Category Archives: SHORTS
Inspiration Behind the Story: What
Joel Rush
I honestly don’t remember where I first saw this photo of actor/model Joel Rush and, try as I might, I can’t seem to locate a photographer’s name to give credit here for this shot being the inspiration behind my short story What.
The first thing I thought when I saw this photo was this man is upset, troubled by something, maybe frustrated, and I’ve just interrupted him trying to sort things out. He turned to look at me and barked, “What?”
So I had to answer his question. Or, actually, Sam had to, and Sam very much did not want to, but felt he had a duty to explain himself… Since it’s his fault… Jeremy’s in this mood to begin with… Because the guys in the tattoo shop were… Fighting again and Sam’s pretty sure it was his fault even though he can’t figure out why. Yeah, that.
This story turned out to be the first shifter story I had ever attempted, then I tacked on a little GFY and some hurt/comfort. I ended up with a roughly 4,000-word story about Sam discovering that, not only is his boss and the man he’s loved from afar a werepanther, but Jeremy’s also got one hell of a mating instinct going on for Sam. Sam and Jeremy riding off into the night to begin their relationship after a handjob, some kitty domination and claiming, and a long talk about what’s going on with everybody wrapped up the story pretty well for me.
But the story wasn’t really done-done.
Going back into Sam and Jeremy’s world, I decided that gay mates in the werepanther prides was previously been forced to live a little like soldiers under DADT. Jeremy, though, he’s not the type of guy who’ll just accept that he’s not allowed to publicly claim Sam as his own like anyone else who, through some miracle, has found their one true mate. All kinds of rules govern these werepanthers and now that Jeremy has successfully lobbied for gay mate rights, there are rules he and Sam have to follow. Jeremy’s just a little leery of one of them since, until Sam, Jeremy was straight. It’s up to stuttering, submissive Sam to step up and be the man Jeremy needs him to be so they can have the future they deserve.
There is also an incident with a squirrel. 
All told, this photo of the gorgeous Joel Rush inspired in me a short story of 19,000+ words that firmly establishes the relationship of Sam and Jeremy with a very nice HEA. So, coming in late-spring/early-summer from Amber Allure is What by Missy Welsh.
Coming Soon from Amber Allure!
A little while ago, I received an invitation to join Amber Quill Press. I really wanted to jump on the chance to publish with them, but I didn’t have anything to send them — all my works-in-progress were promised to other publishers.
Sometime in November/December, I got it in my head that I had all these short stories all over both my blog here and my harddrive. Some were far too short to meet publisher requirements for an individual ebook, most of them were already free in here, and I honestly didn’t think anyone would want to publish a collection of short stories by just one author — and a relative newbie at that. So I thought about self-publishing and actually went to work assembling all the shorts, editing them like crazy, expanding What from 4K words to over 19K words, and so on until I thought the collection would make a worthy purchase at about 60K words with a good mix of new and updated stories.
Then I looked at my bookshelf and saw my signed copy of Over the Edge by Rick Reed as published by Amber Quill Press. It’s a collection of short stories. Oh hey! Could I…? Would they…? I mean, I’m not in his league, but…
Couldn’t hurt to ask if they’d be at all interested in such a thing, at least. Take a chance and what the hell and all that, right? Worst they could do is say they weren’t interested.
Well, my little gamble paid off because, within a couple weeks, they accepted every single story I sent them!
Beginning in late-spring/early-summer and continuing into the fall, AQP/Amber Allure will release the following from little ol’ me:
- What — updated and expanded
- Yours Forever — new story
- Oscar’s Soul — updated
- Come Cuddle Me — new story
- Happy Endings: Briefs — a collection of very short stories that appeared in blog posts here with new content as well
- Happy Endings: Shorts — a paperback book of the short story collection
I cried when they told me all that and then cried more when I told friends and family. I took a chance, it worked, and I am now a new member of the Amber Quill Press family. 
