About eight years ago, I was chatting with my writer friend Mary Kirk when she told me she was editing an anthology of short stories. I’d recently been thinking of trying my hand at a short story, so I asked if I could contribute a story to the book. She seemed delighted, but told me the stories were romances. Okay, I said, no problem.  I hung up the phone and began thinking of ideas for a romantic short story that would be in keeping with the more mainstream fiction my readers expected from me.

Not an hour had passed before Mary called me back. “I forgot to mention, the stories are all about wounded heroes coming home from war.”

“Uh. . . .okay,” I said, quickly trying to wrap my mind around this new information. We got off the phone and I put my thinking cap on again. Half an hour later, Mary called once more.

“I forgot to mention something!” she said. “All the stories have to have paranormal elements.”

Well. I could handle the romance and the war hero, but paranormal? Not my thing! I like a good challenge, though, so I told Mary I was still in. I wrote my story, The Dreamer, and it was published in The Journey Home along with stories by some high powered authors including Mary Jo Putney, Patricia Rice and Rebecca York. Until recently, though, The Journey Home was only available in print. But now–ta da! It’s an ebook as well. And better news: my story, “The Dreamer”, is the free excerpt on Mary’s website. Just click on the cover on her site to read it online. I reread it the other day for the first time in eight years and it really touched me. I’d love to know what you think. Thanks, Mary, for the work you’ve done to turn The Journey Home into an ebook!