a collection of all the short stories C.M. Simpson published and wrote in 2012. Many of these pieces can be found in earlier anthologies or on C.M. Simpson’s blog, but some have not previously been published. Genres range from paranormal urban fantasy to dark fantasy to space opera and comedic science fiction and magic realism. With tales ranging from her earliest years of writing to more recent times, this collection showcases one writer’s exploration of the worlds in her head and outside it.

This collection contains all short stories and poems included in An Anthology of Battle, An Anthology of Dragons, An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us, and An Anthology of Worlds, as well as previously unpublished content.

This collection is currently available from Smashwords and DriveThruFiction.

Published on: June 29, 2013

First Pages: Treaty Time by C.M. Simpson

Treaty Time is the fifth short story to be found in An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us. It is also available as a stand-alone short story.

Treaty Time continues the story of human settlement started in Nothing. In this tale, both humans and shifters discover they are not alone, and that some memories are inherited. 

Treaty Time is available as part of AnAnthology of Those Who Walk Among Us, and also as a stand alone title at Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes, and Nook.

First Page: Treaty Time

Ariel had been frantic when she found Varian gone. She had searched the house, then the stables and the work sheds. She had searched the gardens and the kennels and then she had called Grey.

“What do you mean ‘He’s missing’?” Grey demanded.

Ariel took a deep breath and repeated her discovery of the morning.

“He was gone when I went to rouse him this morning,” she said. “I looked for him in the house but he wasn’t there. He doesn’t seem to be in the compound at all.”

Grey glared at her but Ariel didn’t flinch. Grey wasn’t angry with her. He was just angry. This wasn’t the first time Varian had wandered off.

It was the first time he’d gone so early though. The boy had managed to avoid the watch droid they’d stationed outside his door as well. Ariel frowned, thinking of where Varian might have gone this time, but Grey interrupted the half-formed idea and it vanished before she could grasp it.

“This is no excuse for sitting idle, girl,” he snapped. “Fetch the lads their breakfast and get on with your chores. I’ll take Francis and Drake with me and go looking. Varian can’t have gone far.”

“Alright, Grey.”

Some of the doubt she felt must have crept into her tone, because Grey stopped his scan of the compound to look at her.

“Don’t worry, Az,” he assured her. “We’ll find him.”

END EXTRACT

 

If you would like to read more, Treaty Time is available as part of AnAnthology of Those Who Walk Among Us, and also as a stand alone title at Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes, and Nook.

First Pages: Nurse by C.M. Simpson

Nurse is the fourth short story to be found in An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us. It is also available as a stand-alone short story.

Nurse is a short horror story, featuring a secretive species of vampire and the creation of its newest recruit. 

Nurse is available as part of AnAnthology of Those Who Walk Among Us, and also as a stand alone title at Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes, and Nook.

First Page: Nurse

 The nurse stood by the edge of the bed and glanced at her patient. She took the young man’s hand and began to bandage his mangled finger. It was the least gruesome injury she’d seen that day and he was her last patient. It had been a long and particularly busy day, and the nurse was looking forward to the end of a long shift. Her name tag called her Alison; the hospital records knew her as Alison Glaze.

Alison didn’t ask what had bitten his finger, although it was obvious that a bite had caused the damage. That question had already been asked and the details he’d given had been sketchy at best. Triage suspected a spider bite and placed him under observation, while other, more life-threatening injuries had been treated. Looking at the injury again, the nurse had her doubts. While the injury looked like a spider bite, there was more damage than seemed possible from a mere spider.

As she bandaged, Alison studied the hand she held. It was a strong hand, a working hand. There were calluses on the fingertips and across the top of the palm, not hard, horny calluses that felt like warts, but smooth stone-like calluses that were covered by layers of tough, yet supple skin. The nurse glanced at her patient’s face. The clipboard on the end of the bed named him Oliver Stone.

He was lying on the bed with his eyes closed. His skin was clammy and sheened in a light layer of sweat, but he ran no fever. He opened his eyes when she paused in her bandaging. They were grey although she could have sworn they’d been blue when he’d first walked in.

Oliver returned her inspection and smiled briefly at her. For a moment, his eyes were almost blue again. Almost, then he closed them once more, a faint smile lingering on his face. His smile made Alison wonder what he had seen in her. She was pretty enough, having inherited her 

END EXTRACT

If you would like to read more, Nurse is available as part of AnAnthology of Those Who Walk Among Us, and also as a stand alone title at Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes, and Nook.

First Pages: Esmeralda and the Breeze by C.M. Simpson

Esmeralda and the Breeze is the third short story to be found in An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us. It is also available as a stand-alone short story.

Esmeralda and the Breeze: is a short story in the magic realism genre centered around a young woman finding her place in a world that largely rejects her. 

Esmeralda and the Breeze is available as part of An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us, and also as a stand alone title at Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes, and Nook.

First Page: Esmeralda and the Breeze

Esmeralda sat upon the front step of her veranda. She sat and looked over her front garden, across the white-washed palings of her fence and past the pond on the village green. She sat and stared at the forest beyond.

Her mother and father were worried about the way their young daughter sat and stared, for Esmeralda would stare at the forest for at least two hours each morning. She would sit and stare as the other children passed by the house on their way to school.

Nothing her parents could do would induce Esmeralda to attend school beyond her first day. Nothing they could say would convince her to return to the classroom, which seemed to hold a special terror for her.

When they asked why she wouldn't attend, Esmeralda wouldn't answer. She would just turn her head in the direction of the trees and stare.

It didn't matter that she couldn't see the trees as individuals; she would just turn her head away from her parents and gaze in the direction of the woods. Nothing they did or said would stop her.

As she grew older, Esmeralda spent longer gazing at the forest and less time doing the few other activities she indulged in.

Her garden, with its variety of woodland flowers grew unruly and full of weeds. Her sketch book and its attendant pencils lay, untouched, on the bay window seat in her bedroom and the kitchen was no longer redolent with the smell of the small, spice cakes, she liked to bake.

The daffodils struggled to break past the matted overgrowth of weeds in the first few weeks after winter. They pushed their spiky leaves through the weedy mat above them and stood, tossing their heads in the spring breeze as though they resented Esmeralda's neglect.

END EXTRACT

If you would like to read more,  Esmeralda and the Breeze is available as part of An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us, and also as a stand alone title at Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes, and Nook.