Rain on a Summer's Afternoon

By Virginia McClain

Rain on a Summer's Afternoon is a collection of short stories that are sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, and always imaginative. This collection includes 'Off Belay', previously published in The First Line magazine, as well as five new stories.

Pretty Chains
Bound from birth to a life of servitude in the sultan's palace, Asha's only moment of freedom was a brief one bought and paid for by her mother's life. Yet once the sultan pushes her past the breaking point, Asha will find there is more to her past than anyone suspects.

The Flaming Oak
Alys loves the Flaming Oak, even though the other villagers refuse to go near it. But Gran, who Alys trusts more than anyone, says that it's safe to play with the ancient tree most days. Most days...

The Wolf Mage
Argen is a rare animal mage who uses her skills to mediate between the worlds of nature and man. But her skills are challenged when she meets a wolf unlike any she has ever seen before.

A Rose by Any Other Name ... Except, Perhaps, Agnes
Agnes hates her name. She just doesn't own enough cats or afghans to suit it. Ahnye, on the other hand, has a perfect name and enough assault rifles and C4 to go with it. Yet to get their next job Agnes and Ahnye will have to learn to work as one.

Irony
Lisa knows all about irony; she explains the concept to college students every day as an English professor. But her new relationship with a sexy writer beau is about to show Lisa that reality can be more ironic than fiction.

Off Belay
A woman abandoned by her partner during a climbing trip must find a way to survive and make it back to civilization after a deadly avalanche buries her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Virginia McClain
• Release date: Jul 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781386064954

Virginia McClain

Virginia McClain is an author who masqueraded as a language teacher for a decade or so. When she's not reading or writing she can generally be found playing outside with her four legged adventure buddy and the tiny human she helped to build from scratch. She enjoys climbing to the top of tall rocks, running through deserts, mountains, and woodlands, and carrying a foldable home on her back whenever she gets a chance. She's also fond of word games, and writing descriptions of herself that are needlessly vague.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Virginia McClain

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1515080447

ISBN-13: 9781515080442

Other Works by Virginia McClain:

Chronicles of Gensokai Series

Blade’s Edge

Traitor’s Hope

Victoria Marmot Series

Victoria Marmot and the Meddling Goddess

Victoria Marmot and the Inconvenient Prophecy

Victoria Marmot and the Shadow of Death

and coming soon:

Victoria Marmot and the Dragon’s Rage

Victoria Marmot Book Five

*PLEASE ONLY READ this if Author’s Notes are the kinds of things that appeal to you. All of the good stuff is in the stories that follow.

Rain on a Summer’s Afternoon is the name of my blog (virginiamcclain.blogspot.com) and a phenomenon that has piqued my imagination ever since I was a small child. Playing in puddles, dancing in the rain, playing rugby in the mud, going for a long trail run in a pleasantly cool shower, and walking for miles soaked through and singing, are just a few examples of the many joys that rain on summer afternoons can bring. These stories don’t necessarily have to do with rain on a summer’s afternoon (though one of them does), aside from the fact that such things fuel my imagination and all of these stories are, of course, products of my imagination.

This book comprises Volume 1 of a series of short stories compilations that I will be publishing over time. The stories included in this volume are short stories that I have written over the past ten years. One has already been published in print elsewhere (Off Belay the final story in this collection), some have been read aloud to audiences or posted on my blog, and the others are all published for the first time in this tome. Three of these stories’ first lines were inspired by the lit mag The First Line. The Wolf Mage, Irony, and A Rose by Any Other Name… all use first lines from that literary magazine (and of course Off Belay which was indeed first published in The First Line - see credit under that title). In the case of those three stories though, the only thing from them pertaining to The First Line is indeed that first line. If you aren’t familiar with The First Line I strongly recommend it to you as a place to find an eclectic collection of well curated stories all tied together by their opening sentence and then taking very wild turns from there (see www.thefirstline.com for more information). Full disclosure: I am not affiliated with The First Line in any way aside from their having published one of my short stories back in 2006.

The stories in this collection are all different and currently only organized loosely by genre. The first three are of a fantastical nature and the final three are contemporary, action/adventure-ish. I’m not a huge fan of labels so I have a hard time categorizing my work sometimes.

Theme you ask? Well, they’re all written by me… and of course, strong women is a theme that ties all of my stories together, so I suppose if you must have a theme it could be that.

I will now let you move on to the good part. This note is just here for the people that care for those kinds of things, or the people who were wondering where the title for the series came from, or why this is called Volume 1. Everyone else should have skipped this part and started on the actual stories already. Go on now. Go!

THE ANKLETS WERE delicate works of art, finely crafted, and the small metal beads brushed off of each other to make the most beautiful sound; a million stars twinkling in a midnight sky, the sound of frost forming on an icicle, the subtle music of nature, a sound to touch the soul. She hated them with all that she was.

She had never known a time without the anklets nor a time without the matching wrist bands that vined up her forearms like a cruel kind of ivy. Delicate chains, and those minuscule clinking bells, they seemed almost fragile. To anyone looking they probably seemed like jewelry. If only they were.

Asha opened her eyes and let go of the feeling the anklets and wrist bands imposed on her body. She tried to let go of the hate as well, but that was more difficult. Still, there was work to be done. She got up, ignoring the dull ache in her forearms and ankles that she'd known all her life, and dressed for the day. The clothes she wore were no less beautiful and delicate than the chains wrapped around her limbs and no less restrictive.

Oh the clothes gave the impression of freedom, the pants were light and flowing, more like split skirts than trousers, and the halter she wore was supportive, but still gave the impression of fitting loosely. Yet they trapped her here as much as the chains did. Even if she could be free of her bonds, who would not recognize her in the shimmering gossamer threads laced in sapphire and silver? Who would ever hide her or even let her