This is the final piece of fiction I’m going to post, at least for a while, and the last collaboration with Gayle Blaine, also at least for a while. Depending on how these stories are received, there may be more. We had a lot of fun collaborating. Of course Gayle assures me that she is going to be writing and publishing some work that is solely her own.

Right, Gayle?

This one is a bit shorter than the previous story, and not as spooky.

As usual, here’s the link to purchase.

This post is no longer available for free.

As promised yesterday, here’s the conclusion of “A Sprig of Mistletoe”, a collaboration by me and my friend Gayle Blaine. This won’t be the last  collaboration between us. We had  so much fun that we’ve decided to make this a semi-regular thing.

We have a much shorter ghost story, one very different in tone, that should go live tomorrow.

You can read the first part here. Or you can purchase the complete story here.

The conclusion of this story has been taken down.

Today’s Christmas ghost story is a little different than the ones I usually focus on.  Let me explain.

Gayle Blaine is a friend and also an aspiring writer who has chosen to write under the name of G. Addison Blaine. What she aspires to write isn’t fantasy, however.  It’s romance, although she isn’t opposed to fantastic elements in her work. She just isn’t at the point where she’s comfortable including those things in what she writes. (I have Gayle’s permission to share this, in case you were wondering.)

So when she approached me to inquire if I would be interested in collaborating, I quickly agreed. We discussed plots and characters, as well as who would write what sections. Then we set to work. I think the result is something neither of us could have produced on our own.

For those who are curious as to who wrote what parts, Gayle focused on the primarily romance parts, meaning the historical portions as well as some of the contemporary sections. I wrote the ghost stuff. Then we each made a pass through the other’s work to make the style more consistent.

The result was a 13,000 word novelette. Because of its length, I’m going to post part of it today and the remainder tomorrow.If you don’t want to wait to read the conclusion, here’s the purchase link.

NOTE: Unlike the other two Christmas ghost stories I posted and the conclusion to this story, I didn’t take the first part of this one down. Call it a sneaky marketing trick. Continue reading →