Tricked: An Anthology of Short Fiction

by Kate Sheeran Swed (Editor), Chace Verity (Contributor), Hannah Joseph (Contributor)

An adult anthology of 5 stories featuring trickster themes, each loaded to the brim with conspiracies, scoundrels, and plot twists galore.

A jilted silent film star plans a revenge heist with the unscrupulous childhood friend he always found rather handsome. A bank tycoon's son plans to run off with Daddy's money—and maybe his florist. To discourage a fae's pursuit of her sister, a young woman writes awful fake love messages she delivers in person. To win a contest, a Frog Town Tavern waitress convinces her coworker to take her frogging. And in the far reaches of space, a Supreme Galactic Emperor takes on an ambitious building project under dubious circumstances.

From the mansions of Tinseltown to the outer limits of the galaxy, these diverse stories have one message in common: in their world, it’s either trick—or be tricked.

Genres: Short Stories, Anthologies

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 12, 2018

About the author

Kate Sheeran Swed loves hot chocolate, plastic dinosaurs, and airplane tickets. She has trekked along the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, hiked on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier in Iceland, and climbed the ruins of Masada to watch the sunrise over the Dead Sea. She holds degrees in music from the University of Maine and Ithaca College, as well as an MFA in Fiction from Pacific University. Her stories are forthcoming or have appeared in the Young Explorer's Adventure Guide Volume 5, Daily Science Fiction, Electric Spec, and Andromeda Spaceways. You can find her on Twitter @katesheeranswed.

Reviews

[Kate Swed]

Kinda wrote a story in it and stuff.

[Stephanie Eding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't recommend this enough! I love all these short stories so much! And, hey, I wrote one of them! :) (Hannah Joseph)

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: Kate Sheeran Swed is a good friend. We have eaten dinner at each other's homes, she's seen me cry (ok...who hasn't seen me cry...), I have watched Paw Patrol with her toddler, and now that she's moved far away from me, we spend most of our time texting each other our thoughts on books. She also gave me a copy of this short story collection that she's edited in exchange for a review. I am giving this review, but she also had to deal with my texting her my random thoughts about this book at all hours.

Now that that's out of the way, I enjoyed this collection so much! Two of the stories were a little romancy for my tastes, but each one was well crafted and filled with interesting characters. Each author has a fully developed world and characters in their stories, and I found myself really caring about the characters in each story. I also really enjoyed each author's take on the trickster theme and have definitely found some new authors to follow.

(I'm trying to figure out how to give you all a sense of the tone of each story without spoilers, because we all hate spoilers...I'll be back to finish this review, but you should pick the book up in the meantime).

[Ceillie Simkiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every one of the five stories in this anthology. If y'all want some sweet romances to make your life better, go grab this! You can read my full review here.

[OldBird · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting selection of different genre stories - I hadn't realized some were more contemporary romance oriented which isn't so much my thing - all showing of the authors' skills. While I couldn't help but feel some should have been longer to build up the characters and chemistry more, each was an enjoyable short read. My favorite was Kate Sheeran Swed's unusual take on a story you've probably heard before... But not set in deep space with a tyrannical Galactic emperor!

[Leigh Landry]

I have a story in this!

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come.