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SHORT FICTION & ANTHOLOGIES

New stories:

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, out now from Pill Hill Press.

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." New Cover! See eBooks.

Visitors to this time travel agency can travel almost anywhere. In my short story, "A Night to Forget," one woman finds an exhibit on the RMS Titanic more real than she ever expected. To be published March 2010 in TIMESHARES by DAW Books, edited by Martin Greenberg and Jean Rabe.

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).

Sam and her mother (from Searching for a Starry Night) face an unexpected menace from the past in "Fire and Magic," in the anthology, THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT. See details & excerpt.

~ An eerie story, "Cat Cries," was to be published in Cat Tales Magazine, Wildside Press. Project cancelled.

~ 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.

Other Published Fiction

~ Flash stories in Flashshot: "Trust Me," 2/1; "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.

~ A flash, "Grandmother's Green Thumb," is in the Sept./Fall '07 print issue of Mouth Full of Bullets. (Site currently offline. Will add here soon) Read it HERE.

~ "Closing Time at the Red Ball Cafe" is in the Spring '07 issue of MFOB. My story, "Say It With Flowers," is in the debut Fall '06 issue.

~ My short horror story, "The Witch Tree," was a contest winner and published by Echelon Press. Will it be him...or them? Read more - See ebooks.

~ 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.

~ GRAVE POSSESSIONS - Dreams come true at the circus (don't they?) in my story, "Dead Books, Old Things and Circus Dreams." (Out of Print, Cyber-Pulp Books.)

~ HELL HATH NO FURY - An invitation to a home-cooked meal seems to signal that all is forgiven in my story, "The Dinner Party." (Out of Print, Cyber-Pulp Books.)

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

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

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

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

~ "Nursery Crimes," (55 words), Jan. '04 FUTURES Mysterious Anthology. "Agnes & The Nincompoop" Oct/Nov/Dec '02.

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

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

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

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