About 20 years ago, I penned (literally) a short about an older woman who, through a series of misunderstood communications, encounters her nemesis from years before. Alas, I lost those pages in one of my many moves. In 2016, however, the main character revisited me, and I wrote a new story about her—Mabel, an underestimated woman who’s fiercely independent, appreciative of beauty, and tenacious when her sense of what’s right and good is challenged....
An early cover for “Mabel and the Yellow Jackets” To outsiders, she may seem like a nice older “woman next door.” But the redoubtable Mabel is nobody’s fool, and she’s anything but helpless. When a horde of stinging insects invades her space, they experience the wrath of a woman who’ll have none of it. My short story “Mabel and the Yellow Jackets” is free—as in free free, not just subscription free—this weekend, February 23–26, on Kindle....
When you believe in independent publishing as a political act, start wondering about alternatives to sending out that odd, non-genre 5200-word short story for more submissions—especially to pubs with loooonnnnngggg response times. Especially when you have all the knowhow to publish a valid and properly formatted ebook. Especially when you think the story really is actually pretty fun. Especially when you have the fabulous Katherine M. Lawrence editing. So you decide to throw it out there…...