Beach Shorts! Your Summer Read has Arrived!
Beach Shorts is a different kind of anthology than what we've done in the past, but it still has the spec pub soul resonating in it's summer vibe. It's absolutely perfect to bring along on your Memorial Day weekend, whether it's poolside, beach front, camping, cook out or just chilling at home. It's fun, easy reading that you can set down while you mix a margarita, and pick up again for a great new story of summer love and laughs.
"Tidepool Dreams" by C. N. Wheaton is a sweet but powerful story of first love that reminds us that true love is freedom.
Natalie Zellat Dyen offers us "Tea Leaves" and an Atlantic City boardwalk fortune of love for a woman on the cusp of her new life as a modern woman in the 1960s.
In "True Romantics" an ideal of love is tested to the limit, in a poetic and whimsical story by Adrienne Clark.
A wedding is the setting for a meet cute between the maid of honor and the best man, but a disaster might derail love before it gets a chance to flourish in "The Best Man" by Jenna Andrews.
"Shark out of Water" is a voicey romp of fun characters, friendships and unexpected love and magic in Hawaii by Janice Rider.
A bratty barista and an awkward artist collide on the beach and make waves in the coffee shop as they realize they are on their way to a summer romance in "Muffins and Meet-Cutes" by Simon Quinn.
Another Jersey Shore story, "Wildwood" by Valerie Hunter, takes us back to the 1920s and the wake of World War I, when a single mom reunites with the one she let get away.
"Race to the Finish" takes us even further back in time to a very different kind of holiday, a regency-era ball where a proper young lady meets her match, in a story by Melanie Mulrooney.
The twists and turns in Maureen Bowden's "Tangled Web" keep the pages turning as a white lie unravels a series of secrets no one expected.
Dancing Plague contributing author, Jocelyne Gregory gave us another great story in "Ultimate Timeshare," where a woman is offered a magical (and historical) alternative to her crappy boyfriend who strings her along.
In "Lemon Drops at Mermaid Lagoon," Leigh Calvin gives us a set up that turns a girls trip into a holiday romance,
It's love (and lust) at first sight for a traveler and an artist on the California coast, but both of them are keeping secrets in "Mermaid and Coyote" by Rose Strickman.
The last story, "Blueberry Bells", is about a timeless love that has waited to begin in the sandy Pine Barrens, by Ef Deal, who wrote the foreword for Incubate.
All the of these stories enchanted us and came together to create a book that we are very proud to present to the world.
My favorite part of any book we put out is working with the authors and, once again, this group has been as exceptional as their stories. Check out the Spec Pub Author page for bios on all the authors.
I hope you will enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed putting it together.
As a bonus, check out this playlist Author Simon Quinn put together for his story, for ultimate summer vibes while you read.