Stories of The Heart's Duty: A Short Story Collection

By Shannon Muir

Caitlin Blacke is determined to change the destiny of generations of her family by "Rebelling Against The Heart's Duty," a story originally serialized on the web and now included here in its entirety. Also included are two new short stories, "Beta Testing a New Beginning" and "Shot in the Dark," along with previously released tales that are related to THE HEART'S DUTY story line, including "Arrow to the Heart," "Fun and Games," and "Star Gazing".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shannon Muir
• Release date: May 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370215843

Shannon Muir

SHANNON MUIR's short stories include suspense and mystery elements such as those found in her first full-length story from Pro Se Press, CHARLES BOECKMAN PRESENTS DOC AND SALLY IN "THE DEATH OF BUDDY TURNER". Additionally, she's written short stories for Pro Se Press such as “Tragic Like a Torch Song” in THE DAME DID IT from Pro Se Press, "Pretty as a Picture" in the anthology NEWSHOUNDS, “Tropical Terror” in CRIME DOWN ISLAND and “Hidden History” in EXPLORER PULP. She’s also written the Single Shot New Pulp tale “Ghost of the Airwaves,” a short story offered in electronic format only from Pro Se Press.From her personal self-published projects, her best known titles in this area include the rural crime series THE WILLOWBROOK SAGA.In other genres, Shannon's published short stories include “Meeting the Monster” in the Emby Press anthology SUPERHERO MONSTER HUNTER: THE GOOD FIGHT and "Cover Story" in ARIA KALSAN: MYSTERIES OF THE FUTURE.Shannon holds a BA in Radio-TV and English from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, which she considers to be her hometown. She also holds an MA in Communications from California State University, Fullerton, along with additional education in screenwriting, project management, library technician studies, and most recently a certificate earned with distinction in General Business with Emphasis in Marketing from UCLA Extension. Currently, she is working on a Masters of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University.She is married to FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY collaborator and fellow author Kevin Paul Shaw Broden. They live in California in the United States.She is a member of Sisters in Crime (national, Guppies, and Los Angeles, where she also served on the Los Angeles board for a two terms beginning in 2018), as well as the Toastmasters4Writers Chapter of Toastmasters International (where she serves as chapter Secretary), Women in Animation, and a Professional member of ASIFA-Hollywood.

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COPYRIGHT

STORIES OF THE HEART’S DUTY: A SHORT STORY COLLECTION

Part of the SPONTANEOUS CHOICES ADVENTURES Collection

By Shannon Muir

Smashwords Edition

Anthology Copyright 2017 Shannon Muir.

Includes Fun and Games Copyright 2011 Shannon Muir, Star Gazing Copyright 2012 Shannon Muir, and Arrow to the Heart Copyright 2013 Shannon Muir. All other stories Copyright 2017 Shannon Muir.

First Smashwords publication May 2017.

This ebook is for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be given away or resold to others. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy from Smashwords or vendor partners. If you want to share this work with others, please purchase a copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of artists and creators.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COPYRIGHT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

AUTHOR’S NOTE ABOUT THE SHORT STORY COLLECTION

ARROW TO THE HEART

BETA TESTING A NEW BEGINNING

FUN AND GAMES

SHOT IN THE DARK

STAR GAZING

REBELLING AGAINST THE HEART’S DUTY

ALSO BY SHANNON MUIR – THE HEART’S DUTY COLLECTION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

AUTHOR’S NOTE ABOUT THE SHORT STORY COLLECTION

The stories centered around THE HEART’S DUTY series of books largely came out of various National Novel Writing Month events over a series of years, and I could clearly see they were all set in the same general area over a series of generations. I collected them in an e-book and put them up for sale, even though the set never really felt finished to me. The grown daughter in the epilogue of REDEFINING AGAINST THE HEART’S DUTY, Caitlin Blacke, kept calling out to me that I should be telling more of her story. Yet, at the time, I couldn’t see another generation’s worth of story there.

Years later, I wanted to tell what lay on my heart, but it still wasn’t book length material. I decided to tell it a as a long, serialized story online called Rebelling Against the Heart’s Duty, which is now part of this short story collection. Also, featured here are tales from other general anthologies I’ve done (Arrow to the Heart, Fun and Games, and Star Gazing) that specifically relate to characters in these books. In some cases, the connecting character may not be the lead character, as is the case with Fun and Games, in which Nutty Meg is a secondary character as she is in the book. New stories Beta Testing a New Beginning and Shot in the Dark are the origin stories for Caitlin’s new friends Vallenda and Saundra, who are introduced in Rebelling Against the Heart’s Duty.

Shannon Muir

Glendale, California

May 2017

ARROW TO THE HEART

But I'm innocent! she pleaded. I didn't push her off the roof!

Jaye Eve Lynn – born Javelynn Lloyd – insisted on her innocence as the Detective stared her down in the interrogation room.

Your adopted son Mark Lloyd insists you were at the scene of the crime. Surveillance video shows that you were on the premises the day that Bettie Yardlow was shoved off the roof of the tall building where the offices of Tolstoy Art Dealers International was located, explained the Detective. Security cameras back up his claims. We found forensic evidence on Bettie Yardlow's person that shows the two of you struggled.

We did struggle, but it was in the conference room. I never pushed her off the roof!

Security cameras show you did go to the roof.

Yes I went there, but to follow Mark. I needed to stop him. Mark's just not stable, he never has been. By the time I got there it was too late.

The detective leaned back in his chair.

So why hide? Why completely change your name? You could have come forward as a witness. Instead, you withheld evidence and made yourself a fugitive.

I couldn't turn in my own son.

Jaye put her head in her hands, as she thought about how she got to this