Over the last few days, I’ve been running interviews on this blog with all my fellow First Love authors, discussing their contributions to the eponymous romantic fantasy anthology from Dragon Soul Press.
My short story is entitled Papercut, and it concerns a lonely teenage boy living with his ultra-strict Jehovah’s Witness mother. One night a mysterious girl made entirely of paper appears in his dreams, taking him on a mysterious and magical journey that I won’t spoil here.
Whether you fancy reading about the dreamscapes of the religiously oppressed, or love stories involving forest nymphs, mages, selkies, Native American mythology, or, as one of my fellow writers pitched her story to me, “Bridget Jones meets Morgana Le Fay”, this is a must for those who like their romance with a fantastical twist.
For ease of reference, here are links to all of the afore-mentioned interviews (including a separate interview with yours truly):
Story: Message in a Bottle.
Story tease from the interview: “Boy meets girl on the beach. It’s instant attraction… but he’s already promised to wed the daughter of his king even though he’s never met the future bride… Meanwhile, the pretty girl looks at this handsome dude with a ring on his finger and assumes she’d never be in his league even if he were available… and just to add a twist, he’s pretty sure she’s a siren out to break his heart and destroy his life.”
Story: Chestnut Woman
Story tease from the interview: “Imagine falling in love at first sight in a really mundane place: the crowded, stuffy metro. What would you do? My heroine, shy, introverted Pamela, can’t muster up the courage to make the first move. At home she runs into her superbly aggravating, gossiping neighbour, Mrs Schmid. Who is not at all what she appears to be. Mrs Schmid gives her three roasted chestnuts that will change Pamela’s life forever. Is she going to have a second chance with the mysterious, smiling stranger in the subway?”
Story: A Season’s Time
Story tease from the interview: “Whilst on a summer visit with his grandparents, a young man meets a strange young woman in a nearby forest. Over the course of the season, their feelings blossom into love, but there’s an obstacle looming in the distance that threatens to separate them. Is their love doomed from the start, or will they manage to find a way around their difficulties and remain together?”
Story: Once in a Blue Moon
Story tease from the interview: “My story Once in a Blue Moon is about a girl called Faith. She is an orphan on the cusp of womanhood who comes face to face with her death, and salvation in the space of a single night, when she discovers vampyres not only exist, but rule over their small, Victorian harbour town!”
Story: Caught in a Glance
Story tease from the interview: “Ours was a friendship for the ages–an abused mage just trying to raise his younger brother and a gray-clad enigma who hides beneath a cloak and veil. (That’s me, Shade, your narrator for this interview.) We didn’t know it but the day Sarn and I met, we took the first step toward a perilous friendship that would unleash a demon and earn the ire of an angel. From the mines under Mount Eredren to the Gray Between life and death, follow the twisted paths friendship takes. Only one will survive when adoration turns to obsession. But not even death can sever some bonds.”
Story: Twin Flames
Story tease from the interview: “Dragons, young love, and curses that need to be broken. Will fate tear them apart or will love be enough to keep them together?”
Story: Savage
Story tease from the interview: “My story is a dramatic recreation of a family legend that was told to me by my grandfather. He was proud of his Native American heritage.”
Story: Of Seals and Storms
Story tease from the interview: “When a storm threatens the lives of several local fishermen, Elizabeth’s best friend – a selkie and the girl she’s in love with – comes up with a plan to save them. But there’s one little caveat: she has to return to the ocean for the rest of eternity. Assuming they can find the skin her father hid from her before he drowns, of course. Of Seals and Storms is a love story about hard decisions, sacrifices, and trusting fate.”
Story: Lonely Oni
Story tease from the interview: “An exiled woman in a futuristic city finds hope and love where she never expected.”
Story: A Forbidden Union
Story tease from the interview: “The story is about a young prince name Zander who sees a woman and instantly falls in love with her, but her fate is sealed. Now Zander must make a decision that could very well change the course of history for his kingdom as well as himself.”
Story: The Rusalka of the Murashka
Story tease from the interview: “The murder of an innocent spawns a seductive creature which stalks a Ukrainian village for centuries.”
Story: Papercut
Story tease: See earlier in this article.
First Love is out now, as a paperback or e-book, here (in the UK) or here (in the US).
Simon Dillon Books 
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