Love Stinks, Inc., an Uncollected Anthology story

By Annie Reed

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Dyte, the immortal daughter of Cupid and Psyche, started her anti-Valentine’s Day business as a way to get even with her dad after he scared away her first real boyfriend. She just never expected Love Stinks, Inc., to become quite so successful.

Successful enough that Zeus wants to give her an official title: Goddess of the Chronically Single. Who in their right mind would want to go through eternity with a name like that?

Dyte only has two choices to avoid her dreaded naming day: admit that her dad was right and she was wrong about the whole boyfriend thing (like that will ever happen), or find true love (without the benefit of pointy arrows) before the clock strikes midnight on February 14th.

“You can’t go wrong with Annie Reed. Her deftly-crafted tales—with characters as memorable as the stories themselves—far surpass most of what’s out there. She deserves a wide audience.” –Michael J. Totten, author of RESURRECTION

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Press
• Release date: Dec 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311338617

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.

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Copyright Information

Love Stinks, Inc.

Copyright © 2014 by Annie Reed

Published by Thunder Valley Press

Cover and Layout copyright © 2014 Thunder Valley Press

Cover design by Thunder Valley Press

Cover art copyright © brickrena/Bigstock.com

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. 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. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

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About the Author

About the Uncollected Anthology

Copyright Information

1

Dyte glared at the black cat perched on the center of her desk. It couldn’t stare back at her since it was just one of the many wildly successful plush toys her company produced, but that didn’t stop her from hating its adorable little guts.

The cat held a puffy red heart in its front paws. The universal Don’t Do This symbol, a circle with a slash through the center, was printed on the red satin fabric along with the stylized logo for Dyte’s company—Love Stinks, Inc.

The plush cat was part of this year’s line of stuffed animals meant to appeal to chronically unattached women (and chronically unattached men confident enough in their masculinity to buy themselves a stuffed toy). Given her company’s more than healthy bottom line, the world contained about a bazillion single people who didn’t mind dishing out $9.95 for a fuzzy toy to cuddle with on Valentine’s Day just to make themselves feel better about being alone.

Just like Dyte was alone.

She leaned forward, planted her elbows on the smooth surface of her desk, and rested her chin in her hands so she could gaze at the cat at something approximating its eye level.

What’s your secret? she muttered at the cat. Why do people love you so much?

She should be happy the toys were so successful. A significant amount of her company’s research and development budget had gone into determining a perfect size for the plush toys (big enough to cuddle but not so big they would give a real cat or dog or skunk a run for its money),