Peek into the mind and dreams of award winning editor and author Jennifer Brozek. Travel from the weird west to the hidden worlds of Kendrick all the way to the far reaches of space. This collection contains twenty previously published short stories and includes the brand new Kember Empire story “Found on the Body of a Solider.” Enjoy your journey and don’t forget your survival gear. Apocalypse Girl is waiting.
Apocalypse Girl Dreaming has been ten years in the making. Most short story collections are multi-year endeavors, and are “found” books. When authors start out, they don’t do so thinking “I will write and sell short stories until I have enough to make a book.” Thus, a short story collection becomes an accidental book and a nice surprise.
I’ve been asked many times how I chose my stories for Apocalypse Girl Dreaming. I suspect it is different for every author faced with such a pleasant problem. Once I realized that I had enough short stories for a collection—more than enough, in fact—I realized that I needed to choose the right stories to showcase my skill, fictional worlds, and how my writing has changed over time.
That sounds mature and professional, doesn’t it? What I actually did was pick my favorite stories first, realized I had too much, and needed to apply a filter. That was when I actually followed my first thoughts to make the mass of favorites into a cohesive collection that flowed well from story to story.
This is what I recommend for anyone putting together a short story collection for the first time: start with the stories you love. Then worry about the rest. It shows in the writing when you love your work. I think the reader can see that, too. No matter how early in their career the author is.
I hope readers of Apocalypse Girl Dreaming can see how much I love the stories within. I live worlds inside my head and I’m so glad to able to share them with all of you.
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