The Scarlet Soul: Stories For Dorian Gray

Due soon from Brian Shower's excellent Swan River Press is an anthology of ten new stories edited by Mark Valentine, tales that respond in many differing ways to the themes of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The line up of authors is as follows: Reggie Oliver, Caitriona Lally, Lynda E. Rucker, John Howard, D.P. Watt, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Avalon Brantley, Timothy J. Jarvis, John Gale and Derek John.

My contribution is entitled 'A Labyrinth of Graves', the title taken from a poem by John Warren, Lord de Tabley. I was working on the story when Mark asked me if I would be interested in writing for the anthology. Obviously, I said yes. Fortuitously the main themes of the tale in progress seemed to fit perfectly.

The story has quite a long history, because I originally had the idea for the tale at the end of the 1990s. I only wrote around a hundred words at the time, and under a different title, 'The Ship Forever-Seeking', before I set it aside. I went back to it several years later, however, but some other project always seemed to intrude and impede its progress. So I'm extremely grateful to Mark for asking me contribute to The Scarlet Soul and allowing me to complete 'A Labyrinth of Graves'. And, yes, embedded within this story is some of that original prose from the 1990s!

The Scarlet Soul is now available for pre-order from The Swan River website. Publication date is December, just in time to fill those purpureal stockings of luscious damask.

                    

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