A new book is out that includes a short science-fiction story that I wrote.

The latest installment of the Alphabet Anthologies, F is for Fairy, is now available! If you aren't familiar with this series, each book has a theme and includes one short speculative fiction (i.e., sci-fi, fantasy, or horror) story for every letter of the alphabet. Each author was assigned a letter. This time around, my letter was 'D'. Near the end of each story, you get the grand reveal! What did the letter stand for? It adds an extra bit of fun while you are reading. If you are like me, you are trying to figure out what the word might be all along.

This is my third time being included in this series. I have a story in both D is for Dinosaur and E is for Evil. You can read the books in the series (and the stories in the books) in any order you like. Each is its own little world.

Here is a little taste of my fairy story:

The metal of the hatch door squealed under the assault of razor sharp claws. Naqi-12 curled her upper fringe to block out the sound. It certainly didn’t help her concentration.

“Did you see what they did to me?” asked Zee-47, examining the claw marks oozing orange fluid on her torso. “Can they cut through the metal?”

“Maybe,” Naqi-12 turned away from the tiny fierce face, all hard angles and teeth, mashed against the hatch door window. “What do we do?”

“I told you we should never have landed on Earth. That place is infested.” Zee-47 circled around Naqi-12.

“You did. You told me. But I thought the shipment was worth it.” Naqi-12 kept her eyes on the interactive diagram of their long-haul ship, studying the spread of the small aggressive Earth creatures. Most of it flashed red, casting a warm glow on the multi-color enamel mosaics that covered the curved surface of the walls and ceiling. “You were right. I was wrong. How do we turn this around?”

If you want a physical copy - head over to your favorite book retailer's website, but if you are planning to get an eBook version, you have another option: F is for Fairy is part of the current "Bad Fairy" StoryBundle, available for only one more week.

If you aren't familiar with StoryBundles, each bundle features a curated set of DRM-free eBooks based on a theme. You name your price. Any amount will get the base 4 books in this bundle, but if you decide to pay $15 or more you will get an additional 6 books. You also have the option of donating 10% percent of the price you choose to either Girls Write Now or Mighty Writers. StoryBundles feature indie-authors and are a great way to discover new voices. 
 

This is one of my favorite times of year to take photos of the ground. There seems to be an endless assortment of interesting patterns and shapes being created by flower petals and leaves and dying flowers.

These are the three images featured in my 2019 calendar for the month of May:

Do you wish you had your own copy of the 2019 calendar? It isn't too late! I have marked down the price by 30%. Given we are 1/3rd through the year, it only seems fair.
 

• The discount price on the Amazon Kindle format of my book, Partners for Preservation, of $9.99 has been extended through the end of May
• As part of a celebration of ALA's Preservation Week, I wrote a guest blog post that shares some of my thoughts on the preservation of social media content.