March this year saw the release of Crossed Spaces , a young adult short story anthology published by Rhiza Edge and edited by Lynne Stringer and R.A Stephens. It is a collection of short science fiction and fantasy inspired stories by a variety of authors and my story  The true written life of Ed Specolta  was included. Here is an excerpt from the story...
​"Minnicent is holding my hand. Her eyes are red. Her nose looks sore, like she’s blown it too often in cheap paper tissues. There’s sparkly pink gloss on her lips and she’s biting the bottom one.
I try to speak, but only gurgled noises come. My chest is tight. My arms won’t move.
‘I love you.’ She releases her bottom lip and the words fall out. It’s as if she never meant them to be. But I’ve heard and her eyes widen as she realises. ‘I didn’t mean to …’ she says. "
               Short stories can be a lot of fun to write. They provide you with the opportunity to explore ideas, characters and concepts in a shorter form than usual. For teachers and readers, they offer bite sized pieces of narrative to analyse, engage in and consider. Short stories open opportunities to think, discuss, imagine, critique and respond.  I guess this is why I was excited when invited to collaborate with R.A Stephens in another anthology, this one due for publication in 2022. 
​ Proposed cover of Dust Makers. Dust Makers will be a collection of stories for young adult readers, drawing on the theme of sustainability. We're deep in editorial mode at the moment, sorting through potential stories from a variety of amazing authors. It's really interesting being on this side of the editorial process in a publication project. It allows a chance to consider the themes that weave stories together and those that make them stand apart. On their own, short stories each have something to say. Together, there is another voice that can be heard, another comment. It's my job as part of the editorial team to draw this out.