A Wild Run

A Wild Run is out now! It’s currently in the Top 100 Fantasy Anthologies on Amazon Kindle.

The multi-genre anthology was organised by Melanie Mar and brought together fifteen incredible authors in a defiant mission to prove that AI will never replace human creativity.

All stories were inspired by one prompt: your MC is running through the woods – why? Every author produced a completely different twist on this theme.

My short story for the anthology is called The Girl With The Heart Of Glass – a fantasy story about a girl who realises being broken can make her stronger than ever before.

All proceeds from the anthology go to charity.

The reviews are coming in thick and fast:

Every story in this anthology is a treasure and it was amazing to see how the authors each made the prompt their own. Thank you for the ARC!

I’ve never read an anthology before. I love how the authors have come together to write their own stories based on the same setting – the woods.
Each story showcased the author’s individuality while keeping in harmony with the theme. Some had a dash of romance, others focused on thriller elements, and some did not have a happy ending. Surprisingly, I loved those dark ones with the emotional heaviness the most (I’m not sure what that says about me LOL)

An amazing mix of genres. There’s truly something for everyone!

So what are you waiting for? Hop onto Amazon and grab your copy. (Be sure to check the trigger warnings before diving into each story. As usual, my story is quite dark and there are elements that could cause distress.)

Destroyed? Or dangerous?

I’ve long had the concept in my head of a broken heart being a literal, physical thing. Imagining how the hairline cracks, caused by pain and betrayal, went unnoticed at first. Picturing the fault lines getting bigger, the breaks becoming more obvious, until the final, explosive shattering into razor-sharp fragments. How long before those jagged edges turn into weapons, cutting anyone else who comes near? How fine is the line between destroyed and dangerous? Can the very act of breaking something make it more deadly? A sort of reverse kintsugi?

At first, I thought the idea might turn into song lyrics – but nothing ever seemed to flow.

A Wild Run anthology

The idea of turning it into a short story never occurred to me. Until I saw a very exciting post from author Melanie Mar about an anthology she was putting together.

Melanie’s concept is to show the unique creativity that’s intrinsic to humans. Each of us would be given the same prompt and the varied results would be a quiet testimony to our individuality. In Melanie’s words:

You can give the same prompt over and over to a machine and it will spit out the same, if not largely similar output. Give eight authors the same prompt… and watch what the human mind can do.

Our prompt? “Your MC is running through the woods. Why?”

Although I still hadn’t got my broken heart concept out of my head, even at this stage, I still hadn’t connected the dots between the two projects – and why would I? Running through the woods + broken glass hearts = not an automatic match! No, I was well and truly down the rabbit hole of thinking about starting the story with a character literally running through the woods.

That’s when inspiration struck…

There was absolutely nothing in that prompt to say my story had to begin that way. What if it ended that way? What if it middled (not a real word) that way?

An AI model would also be very likely to kick off its output with the visual had been given. What if I subverted expectations? What if this was my chance to explore exactly who the owner of the broken heart was – before she went on the run?

The Girl With The Heart Of Glass

I wrote my story almost in one take – the whole thing flowing from me like a dam had burst.

Here’s the blurb:

She’s pure glass. He’s pure evil. When she’s sent to be his queen, she only wants to be loved.

Instead, she’s paraded like a trophy and stripped of her autonomy. A chance meeting with a charismatic rebel sets a chain of events in motion that threatens to shatter her whole world.

Can she prove to everyone that glass isn’t just breakable? It’s dangerous.

As with all my stories, please be sure to check the trigger warnings before diving in. My work explores some of humanity’s darkest aspects and I want readers to make informed choices about whether my content is right for them.

That said, I’m so proud of this short story and, if you read it, I hope it resonates.

I’m very excited to reveal the cover for A Wild Run, a blended genre anthology.

The anthology is the brainchild of Melanie Mar, who gave a number of authors the same prompt to see what everyone came up with.

I’m contributing a fantasy story called The Girl With The Glass Heart.

The other authors include:

Melanie Mar
Kylie Wiggins
Avery Timmons
Shaelynn Long
Arini Vlotman
Erik Brooks
Spencer Spalding
Lauren Diana Ysaguirre
Jenna Maeson
S.R. Hartley
K.P. Knupp
V.I. Davis
Deann Soleil
Jessica Salina

I’ll be posting a blurb reveal and deep dive into my story very soon. Meanwhile, why not add it to your Goodreads?

A Wild Run comes out 6 September.