Desire Lines: A New Book of Short Stories on the Way

A head's up, everyone: Oberon Press will be publishing my new collection of short stories in November. Called Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography, it's my third short collection and 13th book.

A word about the title: Desire lines, urbanists say, are paths that people take when they want to go some place. 

Frequently they bear no relation to the formal layout of roads and sidewalks. Sometimes they lead to new places, and often they are maps of the heart.

The collection was born during the awful winter when we were out of our house because of the fire.  All my books and notes were in storage and I found I couldn't think in blocks of more than 45 minutes at a time. So I started reading short stories again, and then began writing short stories again.  

 At the end of the winter I had a plan for a book and five stories that I thought I could show to someone.  Quebec's Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec gave me a generous grant in June 2011 on the strength of what I written: it was encouragement that came at just the right time.

 This spring I finished putting the stories together, and submitted it several small publishers.  Oberon immediately made an offer, which pleases me a great deal.  It will be fun to work again with Dilshad Engineer, a very good editor and a very sympathique person.