Winter Chapbook

Chapbook.  Limited to 50 copies from Pegana Press Winter 2014

In October, Mike and I were discussing options for the next offering from Pegana Press.  The books are averaging about 5 to 6 months to produce, so we thought we might like to put out a book that could be produced in less time, in between the larger projects.

The idea of a seasonal chapbook appealed to Mike and we began hunting for a short story or two to offer for the Winter season.  This was no easy task.  The stories with a Winter theme that seemed appropriate for Pegana Press, were all too long.

We both looked through our library, and on line, but finally had to admit that we might have to wait until Spring.  There are lots of short stories which evoke Spring, Summer and Autumn.

Then on Hallowe'en, a small miracle occurred.  I broke my shoulder, and I was unable to move my right arm for a full week.  I literally sat on the sofa, eating aspirin, drinking pain relieving teas, slathering on tiger balm and directing Mike, who now found himself in the unhappy position of having to do all my work, as well as trying not to fall too far behind in his own.  And I want to thank him for taking such good care of me, and for keeping everything running smoothly.  I'm sure that's why I healed so quickly.

I was going crazy just sitting.  I'm a doer.  I'm not good at delegating.  So I had another stab at researching stories on line.  And again, I was unsuccessful.

Then one night after Mike had collapsed from exhaustion, I was sitting in front of the fire, and a story happened to me.

I'm the kind of person who notices things.  The kind of things that most people don't seem to have time to notice.  So I was listening to the fire.  And then I realized that what I was hearing from the fire was a story.  And I wrote it down and called it, The Voice of Fire.

Within the week, two other stories told themselves to me and I wrote them down.  Now Mike is half way through typesetting and printing the second story and it looks beautiful.  Blue ink on snow white paper.  He is working hard to get it done, and we hope to have it available for sale on our website in mid to late December.

We'll keep you posted on our progress.

Happy Winter.