My short story “Vanity” will appear in Dark Opus Press’ forthcoming anthology In Poe’s Shadow, in which writers were asked to submit a modern tale directly paying homage to or inspired by one of Poe’s short stories.

“Vanity” owes itself to Poe’s little-known “The Oval Portrait,” which is my favorite piece of his. If you’d like to read “The Oval Portrait”—it’s short, in fact it’s under 1300 words—you can read it at www.eapoe.org (The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore’s extensive online archive): http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/ovlprtc.htm. An extra bit of fun? Check out this 2008 film by DanBrosnan2020 on YouTube, which won an award for achievement by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJxEwIO-KOo

Some other writers have posted that they’ve been accepted as well. James S. Dorr’s “Merryl,” inspired by Poe’s “Ligeia” will also appear; so will Dorian Dawes’ “Loving the Dead,” although I’m not sure which story to which it owes its existence (from an excerpt I read, I’d have to take a stab in the dark and say either “Morella” or “Berenice”).

I can’t wait to have this treat on my shelf…I’m hoping it’s out in time for what we call “Poe Season” in our house so I have lots of fun new stuff to read!

I’ll keep you posted on In Poe’s Shadow’s publication date.