The Robber

I've got a lot of explaining to do.

Not in a bad way. I just want to tell you a little about the new short story I have on the market.  It's called The Robber and, leading up to the release of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Inner Strength (which includes an intense little story from my life), The Robber is available as a FREE download at Amazon.

So where does the explaining come in? Well, here's the thing: I wouldn't exactly classify The Robber as Young Adult fiction, like the rest of my books.  Although the protagonist is ten years old (it's her birthday in the story), I feel the story is better classified as literary fiction for adults.  It's not that there's anything specifically "adult" or offensive in terms of the content (aside from harsh language and distressing situations), but I still wanted to put a bit of a content warning out into the world.

Why the tie-in with this new Chicken Soup for the Soul book? (which you can pre-order here, by the way: http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Soul-Empowering-Resilience-ebook/dp/B00IWTWFYK/ref=foxglovelee-20 )

Because while The Robber is a fictionalized version of events from my young life, my story It Takes A Village in CSS Find Your Inner Strength is a true story from roughly the same era. They both deal with substance abuse and family violence.

The Robber will be free at all Amazon sites starting today and ending on the release day of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Inner Strength, which is October 28th.

You can find The Robber at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ODBV4AM
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ODBV4AM
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00ODBV4AM

Literary short fiction from the author of Tiffany and Tiger's Eye:

Samantha’s celebrating her tenth birthday, but turning “double digits” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Her special day is dampened not only by her mom burning the chicken fingers and making her go to Girl Guides, but also by the fact that she knows "the robber" will be coming later that night. After all, birthday cards mean birthday money, and birthday money is sure to attract him.

Sam and her younger sister Tory have tried for years to find the perfect hiding spot, but the robber always finds any bits of cash tucked away in their underwear drawers, or in the pyjama doll, or the hollow base of the ugly ceramic unicorn from Grandma Macintyre. It's only a matter of time before the robber arrives at Samantha’s bedroom door.

Not every horror story is supernatural…

You can find The Robber at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ODBV4AM
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ODBV4AM
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00ODBV4AM

Look what just came in the mail!

My contributors' copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Inner Strength, introduced by Fran Drescher:

My story "It Takes A Village" appears in the chapter called Learning to Reach Out:

Here's my "this is really happening" face:

The book doesn't officially release until October 28th 2014, but it's available for pre-order now: http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Soul-Empowering-Resilience/dp/1611599393

And I'm in it!

If you're playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and you're trying to get from Fran Drescher to Foxglove Lee...

...then you're obviously living in a make-believe world where I have more than 300 twitter followers and my books fly off the shelves of every bookstore in town, but let's pretend for a moment that this is really happening.  You're playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and you need to find some random connection between myself and the resilient Fran Drescher.

I know, I know, but bear with me. This is going somewhere, I promise.

In October, Fran Drescher and Foxglove Lee (haaa... talking about myself in the third person. George likes spicy food) will share the pages of a new edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul:

I saw Fran Drescher on a talk show a couple years ago (which is weird because I never watch talk shows) and I was astounded by some of the horrific stuff she's lived through. That woman has gone to hell and back, and I can't wait to read the foreword she's written for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Inner Strength.

As for me, when I first sat down to write something for this collection I really thought I had nothing to share. I couldn't think of an instance where I felt I'd been particularly strong, inside or out. But an event from my life came to mind and I typed it out, not thinking much of it.  It wasn't until I read the anecdote that I came to fully appreciate the harrowing nature of my life story. 

Sometimes you don't see how serious your situation is/was until you take a step back and examine it as though it were somebody else's experience.

I'll have more to say closer to the book's release date, but I wanted to tell you all how excited I am to have my story included in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Inner Strength.

Who'd have thought I'd end up between the covers with the likes of Fran Drescher?