My short story, The Cemetery Girl grew from a novel I've been working on (and mucho thanks to Lane, Kij, Erick, Nate, and Aaron for writing advice.) I had originally intended to intersperse modern day action (written in a tight third-person simple past tense) with little flashbacks from the protagonist's childhood (written in present-tense, and in a more literary style), but came to realize that they really should be separate stories.

While I, of course, won't post the entire thing--either the novel or the short story--here is the first scene from the short story version, which is out awaiting editorial judgment. read more »