Please welcome Amanda Capper to the blog today as she discusses her short story, A Time to Tell, in the upcoming new anthology, Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense. Edited by Judy Penz Sheluk, published by Superior Shores Press, the read is available at Amazon and other vendors and will release on June 18th.
Secrets
and Schemers by Amanda Capper
I firmly believe if you want to write
well, you must read. Lots. Bonus if you read as a child.
I was raised on Alfred Hitchcock and
Ellery Queen. Library books, novels written by Catherine Cookson and Jeffrey
Archer, were borrowed and left strategically around my childhood home, used as
bait to get me to sit in one place long enough to read them. And I enjoyed
them. But they took time, and I was a busy child.
Short stories were, and still are, my drug
of choice. The horror of Hitchcock and the suspense of Queen captivated me, and
I remember thinking, “I can do that.” And I tried, but all I really did was
copy them. Which was a start because, eventually, if you keep reading and
writing, chances are good you’ll get that buzz when your own story comes
together.
Judy Penz Sheluk is carrying on the short
story tradition, and I was buzzed to the point of combustion when Judy accepted
my story “A Time to Tell” for her fourth anthology, Midnight Schemers and
Daydream Believers.
I had read the first three and enjoyed
them all, first because I love a story I can read in bed and know the ending
before I turn off the light, and second, because these short stories are
excellent for studying the craft. Why did I like this one? What would I have
done different? And the best – Holy Hannah, I did not see that coming.
My contribution to Midnight is full
of secrets. Rebecca’s dad has a secret. So does her mom. Even the neighbours
have a secret. And finally, so does Rebecca. Here’s the first paragraph:
I started collecting secrets when I
was six-years-old. Not by design. More by the unfortunate circumstance of being
a sickly, solitary child, cursed with curiosity. I hovered in doorways, or
stared out windows, and was always startled when someone noticed I was in the
room. I had, at one time, concluded I was invisible and that was okay.
When the anthology comes out on June 18th
and you finish reading my story, I hope you have a Holy Hannah moment. There
are 22 stories in Midnight Schemers and Daydream Believers; I expect
you’ll have more than one.
Readers: Have you had a Holy Hannah moment lately? Leave a comment and don’t worry—your secret is safe with me.
About the book:
Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense
Desire or
desperation, revenge or retribution—how far would you go to realize a dream?
The twenty-two authors in this collection explore the possibilities, with
predictably unpredictable results.
Featuring stories
by Pam Barnsley, Linda Bennett, Clark Boyd, C.W. Blackwell, Amanda Capper,
Susan Daly, James Patrick Focarile, Rand Gaynor, Gina X. Grant, Julie Hastrup,
Beth Irish, Charlie Kondek, Edward Lodi, Bethany Maines, Jim McDonald, donalee
Moulton, Michael Penncavage, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Peggy Rothschild,
Debra Bliss Saenger, and Joseph S. Walker.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/44vnrJF
Amanda
Capper ©2025
Amanda
Capper is a Canadian author. Her debut mystery novel, A Bother of Bodies was
published by Divertir Publishing in 2014. During the years since, she’s had
flash fiction and short stories published in e-zines and anthologies. You can
find her at https://ajcapper.wordpress.com
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