It's time for Shorts

By Alison Bruce

No, I'm not advocating going out in shorts... not in February in Canada in any case.

For three years I've been running a series of flash fiction stories leading up to Valentine's Day: Valentine Shorts. I also do Summer Shorts and Holiday Shorts, but I have a particular fondness for the Valentine stories.

My participating author friends are given a maximum word count and the theme of love and let loose. It's always interesting to see what they come up with.

It's not always romantic love. Mother love, pet love, platonic love and misdirected love leading to murder and mayhem are also included. I never know where or when a story will be set. Or if it will be fiction, or fact. Speaking of which...

What is your favourite real-life love story?

PS: Check out this year's crop of Valentine Short all week at http://alisonebruce.blogspot.ca. You can find past series on The Shorts Page.

Copywriter, editor and graphic designer since 1992, Alison Bruce has also been a comic book store manager, small press publisher, webmaster and arithmetically challenged bookkeeper. She is the author of A Bodyguard to Remember and other novels with mystery, romance, suspense and sometimes history involved.