The Birthday Girl & Other Stories
Horror Fiction
29/02/2020
This mini-collection includes the stories: MISSING CHILD, THE BIRTHDAY GIRL and THE TRASH CAN.
Writing about the stories contained in his Short Sharp Shocks! entry, author Christopher Beck said: “MISSING CHILD is based upon my life. I was once married and my ex-wife had a little girl with whom I developed a great relationship. After the marriage failed, things between the ex and I were sour which left my relationship with her daughter uncertain. MISSING CHILD was written as an attempt to deal with that uncertainty. Though it was tough at the time, I’m happy to say that now, years later, I have a wonderful relationship with the kiddo. [I would say of my second story] THE BIRTHDAY GIRL, you know sometimes in life terrible things happen and sometimes there aren’t happy endings. Stories like this aren’t easy to tell but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be told. [My final story in this mini-collection is] THE TRASH CAN. In my opinion the great thing about short stories is that they don’t have to explain everything, they can just be pulpy fun. I used to live with my brother and he had a dog that raided the trash constantly. He bought a trash can which was basically dog proof. Soon after our roommate threw a paper towel into it and the lid slammed down way too hard and I had an instant story!”
(with a cover by Adrian Baldwin)