In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.
I’ve long wanted to host C.W. Blackwell on the First Two Pages—a talented and increasingly celebrated short story writer, with two Derringer Award wins to his credit (out of five nominations); you can read his Derringer-winning stories online: “Memories of Fire” at Pulp Modern Flash and “The Referee” at Shotgun Honey. He’s joining us here today to talk about his new story, “Making Up for Lost Time,” for the anthology Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers (more on that in a moment), and if those three stories aren’t enough, you can find more links to his work here as well as interviews and more—plus here’s some great news: His new short story collection, Whatever Kills the Pain, is coming out next month from Rock and a Hard Place. Pre-order now!
C.W.’s appearance this week at the First Two Pages is the first in series featuring contributors to Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk and due out June 18 from Superior Shores Press in both ebook and paperback. (Pre-order that one now too, of course!) The book features 22 writers tackling this question: “Desire or desperation, revenge or retribution—how far would you go to realize a dream?” Contributors include Pam Barnsley, Linda Bennett, Clark Boyd, C.W. Blackwell, Amanda Capper, Susan Daly, James Patrick Focarile, Rand Gaynor, Gina X. Grant, Julie Hastrup, Beth Irish, Charlie Kondek, Edward Lodi, Bethany Maines, Jim McDonald, donalee Moulton, Michael Penncavage, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Peggy Rothschild, Debra Bliss Saenger, and Joseph S. Walker.
We’ll have two more writers over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, enjoy this first preview of the book—and thanks to C.W. Blackwell for joining us!
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.
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