Leigh Saunders

I am extremely proud to announce the publication of my short story, Virtual Oracle in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Issue #12. There’s a touch of other-worldliness in this one that borders on magic realism/mysticism. I hope you enjoy it!

Elizabeth had no idea that crashing the cocktail party would ultimately send her entire world tumbling down around her.

Available in both print / ebook from your favorite online retailers:
https://books2read.com/u/4AOVMN

When you start tossing ideas around, you never really know which ones are going to stick together in ways that make you tilt your head sideways, start to smile, and know you have to see where it takes you. So when the words the words “workaholic” and “ghost” stuck to my whiteboard, I knew I had to play with the idea.

I’m glad I did. Because while the ghost of Harold Oglethorpe never got that last in-flight cookie, his story, Silver Linings, did find a home in Mark Leslie’s wonderful anthology, Obsessions.

It’s a fun, quirky story, that I enjoyed writing. And, as editor Mark Leslie said in his introduction, “Like Mattie’s unfortunate workaholic colleague, I’m sure this tale will linger in the air long after you finish it.”

You can get your own copy of Obsessions from your favorite online retailer.

If you missed Burning Bright when it was first printed in Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse, here’s another place where you can find it. Year of the Cat #4 – A Cat of Strange Lands collects nine wonderful stories about cats in all sorts of different times and places.

From the book description:

Cats roam everywhere on the planet. Everywhere. Their breed names often betray their place of origin—or their strange origin story in some now-lost land.

This collection honors that feline diversity in odd ways as much as possible. And the strange lands that cats not only originate from, but find themselves in.

These cats prowl in a witch’s hut, an enchanted shop, post-apocalyptic cities such as Las Vegas and Seattle, as well as across an ancient land where they once ruled as gods.

You can pick up Year of the Cat #4 – A Cat of Strange Lands in print or ebook from your favorite online retailer.

Purr-fect!

In another life, I had dreams of becoming an architect. So it would stand to reason that a trip to Southern California would naturally include a visit to the Winchester Mystery House. And, because it’s just the way I think, the first (and best) idea I had for the theme “Doorways to Enchantment” was of the mansion’s (in)famous “door to nowhere.”

From the editor’s introduction to the story:

The Winchester Mystery House is a gorgeous, weird, creepy, wonderful place. Heir to the Winchester rifle fortune, Sarah Winchester believed the only way to quiet the ghostly voices of the people killed by that rifle was to keep building on her house. To that end, there are doorways that lead nowhere, staircases that dead-end, and other disorienting features. It’s spectacular—if you’re ever in San Jose, California, go. You won’t be disappointed.
You won’t be disappointed by this story, either…

Combining my own architectural doodling, a review of the commonly-known history behind the house, and a magical story theme, led me through that otherwise unusable door and into Sarah Winchester’s secret life.

I hope you enjoy The Door to Nowhere, along with the many other wonderful stories in Fiction River: Doorways to Enchantment.