In the Month of Love…
The publisher who handles all the non-Amazon sales of my new short story collection, The Artificial Elephant, now offers a wonderful way for you to easily buy books online, but direct a portion of the profits to your own local bookstore. You can still choose ebooks, paperbacks, whatever you like! It’s called Bookshop.org.
Their goal is to provide a way to find and purchase great stories, and send a large portion of the profits from each sale directly to a bookstore of your choice. Use the link above to check them out; it’s a really cool service. And lord knows local independent bookstores need the love!
You can find these new purchase links and more info here on my website.
Got a sec?
It makes a huge difference if you leave a review of my book after you read it. Every review counts for an indie publisher like me. Really. Doesn’t need to be fancy. Some stars, a comment, done. Here’s a link to The Artificial Elephant’s Amazon review page, where you can dash one off right now while it’s fresh on your mind. Thank you!!
Behind the scenes extra
Since Valentine’s Day has recently passed, we all need enough love to warm us through the next year. Did you know that the word “love” appears 36 times in my new short story collection, The Artificial Elephant? I guess it’s a theme! Here’s an excerpt from a story called “Duet,” about the ghosts of two lovers, dancing at the end of the world. It’s a very short story, oddly lyrical, that I created out of a writing prompt in an online writers’ community last year.
She breathed in. Cold. Pine. The memory of Emily's warm lips in the cool dark. The firelight triggered additional memories of marshmallows flambéed beyond recognition, causing laughter so hard that she'd snorted peppermint schnapps out of her nose
That had been so long ago. When they were both alive. When their love had survived everything. They'd meet at the lake, hold each other in the firelight. Kiss.
She sat alone in the stillness now, eyes reflecting the fire, lost in remembering. After they'd died, the world had moved on, but they hadn't. The living came and went, insubstantial and no longer relevant. But the lake had still beckoned, welcomed with cool water, holding the echoes of love just beneath its shimmering surface. Delicate green fronds had drifted between Emily's ancient buildings at the bottom, and they had drifted with them, or walked through Sarah's forest under warm skies. For a long time, it had been enough.
Talk soon, and thanks for all your support!
-Eric