Ten Stories That Worried My Mother

A collection of 10 short stories from 1982 until now, including four prize-winners, three mysteries, two previously unpublished works and one where the hero manages to spare-change John Lennon at the premiere of A Hard Day's Night in 1964.

Foreword by A.J. Devlin.

Officially launched on August 22, 2023 at the Library Square Public House, 300 West Georgia, Vancouver.
 
Here's the list:

1. Tower of Power. One night in the life of a rock and roll radio newsman. My first published story, winner of the Flare Fiction Competition, published in Flare in September 1982.

2. Dietrich's Ash. Inspired by an unfortunate situation that arose from a disputed property line between our house and our neighbour’s house when I was growing up in Regina. Okanagan Short Fiction Award winner. Originally published in Canadian Author & Bookman. Winter 1985. Anthologized in Pure Fiction: The Okanagan Short Story Award Winners. (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) 1986. Broadcast on CBC Radio, Ambience. 1982

3. True Confessions. A Temp with nothing much to do, a tea lady named Mrs. Thatcher, and a rooftop garden overlooking a builder's yard. Originally published in Green's Magazine, a small literary journal in Regina, Volume XII, Number 4, Summer 1984.

4. Creatures from Greek Mythology.  A student with a crush on his Social Studies teacher. A high school dance. A fine arts student who paints rainbows around her eyes. (Second Prize Winner, WQ Editors Prize). Published in Cross-Canada Writers Quarterly. Vol 6, No. 1, 1984. 

5. The Man in the Grey Eldorado. The first draft of this was written roundabout 1977 or 1978, after I'd spent a glorious few weeks at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts at Fort San (a former TB sanitorium).  Inspired by The Man from UNCLE, this is one of only two previously unpublished stories in the collection.

6. Herd Maintenance. I wrote this in 1981 while I was working as a Temp at a federal government office in Regina. This is the second unpublished story in the collection, although it did enjoy a brief life as a short, unproduced film script while I was at Vancouver Film School in 2003-4. The typewritten letters in the story are real. The names have been removed to protect the innocent.

7. Perhaps an Angel. An adventure involving the two main characters from my time travel romances, Charlie Duran and Shaun Deeley. Originally published in Carnival, a collection of short stories by Fable Press authors, in 2013.

8. Easy When You Know How. Another Charlie Duran/Shaun Deeley short story, in which Mr. Deeley manages to spare change John Lennon at the premiere of A Hard Day’s Night, and snag one of his plectrums. The story is included at the end of my time travel romance novel, In Loving Memory.

9. Salty Dog Blues. Jason Davey, my professional musician / amateur sleuth, was originally featured in a standalone novel, Cold Play (2012), working as an entertainer on board an Alaska-bound cruise ship. In Salty Dog Blues, I took Jason back to that nautical setting, and gave him a very tongue-in-cheek mystery to solve. Salty Dog Blues was specifically written for the short story anthology Crime Wave, published by Sisters in Crime-Canada West in November 2020. The story was a finalist in the Crime Writers of Canada's 2021 Awards of Excellence for Best Crime Novella.

10. Blue Devil Blues. This is a short story that was written for the anthology Last Shot: Four Tales of Murder, Mystery and Suspense, published in June 2021 with stories by Alice Bienia, Dwayne Clayden, Peter Kingsmill and myself. It tells the tale of how Jason got his permanent gig at the Blue Devil jazz club in London's Soho, and also manages to include my obsession with the London Underground.

Ten Stories That Worried My Mother was published by Winona Kent and Blue Devil Books in August 2023. It's available as an ebook and a paperback through Amazon.

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