The Silver Stopper is real!

My copies of the anthology Harlem River Blues have arrived from Fish Publishing! There is my name and my story The Silver Stopper: in ink, in print, indelible, permanent, real!

All the copies are slightly damaged, but then they have travelled all the way from Ireland, and Fish have sent them to me free as a writer’s perk, which, considering the postage to New Zealand, was very generous of them.

It is bizarre seeing my writing in published form, rather than on a familiar sheet of printed A4 paper. I can suddenly be more objective about the story, and think: “Ooh yes, that’s a good bit”, and “My goodness, I have to stop using so many commas!”

I debated about keeping a copy at work: It’s there just in case anyone wants to borrow it. If there’s a fire at home, at least I’ll have a spare copy. But is it pretentious and vain to have the book on display in the office? It’s not really on display, just shelved on a bookcase — no-one will even notice it. That’s settled then: as long as I don’t draw attention to the book, having it at work is not pretentious and vain.

I’ve read the other stories in the anthology, and they are all wonderful, surprising and, of course, a fantastic read. I especially enjoyed the title story by Julia van Middlesworth, Schottishe by John Bolland, and White Crayons by Gordon Hopkins.

The Silver Stopper is published in Harlem River Blues, available through Fish Publishing at: http://fishpublishing.com/