“Storms of Light and Shadow” out in Star Stepping Anthology

 My short story, “Storms of Light and Shadow,” will be available in the Star Stepping anthology from WildChild, debuting on June 3. For more information on the anthology, please visit WildChild Publishing.

I’ve also got an interview up at Debbie Mumford’s blog. Read the whole series here. She’s going to have interviews up of all the authors in the anthology.

Star Stepping is quite a collection of stories ranging across the fantasy and science fiction genres. There’s plenty of paranormal romance too — I think that’s a mainstay of WildChild. So for readers who want a little bit of everything, here you go.

Here’s an excerpt of “Storms of Light and Shadow”:

I’ve come for my fortune,” I said in a too-loud voice, wondering nervously where the captain was. The creature extended his withered, clawlike hand. This ritual I knew. I dug out a coin and placed it in his palm, the touch of my trembling fingers against his leathery skin like touching a lizard in the sun. As he slid his hand away, our fingertips connected and a sunburst exploded between them.

I could not help myself–I screamed. I stumbled backward out of the tent, my heart hammering. When I burst free, I almost bowled over the captain as he paced back and forth across the entrance, one hand on the butt of his pistol, the other on his sword.

“Where were you?!” we both demanded.

“I was right here,” he replied accusingly. “Mistress, I looked inside the tent but it was empty. I thought you had given me the slip.”

“You must not have seen me. It was dark.” And you must not have heard me, I added to myself.

He frowned. “It was not dark at all,” he argued. “The tent was empty.”

Fear and confusion made me angry. I yanked back the awning that concealed the booth’s interior.

The afternoon sun illuminated nothing more than drifting dust motes and a barren dirt floor. With my back to the captain, I brought my hands together surreptitiously, and felt, rather than heard, whispered communication.

Waken.

Immediately I turned and fled, thankful my robes and trousers hid my trembling, stiff-legged gait. Nothing could conceal my expression, however, and the captain took one look at me and held my arm. This time I did not protest. As we made our way back to the caravan, I could still feel the creature’s lizardlike touch on my fingertips.

Yes, it was his touch, I thought.

But I had made the sunburst.

What was happening to me?