In January 2017, I decided to take my first real stab at writing short stories. I came up with The Eclectic Collective from the Galaxy with No Name, and shockingly to me, who loves her 120,000-word projects, I found writing under the ceiling of a shorter word count a lot of fun!

Fast forward to March 2017. Fellow author Madonna Skaff-Koren encouraged me to submit a short story to Exile Editions’ Alice Unbound call for submissions. Madona said, “It’s Alice in Wonderland, so you can go wild with it!” (She knew my style of writing.) So, I found what I assumed was an old a version of the tale by Lewis Carroll and read it thoroughly, even taking notes about things that struck me. I thought with relief, Okay, the original story is really weird, so I am totally free to be myself! (Weird is my highest form of compliment, by the way.)

I wrote about my excitement of taking on this new quest in my post, Adventures in Short Fiction. After arranging the alphabet within the 5,000-word limit, I’d finished A Night at the Rabbit Hole. Then I took and deep breath and submitted it.

Months later, I found out it was short-listed, then short-listed even further, and finally, accepted. I’ve wanted to tell you for a while but I respected the editor’s and publisher’s wishes to keep things quiet until the official announcement.

So, finally, YAY! I’ll be within the pages of this gorgeous cover!

You can pre-order it on Amazon, too!

Since March of last year, I’ve worked on several other short stories (not yet published) and simply love doing them. I find that completing a short work of fiction can feel really satisfying—a nice break from longer projects. In 2018, I discovered flash fiction, thanks to author ’Nathan Burgoine. Yes, I’ve come in late to the game, but my writer buds are helping me catch up nicely.

Anyway, I’m very grateful to editor Colleen Anderson for selecting my wee story. (She is good with “ruthlessly editing,” too. As an editor myself, I was impressed by that.) I’m also looking forward to sharing updates and any events about this anthology.

Again: Squee!

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Cait Gordon is the author of Life in the ’Cosm, a story about a little green guy who’s crushing on the female half of his two-headed colleague. Cait is currently working on a prequel to ’Cosm called The Stealth Lovers, a rom-com military space opera. When she’s not writing, she’s editing manuscripts for indie authors and running The Spoonie Authors Network, a blog whose contributors are writers with disabilities and/or chronic conditions. She also really likes cake.