Writers Who Kill

“Now we must dance,” said my daughter holding up the brown parcel that had just been delivered to our door.

She tore the box open and slid out a paperback book. It was an anthology called Spirit Legends and there on page 65 was her short story “Safely Home.” So who writes stories mixing the supernatural with hockey? My daughter, that’s who. I remember when my first short came out in Death Knell 3. I was nowhere near as excited as I am now. I think in part it was because I had helped to put the anthology together, and followed it through the process from submission to the time when the box of books appeared at my front door. Since then I have had a few more. But as times and the publishing industry changes, so do the hopes and dreams of authors. Bodge has had a couple of short stories published in Ebooks. This is her first hold-it-in-your-hand anthology. I started my first novel when she was 24. I’m not sure when she picked up the bug, but it isn’t surprising since the whole family writes. At any time you could find the three of us working away at our respective computers. My husband working on a newspaper article about a local strike, me on a short story set in 1890 and Bodge trying to figure out how being a werewolf would impact playing hockey. I have been searching my heart since she showed me the book. I have never believed emotions are simple, so I have a whole cluster of feelings about this.

Pride. I have a wonderful and talented daughter. Gratitude. This for the gift we were both given and for our ability to stick with it to a finished product. We don’t always finish what we start. Jealousy. Well naturally. I started first and she is now almost as well published as I am. Rivalry. If she can do it, I need to keep working so she doesn’t get ahead. Joy. All for her. I knew she could do it. Accomplishment. Neither of us read for each other, so I often see the work only after it is published. I am always blown away with the quality of her writing. Sadness. My mother died before my first story was published. Her father died before hers was. Perhaps some day you will see supernatural historical hockey mysteries by EK Inglee.