Turning the Page

By Annie Reed

In this brand-new five-story collection by award-winning writer Annie Reed, women of all ages face a turning point in their lives. Will they come out stronger, will they find a new love or learn how to deal with a loss, or will a new, unexpected normal overwhelm them?

Stories in this collection include "Names in the Sand," "Love Among the Llamas," "Another Door," "My Father, the Popsicle," and "Chance of Bunnies, with Occasional Toad."

"I've been a fan of Annie Reed's short stories for a long time." –Marcelle Dube, author of THE SHOELESS KID

"The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you'll be hooked." -- Dave Hendrickson, author of CRACKING THE ICE

"A friend recommended the works of Annie Reed. I was not disappointed. In fact, if her other shorts are as good as this one, I plan to read many more." -- Carol Davis Luce, author of NIGHT GAME

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Press
• Release date: Nov 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301025459

Annie Reed

Award-winning author and editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch calls Annie Reed “one of the best writers I’ve come across in years.”Annie’s won recognition for her stellar writing across multiple genres. Her story “The Color of Guilt” originally published in Fiction River: Hidden in Crime, was selected as one of The Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016. Her story “One Sun, No Waiting” was one of the first science fiction stories honored with a literary fellowship award by the Nevada Arts Foundation, and her novel PRETTY LITTLE HORSES was among the finalists in the Best First Private Eye Novel sponsored by St. Martin’s Press and the Private Eye Writers of America.A frequent contributor to the Fiction River anthologies and Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Annie’s recent work includes the superhero origin novel FASTER, the near-future science fiction short novel IN DREAMS, and UNBROKEN FAMILIAR, a gritty urban fantasy mystery short novel. Annie’s also one of the founding members of the innovative Uncollected Anthology, a quarterly series of themed urban fantasy stories written by some of the best writers working today.Annie’s mystery novels include the Abby Maxon private investigator novels PRETTY LITTLE HORSES and PAPER BULLETS, the Jill Jordan mystery A DEATH IN CUMBERLAND, and the suspense novel SHADOW LIFE, written under the name Kris Sparks, as well as numerous other projects she can’t wait to get to. For more information about Annie, including news about upcoming bundles and publications, go to www.annie-reed.com.

Book preview

TURNING THE PAGE

Stories of Women Starting Over

Annie Reed

TURNING THE PAGE

Copyright © 2012 Annie Reed

Published by Thunder Valley Press at Smashwords

Cover art Copyright © Nataliia Bielous |Dreamstime.com

Cover and layout Copyright © 2012 Thunder Valley Press

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

These stories are licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

For more information on the author, go to www.annie-reed.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Names in the Sand

Love Among the Llamas

Another Door

My Father, the Popsicle

Chance of Bunnies with Occasional Toad

Copyright Information

About the Author

(If you would like to jump directly to the story, just click on the title)

~ ~ ~

Introduction

I once mentioned to a friend of mind that I tend to write a lot of stories about sturdy, middle-aged women. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because I happen to be a sturdy, middle-aged woman? Nah, couldn't be that.

I joked to my friend that someday I should put together a story collection entitled Sturdy, Middle-Aged Women. He took me seriously and said I should. Thank goodness when I floated the idea by the people at Thunder Valley Press, they came up with a better title.

Not that all the women in these stories are either sturdy or middle-aged, although a few are. The one thing all the women in these stories have in common is that they've reached a turning point in their lives.

As I write this introduction, it's the day after the 2012 general election here in the United States. I don't know whether the Presidential election will be a turning point. Or the results of the senate and congressional races, but some things did change. The United States Senate has its first openly gay senator. A record number of women now hold seats in the U.S. Congress. Big money contributions didn't guarantee a winning ticket. I'll leave the determination about whether any of these events marked a turning point to the historians and political pundits.

On a state-by-state level, a few other interesting things happened. Two states voted to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use by adults over twenty-one. Several states approved ballot measures legalizing same-sex marriage. Incumbents lost and newly-minted politicians were elected for the first time. Ballot measures were approved and others defeated. Tempers flared and tears flowed, and we get to do it all again at the next general election.

Will any of these events mark a turning point? For the candidates who won and lost, for the couples who can now legally marry the love of their life – they'd probably say yes. For the rest of us? Again, I'll leave that to the historians. I'm sure they'll be arguing about it for years.

You won't find any politics in the stories in this collection. Instead, you'll find stories of women facing loss, finding love, reliving a magical moment, and turning the corner from childhood to adulthood.

Names in the Sand, the first story in this collection, was inspired by an afternoon I spent at the beach. I love just hanging out by the ocean. I tend to get a lot of good thinking done to the sound of waves crashing on shore. On one particular visit to a favorite beach outside of Lincoln City, Oregon, I noticed that someone had stomped out a name in the soft sand above the high-tide line, but the name had been partially obliterated by the footprints of other beachgoers. I spent some time wondering who the person was who'd expended so much energy to create that fleeting memorial, and what were they trying to remember – or trying to forget. I came away from the beach that day with the kernels of this story.

The next story in this collection – Love Among the Llamas – is a more home-grown affair. Years and years ago, I attended a writing workshop at a local pizza parlor. The instructor that day, a marvelous poet, handed everyone the opening two paragraphs of a story about a woman who, instead of going to work, drove right on past her freeway exit and just kept going. The lesson was how to hook an audience, and boy, was I hooked. I wondered then, and I still wonder, what happened to that particular woman. I never got to find out; the instructor never gave us the rest of the story. Love Among the Llamas is my version of what happens to a woman who decides to simply chuck her boring life one morning on the way to work.

Another Door is the lone science fiction story in this collection. The woman in this near-future story finds herself dealing with a new normal she could never have imagined after the Earth becomes the battleground for an interstellar war.

The youngest woman featured in this collection is the hero of My Father, the Popsicle, which was initially published in the anthology The Future We Wish We Had, edited by Rebecca Lickiss (Daw, 2007). The turning point in this woman's life comes in the form of a letter from a law firm about her father, who's not exactly as dead as she'd thought.

The last story in this collection is a contemporary fantasy. Chance of Bunnies, with Occasional Toad came about one afternoon when my daughter and I got home from a run to Starbucks. (Yes, I support the evil giant, but they do give good coffee.) Our yard is the sometimes home to cottontail rabbits, and earlier that year, we'd discovered the burrow of a fairly large toad beneath one of the side yard shrubs. That afternoon as we pulled into the driveway, Starbucks in hand, we startled a cute little bunny that had been munching on our front lawn. My daughter mentioned that one of things she likes about where we live is that there's always a chance we'll come home to bunnies. I quipped back about occasional toads, and just like that, this story was born. I love it when that happens.

This five-story collection is one of several short-fiction collections published by the fine folks at Thunder Valley Press. Each collection focuses on a topic or genre, like this one. Some stories may appear in more than one collection, such as Love Among the Llamas, which also appears in Eight From the Silver State, featuring stories all set in Nevada. I like writing short fiction, and more collections are in the works. Stay tuned!

—Annie Reed

Reno, Nevada

November 7, 2012

~ ~ ~

Names in the Sand

Cissy wrapped her leather jacket more firmly around her shoulders and tried not to think about what the wind was doing to her hair. She'd saved up for months for a trip to the beach. She'd be damned if the cold snap was going to stop her from enjoying the sound of the surf and the sea birds, and the laughter