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SHORT FICTION & ANTHOLOGIES

New stories:

Please buy copies from the Amazon links below. Thank you!

An unexpected accident has Alva Edison assisting her brother Thomas in developing some of the time's most amazing discoveries, and improving on some of H.G. Wells' work in my latest story, "Edison Kinetic Light and Power," to be published in the upcoming STEAMPUNKED anthology from DAW Books. Stay tuned for the cover!

Visitors to this time travel agency can travel almost anywhere. In my story, "A Night to Forget," one woman finds an exhibit about the Titanic more real than she ever expected. Out Now: in TIMESHARES by DAW Books, edited by Martin Greenberg and Jean Rabe. (In KINDLE too.)

To secure her family's financial future, Elsbeth agrees to marry the charismatic but secretive sea captain in my story, "My Dear Mrs. Jones" in "The Bitter End: Tales of Nautical Terror" anthology from Pill Hill Press.

An uneasy mother in medieval Belgium copes with an unusual child who says he sees dragons... does he? Or will he put his whole family in danger? A new fantasy story, "The Dream Child" in DRAGONS COMPOSED from Kerlak Publishing (May '09).

Someone is tampering with the gifts - and it looks like an inside job! Chief Elf Investigator Finius Flaherty must find out who's turned Grinch and save Christmas in my lighthearted holiday mystery, "Christmas at the North Pole Compound." See eBooks.

Other Published Fiction

~ My short story, "Bad Luck, Good Fortune," won third place in the Warren Newport Library, Gurnee, IL, Fiction Contest. A longer version was published in the summer '08 NEWN Magazine.

~ Flash stories in Flashshot: "Trust Me," 2/1/08; "Treasure Hunt," 2/20. Read "Dinner Time," "For Maman" & "Secrets," (Petey the Dachshund's dark side), 1/25, at my flash fiction page.

~ Flash, "Christmas Dreams," published at Apollo's Lyre.

~ Stories published in Mouth Full of Bullets. (Site offline.) "Grandmother's Green Thumb," Fall '07 print issue; "Closing Time at the Red Ball Cafe," Spring '07; "Say It With Flowers," Fall '06 issue.

~ FLASHSHOT - Daily 100 word email fiction. Year Two: "Beauty Sleep" #105; "The Day Job" #107; "Finding Thumbelina" #110, See www.gwthomas.org.

~ FLASHSHOT, Year One: "Dream Girl" #176. "Cleaning the Closet" #406; "The Frog Prince" #421 (read story at Author's Den/Verstraete); "Tea Time" #431; "False Advertising" #532; "Ghoulish Games" #543; "Perfection" #646; "Secret Recipe" #616; "Last Meal" #637.

~ "Dead Books, Old Things and Circus Dreams," Grave Possessions; "The Dinner Party," Hell Hath No Fury. (Out of Print, Cyber-Pulp Books.)

~ CVerstraete.com short story contest: Read the "Miniatures & Mystery Fiction" winners.

~ "Luck O' The Irish" 3/04, Mysterical-E.

~ "Motherly Love" published in 31 Eyes. (Site offline).

~ "His and Hers," Feb. '04, MINDPRINTS, Alan Hancock College.

~ "Nursery Crimes," (55 words), 1/04 FUTURES Mysterious Anthology. "Agnes & The Nincompoop" 10/02.

~ "The Dotted Line" - 5/02 Orchard Press Mysteries

~ "Just Like in the Movies" - 2002 Cenotaph Pocket Edition. (Site offline.)

~ "Booked for the Holidays" - "Much Ado About Clucking, " Laughter Loaf archives

~ "Paying the Price" - Honorable Mention winner, Issue One, FLASHQUAKE, see archives.