Authorpreneur Dashboard – Dave Higgins
An Unquiet Calm
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
A collection of short works, containing two new and three republished stories: Thieves in the Night: With Comet Grijalva predicted to wipe out life on Earth, Jason Pendrick fled to his uncle-in-law's farm. When the apocalypse doesn't happen, he has an opportunity to help rebuild society, but will the past drag him down? Washed Clean: Seimunda lives in a hovel, eking out a living bartering herbal remedies to villagers. But an accusation of witchcraft threatens to rob her of even that. Some Secrets: Always appearing when least expected, a mysterious man orders whichever sandwich Jo has been eyeing up. Do they just have similar tastes or is it something more inexplicable? Either way, there is definitely a connection. Blossom: When Mari Austan's husband, Jerek, joins the army she is left to run their drought-stricken farm alone. As both her crop dies and the letters home falter, she relies on cold fury to get through the days. But will she break before the weather does? An Unquiet Calm: When Frances Withrick is found holding the revolver that killed her husband, Inspector Stevens expects an all too human case of anger and regret. But a second killing and evidence the revolver was loaded with very unusual cartridge, force Stevens to consider a different theory: that the whispers of an inhuman force in the hills are true.
Book Bubbles from An Unquiet Calm
Location of Copyright Page
In my experience there are two broad groups of readers: those who read the interesting bits, and those who read every single word. As both a lawyer and a reader of every word, I read copyright pages. However, most people don't. So, because no-one could tell me a benefit of having it at the front I put this one at the back; and listed it in the contents, so anyone who specifically wanted it could still go straight to it.
Story Selection
This collection grew out of a folder full of stories that had been published in obscure places. Because many publications want first right, they were unlikely to find a new place on their own, so I decided to publish a collection myself. However, the genres were quite mixed and some of the stories written in response to specific prompts did work very well without an explanation. So I decided to remove all the science-fiction and add two new stories. Thieves was originally published in Fauxpocalypse Washed Clean and Blossom are both expanded from stories originally published as part of Heresy-Online Expeditious Stories.
Start with Coffee
Another example of my protagonists sharing my love of coffee. Despite having an equal love of tea, it is only coffee that figures prominently in my stories. I am more likely to have porridge than a pastry for breakfast though.
