Marking my second collaboration with editor Esther Schrader (after "Twisted Cat Tales"), "Strange Stories of Sand and Sea" is, as the title readily indicates, a collection of short stories, running the usual genre gamut of horror, fantasy and sci-fiction, dealing with beaches, oceans, sand and seaside. My contribution to the story is entitled "Sand-Castle Knights", a sort of Arthurian pastiche revolving around the inhabitants of a sand castle. The story seeks to answer the question: what happens to our sand castles once we have left the beach, as dusk falls and the tide rises to swallow them and wipe the beach clean for the next day?
This is an odd sort of story for me: although I endeavour to treat the topic with all due seriousness from the characters' perspective, including a battle scene I'm particularly pleased with, the subject matter and the fact that it draws so evidently on Arthurian lore also makes it one of the most light-hearted publications ascribed to my name. Not that I have anything against comedy, just that I find it difficult to write and gravitate, by nature, to darker subject matter. In fact, this story represents a particular goal fulfilled: to publish another 'fantasy' story after the last one back in 2005. I like the genre, enjoy the world-building that comes with it, but haven't had nearly as much success getting my fantasy stories published as I have my horror and my science-fiction tales. Since I want to stay diversified, playing around in the various |
