Tis the season for a sale, fa la la la la la la la…

Do you want to check out what British Columbian writers have in common? Have a hankering for Canadian fiction? Now’s your chance to read some Canadiana.

Voices From the Valleys is on for $0.99 USD.

Deirdre Hunting Season is the first short story in Voices From the Valleys.  I’ve included an excerpt below it you’d like to try before you buy…

VOICES FROM THE VALLEYS – Stories & Poems about Life in BC’s Interior

Amazon.com  Amazon.ca  Amazon.co.uk

– 308 pages, 51 contributors, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. All net proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders. The print version includes drawings and photos of BC.

This anthology for charity features entertaining short stories, fascinating memoirs, and thought-provoking poetry by 50 talented BC writers, depicting life in every region of the interior of British Columbia, Canada, from the ’50s to today.

Peruse the pages and you’ll find stories about challenging experiences in remote areas, experiences with BC’s deer, bears, moose, and other wildlife; harrowing experiences with forest fires, humorous people-watching stories, touching memoirs, tales of tragic incidents, stories about relationships, and funny-only-in-hindsight true stories.

You’ll find beautiful, thought-provoking poetry about early ranching life, rock climbing, a beloved motorcycle, the loss of orchards, prospecting, experiences with forest fires, encounters with wildlife, and other special moments from various regions in BC.

***

Deirdre Hunting Season

by

Kristina Stanley

 

Artemis

Goddess of hunting, wilderness and wild animals.

Grants strength to others.

 

Due to the shortage of deer in the area, our community restricted deer hunting to bucks with four point antlers. The doe in the area needed more males. Well, so did I. I was forty years old, and my buck just married a doe half his age.

The hard part … In our small town nestled in the valley between the Rockies and the Purcell Mountains of south-eastern British Columbia everyone knew everyone. I did the books for half a dozen businesses on Main Street and was known as the accountant with the cheating husband. That’s me. Failure at marriage extraordinaire. I’m a rule follower. I do good deeds. I volunteer. I’ve never even received a parking ticket. So what happened in my life surprised me.

The day mother nature blew the leaves off my tree, I came home unexpectedly. We’d hired a local company to clean our air ducts, and the guy doing the work was supposed to come the following day. He called and asked if I could meet him a day early. I rushed home, even though I was busy, unlocked the front door and headed toward the back of the house. I’d told him I’d leave the kitchen door open for him.

Fifteen years of marriage pin-holed to one moment. A naked woman standing in my kitchen, leaning against my sink, drinking water from my glass…

Here is where you can find the rest of the story and many others:

VOICES FROM THE VALLEYS – Stories & Poems about Life in BC’s Interior

Amazon.com  Amazon.ca  Amazon.co.uk