Annual 2016

By Neil Shooter

Annual 2016 is a year in the writing life of me! The Annual includes two published short stories, "Five Miles out of Black Creek" and "The Visitor", several more gems from the Vault, a poem, and a few sneak peaks of what might be to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Neil Shooter
• Release date: Feb 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370769926

Neil Shooter

I grew up in Robin Hood Country, spent some time in the sprawling metropolises (?) of London, England, and Toronto, Canada, and now I've found a quiet corner of rural Ontario to put myself out to pasture in.I'm always in search of my serenity and my muse.I try to read, and to write, a little bit every day, so that my gears keep turning...Some of the results can be found on Medium at medium.com/@nshooter11.Thanks for reading!

Book preview

Annual 2016

by

Neil Shooter

Copyright 2017

All Rights Reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means – by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission of the author.

Smashwords Edition

Contents

About the Author

About the Annuals

Introduction to Annual 2014

Intro to The Visitor

The Visitor

About The Visitor

A Reply To Rebecca

Alarion In The Garden Of Kamurru

Alma In The Garden Of Kamurru

About the Garden of Kamurru

Jane

Excerpts of January 2016 Part 1

Intro to Five Miles Out Of Black Creek

Five Miles Out Of Black Creek

About Five Miles Out Of Black Creek

The Vault

Never Forget

Sold

Poetry Corner

Connect With Neil Shooter online

Also By Neil Shooter

Blurbs

Coming Soon

About the Author [Back to top]

I grew up in northern England, on the edge of the largest village in the land, and now I live in a quiet suburban corner of Ontario, Canada, with one eye on the countryside. My life could have been described as a series of unfortunate incidents, or rather a series of lucky escapes along with a couple of not-escapes. I've always been a slow learner, on the outside of things, and unarguably different.

I've also always been a writer, but it has taken me most of my adult life to realize it, and accept it. And now I've embraced it. Writing is the one thing that never fails to make me happy. Writing is the thing I know I should be doing with the rest of my life. And if you appreciate, in any way, what I have written, then that's wonderful. If you don't, that's fine. Not ideal, obviously, but fine. I'm happy for your support if you'll give it, but, even without it, I'll keep writing for as long as I have breath.

About the Annuals [Back to top]

When I started self-publishing my stories in 2013, I thought I would be able to put them out on a regular basis, and that I'd steadily build up a body of work, and momentum, and things would magically start happening for me.

But life intervened. I got derailed.

I published Homeless later than I'd planned. I didn't get Annual 2013 out when I'd planned to. Both were failed attempts to give me more momentum.

It wasn't to be, because despite the strong start with Causality and Probability, the time wasn't right. Life wasn't right.

In 2014 I wrote a new story, The Visitor, which went into the Wyrd Worlds II anthology, along with Homeless. Life was more... life-y, and stressful, disrupting my plans and my ideas, and my 2015 followed along the same lines.

I really had hoped to get a few short stories out in 2015, but when I accepted that this just wasn't going to happen, I was a lot happier. And even though there was no Annual 2015 either, 2016 was off to great start with the eventual publication of The Visitor as a stand alone short story.

But I have written so much over the last few years. In 2013 I wrote more than half of Gravity, before putting it to one side in favour of other things. In 2014 I wrote The Edge in long hand, thinking it would be my next publication, but I still haven't typed it up.

I love world-building. I love language creation. I love researching. I can't watch a documentary on anything without wanting to take notes, from The Nature of Things, to Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes, to Time Team. I'm interested in everything, which ought to be a strength, but has been a weakness. I lack focus!

And that was the main resolution for my 2016. Focus!

On December 31st 2015, I had a silly idea. A foolhardy notion. I thought it would be fun to write 365 stories in 2016, one for every day of the year. And then I realized that 2016 was going to be a leap year, so that was actually 366 stories.

What was wrong with me? But I began, anyway. The fruit of those labours will only appear in any Annual if an individual story makes its solitary way in the world.

As I stare the end of 2016 in the face, I see how much that foolhardy notion has given me. I don't have 366 short stories written, it's true. But I have 11 of them published, some other dozens in various states of disarray, and 400 planned stories, of which 366 of them will eventually be revealed to all. That is a great accomplishment, and I am happy for it.

The plan, for future years, is to focus on fewer ideas, and get further with each one. I hope to continue with these 366 stories so that one day you will be able to read all of them. I plan to finish Gravity, to type up The Edge, and perhaps, even, publish them in 2017, if 2017 decides to co-operate more than 2016 did.

Introduction to Annual 2014 [Back to top]

2014 was