“How?”
Gretta only smiled in response.
“You givin’ me this?” he asked.
“It’s only a loan.”
He looked at the musician from the door and then back to Gretta, but his gaze didn’t stay on her face. She had become shadows upon shadows to him, as it should be.
He asked the same question all the patrons of her library asked, the question Gretta herself had asked when she’d been given a book and a second chance.
“How long?”
Gretta gave the answer she always did, the one that kept the magic alive.
“As long as you need,” she said. “Take as long as you need.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author Annie Reed describes herself as a desert rat who longs to live by the ocean. Since she hasn’t yet convinced her family to relocate to a nice chunk of beachfront property, she’s done the next best thing—written a series of stories set in a contemporary Pacific Northwest city where magic and reality go hand in hand. Private investigators Diz and Dee populate Annie’s more lighthearted stories, while denizens of a much rougher neighborhood lurk in her Tales From the Shadows .
A talented and versatile writer whose fantasy, science fiction, and mystery stories have sold to a wide variety of publications, Annie is also the author of the Abby Maxon mystery novels Pretty Little Horses and Paper Bullets, as well as A Death in Cumberland. Annie’s short stories also appear on a regular basis in the Fiction River anthologies.
For more information about Annie, go to www.annie-reed.com .
THE UNCOLLECTED ANTHOLOGY STORIES
The Library of Orphaned Hearts is part of the innovative Uncollected Anthology series.
Every three months, the talented group of UA authors picks a theme and writes a short story for that theme. But instead of bundling the stories together, each author sells their own. No muss, no fuss—you can buy one story or you can buy them all. (We’ll be honest; we hope you buy them all!)
This time around we’re thrilled to feature a story by USA Today bestselling guest author Dean Wesley Smith!
If you’d like to keep reading more fine stories with this issue’s theme—Magical Libraries—click on the following links:
THE LIBRARY OF ATLANTIS
Dean Wesley Smith
( featured guest author )
Poker Boy specializes in asking stupid questions. But sometimes even stupid questions need answers.
To save the fabric of all things from unraveling, whatever that means, Poker Boy must go to the Library of Atlantis and do something that no one ever accomplished before.
Poker Boy saves all things. Again!
“[The Poker Boy] series is unlike anything else out there. It’s quirky and a lot of fun.”
—Amazing Stories.
THESE CHAINS
Dayle A. Dermatis
Madeleine works at a secret library beneath the New York Public Library, serving her final magical-juvie sentence. If she keeps her head down and does her time, she’ll finally be free. But when the most prized—and most dangerous books—are stolen, the ancient ones affixed with chains, all eyes turn on her.
Because her girlfriend—the girl she thought was her girlfriend—clearly had her fingers all over the job.
The Magical Council tells Madeleine to sit tight; they’ll handle it. Madeleine, however, isn’t any good at waiting for someone else to solve a problem. She has to get involved, even if she ends up being found guilty for doing the wrong thing for the right reasons…yet again.
KITTY OF DEATH
Michele Lang
When you lose a Library Cat, the late fees are murder...
Corrie the Cat Librarian leads an orderly life in the strange little town of New Castle, Connecticut. As Keeper of Feline Deities, Corrie lends her cats out to magicworkers who need a familiar to complete their spells.
A safe and rather boring existence...
But when Idris, a minor Egyptian deity, goes missing, Corrie and the formidable litigomancer Elizabeth Royall must battle an evil,
Gretta only smiled in response.
“You givin’ me this?” he asked.
“It’s only a loan.”
He looked at the musician from the door and then back to Gretta, but his gaze didn’t stay on her face. She had become shadows upon shadows to him, as it should be.
He asked the same question all the patrons of her library asked, the question Gretta herself had asked when she’d been given a book and a second chance.
“How long?”
Gretta gave the answer she always did, the one that kept the magic alive.
“As long as you need,” she said. “Take as long as you need.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author Annie Reed describes herself as a desert rat who longs to live by the ocean. Since she hasn’t yet convinced her family to relocate to a nice chunk of beachfront property, she’s done the next best thing—written a series of stories set in a contemporary Pacific Northwest city where magic and reality go hand in hand. Private investigators Diz and Dee populate Annie’s more lighthearted stories, while denizens of a much rougher neighborhood lurk in her Tales From the Shadows .
A talented and versatile writer whose fantasy, science fiction, and mystery stories have sold to a wide variety of publications, Annie is also the author of the Abby Maxon mystery novels Pretty Little Horses and Paper Bullets, as well as A Death in Cumberland. Annie’s short stories also appear on a regular basis in the Fiction River anthologies.
For more information about Annie, go to www.annie-reed.com .
THE UNCOLLECTED ANTHOLOGY STORIES
The Library of Orphaned Hearts is part of the innovative Uncollected Anthology series.
Every three months, the talented group of UA authors picks a theme and writes a short story for that theme. But instead of bundling the stories together, each author sells their own. No muss, no fuss—you can buy one story or you can buy them all. (We’ll be honest; we hope you buy them all!)
This time around we’re thrilled to feature a story by USA Today bestselling guest author Dean Wesley Smith!
If you’d like to keep reading more fine stories with this issue’s theme—Magical Libraries—click on the following links:
THE LIBRARY OF ATLANTIS
Dean Wesley Smith
( featured guest author )
Poker Boy specializes in asking stupid questions. But sometimes even stupid questions need answers.
To save the fabric of all things from unraveling, whatever that means, Poker Boy must go to the Library of Atlantis and do something that no one ever accomplished before.
Poker Boy saves all things. Again!
“[The Poker Boy] series is unlike anything else out there. It’s quirky and a lot of fun.”
—Amazing Stories.
THESE CHAINS
Dayle A. Dermatis
Madeleine works at a secret library beneath the New York Public Library, serving her final magical-juvie sentence. If she keeps her head down and does her time, she’ll finally be free. But when the most prized—and most dangerous books—are stolen, the ancient ones affixed with chains, all eyes turn on her.
Because her girlfriend—the girl she thought was her girlfriend—clearly had her fingers all over the job.
The Magical Council tells Madeleine to sit tight; they’ll handle it. Madeleine, however, isn’t any good at waiting for someone else to solve a problem. She has to get involved, even if she ends up being found guilty for doing the wrong thing for the right reasons…yet again.
KITTY OF DEATH
Michele Lang
When you lose a Library Cat, the late fees are murder...
Corrie the Cat Librarian leads an orderly life in the strange little town of New Castle, Connecticut. As Keeper of Feline Deities, Corrie lends her cats out to magicworkers who need a familiar to complete their spells.
A safe and rather boring existence...
But when Idris, a minor Egyptian deity, goes missing, Corrie and the formidable litigomancer Elizabeth Royall must battle an evil,
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