Too many probably.
I easily have enough short stories for another collection, but I’m intending to separate these into two collections, one that is going to be family themed (the afore mentioned Family: and Other Horrors), and third, as yet untitled collection; but I am also at least halfway through two novels, one which is science-fiction/fantasy based while the other is more of a ghost story.
The sci-fi book is called The Cluster, while the ghost story is called The Marshlands. Alongside these are two shorter works (not certain how much shorter yet) one of which is called The Court of Cadavers, while the other is currently unnamed.
Each one of these projects is its own beast and has its own problems, and each of them are in their own stages of development; but all of them are far enough along for me to see where they are going and have a good idea on what the completed project might look like.
Then, of course, I have the “Box of Ideas” which is a literal container, a green tin in this case, where all my scribbled stories reside. There are notes in there that were written when I was a schoolboy, there are notes written while experiencing the heartbreak of bereavement, as well as those written while the future seemed a glowing place I couldn’t wait to get to.
I dug this box out recently and I was surprised how much in there I had completely forgotten about, there are projects that include carefully drawn maps and creature designs, others contain family tree’s that map out complex familial interactions. There’s a lot of stuff there, some of which I only partially understand even though I wrote it.
It would be a good thing to tell these tales, it would be a good thing for people to get the chance to read them, perhaps giving me an opportunity to throw a little piece of myself into the future.
posted by Alan Preece
on October, 11