As many of you who have been following my website and social media know, I had three short stories that were included in a seasonal anthology set. Unfortunately, due to my schedule, I didn’t partake in the fourth and final anthology but I had three short stories released: Summer Island, The Seamstress, and Winter’s Spring.
Now for the fun stuff, my obligation to the anthologies has ran its course, so now, the short stories can be released on their own. YAY? (very hesitant celebration)
I have mixed feelings about this. My very first anthology short story was part of a paranormal collection. The Impastusae Witch was released on its own, but didn’t really get much traction. This is definitely my fault, as I’m not always the best at marketing and didn’t put much effort behind it before release, or quite honestly, after. I have regrets (when don’t I?) because I do feel like my poor efforts releasing The Impastusae Witch has kind of sucked all the joy out of potentially releasing any other short stories.
Being an author is weird. A lot of things come down to numbers at the end of the day, and the ones you think matter aren’t the ones that nag at you. Do people read The Impastusae Witch? Totally. Having it in KU means quite a few people pick it up. Is it heavily reviewed to reflect that people are reading it? Nope. And for some reason, that nags at me. In my mind, I don’t want to release another short that appears to be stuck in review purgatory. Why that number matters to me when I am seeing the page reads, I’ll never know.
Wait… what was I talking about?
Oh yeah… the seasonal shorts.
All this rambling is pretty much to say, the reason I didn’t rush to put out Summer Island and The Seamstress was because my original short, The Impastusae Witch wasn’t reviewed so it made it feel like there wasn’t necessarily a want for these. My Instagram DMs tell me there are readers who want these shorts in their hands, so… this release will be for them.
Winter’s Spring is a romantic story about two goddesses. Frost is the goddess of winter who has watched humanity spread destruction across the world. Angered by the environmental impacts of mankind, she decides she is going to prevent the coming of spring and throw the world into an Ice Age. Bloom is the goddess of Spring who takes the promise of rebirth seriously… even if mankind hasn’t earned her fulfilling that promise. Dragged up a mountain into Frost’s castle, she is a prisoner. Her escape is mankind’s only hope, but confined to the castle and under Frost’s heavy thumb, will she abandon mankind altogether, or will she fight tooth and nail for the promises of spring?
Winter’s Spring will be released this month in ebook and on Kindle Unlimited. At just over 24k words, it’s quite short, so I’m not sure if I will release a paperback version, knowing the print costs will be going up and it will have to be priced over $10 USD.
Summer Island is a sci-fi short about a marooned astronomer and a space captain. On a mission with her grandfather, their ship crashed on an island floating through space, and Trillian was forced to grow from a girl to a woman, eventually being left alone. After fishing a companion android from the space rubbage, she finds new purpose in searching for a chip that will make the bot work. Orion never imagined the neurochip he’d lost would one day control an android. Yet, he finds himself slowly drawn to the woman who has no idea the companion bot is much more than she dared to dream. Will he be able to navigate through uncharted space and find her?
I originally had no set release date for this, but I think I will soft release it after another (and maybe another) proofread. Just over 35K, I will also have to debate whether or not the price point for this book is one readers will be willing to pay, but if I decide either short will be released in paperback, this will be the first place I post it.
Keep your eyes open for updated release dates for these!
xx
SJ
SJ Stewart Books 