Over the last year, a number of you have asked how to get my Derringer-award winning novella, “Catherine The Great,” and while you can get it in last year’s Holiday Spectacular compilation, that’s only available in ebook. Many of you want paper…and I get it. I do too.

So, we decided to put it into paper. And by the time we got to that project, I had also written three other mystery/crime novellas. One is a thriller (Kizzie) and two are more straightforward mysteries. We put all four in a Kickstarter that launches today.

Here’s the video for the Kickstarter. Over the next week, I’ll also share the book trailers with you for the novellas. However, if you’d like to see them now, head to the Kickstarter. They’re all on it, along with a lot of other goodies.

As you can tell, this is one of my favorite things to write. I hope you end up getting the books.

I wrote this story, fell in love with the characters, and had a plan (still have a plan) for them in the modern era. It’ll take a bit more work to deal with that, though, and it’s something I put off. I figured this story could be a companion piece to the as-yet-unwritten one. But that plan has kept this story on my computer much too long, so I decided to put it into this Kickstarter, which gives backers first look at six of my unpublished stories.

The Kickstarter ends in 12 hours, so if you’re interested in this or the other five stories, as well as the four collections that come with the stretch goals, head on over to the Kickstarter right now. You’re almost out of time.

I have no idea where I got the idea for a somewhat shady character taking his daughter to work, but I had fun writing the piece. I hope you have fun reading it.

Here’s the actual blurb:

Garrett loves his brilliant, sullen daughter. But when Garrett’s wife insists he take their daughter to work with him, Jocasta’s brains might just prove more than he bargained for. Because Jocasta seems to know exactly what Garrett does for a living. And that knowledge could prove deadly for all of them.

Just a refresher: we’re running an experimental Kickstarter to see how short fiction fares on the platform. We didn’t know at first, and now we do. Short fiction fares very well. We put up six of my never-before-published short crime stories, and we’ve hit several stretch goals and have gotten more support than I thought we would. If you do decide to back this project, you’ll get six stories (one of which I’ve discussed here), as well as two brand-new collections, and two other collections. Lots and lots and lots of reading, including a new Spade/Paladin novella.

“Stealth Bloggers” is one of the original six crime stories. Not quite a novella, but longer than short story, this piece surprised me when I reread it. I remembered writing it with a lot of trepidation about a bunch of things, none of which exist in the story itself. The dangers of critical voice, I guess. It stopped me for the longest time on this piece. I eventually finished it, and then never mailed it. For a while, it seemed that critical voice had won.

The story has a compelling beginning, which is somewhat illustrated by Allyson Longueira’s lovely cover. A rather nasty man who was always on his laptop in a coffee shop gets murdered in said coffee shop, and the crime may or may not be tied to his online behavior. I’m not going to spoil the rest of this, but if it interests you, then head over to the Kickstarter quickly to get your copy.

And here’s the official blurb…

After the murder of an antisocial regular at a neighborhood coffeeshop, Portland homicide detective Addy Shaefer catches the case. The victim proves as obnoxious online as he did in person, leaving plenty of motive but few suspects. Until Addy enlists the help of the department’s computer expert. Together, they might just stand a chance of catching a killer.

I promised I would tell you all about the stories in this Kickstarter. The idea behind the Kickstarter was to see if we could Kickstart short fiction effectively. You have shown that we could! I’m pleased. And honestly, I’m having fun blogging about the stories. I’ve discovered that I’m enjoying the freedom to write whatever I need to on this site, not just as promotion, but other things as well. You’ll notice that I’m catching up on the Recommended Reading Lists, and I’m slowly finishing the redesign. It’s taking time, but I don’t mind at all.

Anyway, today’s story, “Morning Shift,” is about waiting tables…and crime. Always crime, since the six stories are crime stories. Years ago, I read an article in The Oregonian about jobs people hate. The author interviewed people doing a job “no one” wanted to do, like cleaning public toilets. Most people loved their unlovable job, oddly enough. The last question the author asked was “What job would you never do?” and then the author would interview someone doing that job.

The jobs all made sense to me, like flagger on a hot highway or the above-mentioned public toilets cleaner, but the one that surprised me was waiting tables. What? I loved waiting tables when I did it, back in the day. I waited tables off and on for ten years. I liked the challenge, I liked meeting the people, and I liked walking home with cash in my pocket. Sure, my feet ached, but so what? I couldn’t imagine hating that job.

After I read the article (and clipped it—yes, it was that long ago), I set myself up to write about as many of those jobs as I could. Sometimes the jobs required research as in “Unknown Baby Girl,” (insulation install) or “The Moorhead House” (cleaning crime scenes). I figured when I finished them all, I’d ask the author if I could reprint the article and put it all in a collection. But I can’t locate the article now.

Anyway, the final story in the grouping was supposed to be the waiting tables story. I kept putting it off because it didn’t fit in the crappy jobs category for me. But I finally got the spark of an idea, and “Morning Shift” was born. Eventually I’ve got to put that collection together. Maybe I can locate the article by then…

Here’s the blurb:

1974. Jane loves working the morning shift at the diner. She loves the people she works with, too. But when Jane’s past catches up with her, she will need to rely on her own skills to save herself. And just maybe a little help from her co-workers.

You can get “Morning Shift” and five other stories, as well as four collections, as part of the Never Before Seen Kickstarter. Click here to see what other rewards backers can receive.