Happy New Year! One of the goals I made for myself this year was nurture my newsletter better and grow the audience so I’m not as beholden to the grip of social media. I really like having control over my content so I can up and move it without too much hassle when one platform or another goes extinct. I’m lucky that this newsletter has never been a moneymaking operation for me, so I can move around as much as I want and bring my email list with me.

All that to say, as a thank you to the folks who read this newsletter I wanted to started sending along some of the short stories I’ve published over the last few years. I think they’re some of the best work I’ve written and they’ve been hidden away in anthologies.

First up is one of my absolute favorites. It was published in 2021 in the Mystery Writers of America anthology When a Stranger Comes to Town and is based on an actual conversation I had with a guy in the hot tub at my gym.

It’s called “Howard’s Heart” and you can access it here. If you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter yet, click here and the password will be sent in the welcome message.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!