I'm quite proud of "Fresh Catch of the Day." This fantasy story appears in A Quiet Afternoon 2, the second volume of an anthology series of low-fi speculative fiction from Grace&Victory Publications.

Low-fi spec fic aims "for a peaceful break from a stressful world." Volume 1 contained my "An Inconvenient Quest," and I'm delighted that the G&V team thought "Fresh Catch of the Day" would make a great addition to Volume 2.

Often, when I'm writing a new short story, I'm doing it with a challenge in mind. For "Fresh Catch of the Day," that challenge was writing a short story with a solid plot contained within 1,000 words. Oh, I've written plenty stories of that length before! But those have all tended more toward the poetic prose side of my writing, generating atmosphere and character more vividly than the plot.

Enter Jiàn, an older woman with a middling magical gift compared to everyone else in her world. Hearing about a special seafood catch at the local market leads her to make a perhaps hasty decision to pursue it with a single-minded focus.

You'll have to order A Quiet Afternoon 2 to see if she pulls it off! I ultimately pulled off the story at just over 1,100 words. Like Jiàn, I know sometimes you have to push yourself past your limits to get the job done. ;)

A Quiet Afternoon 2 contains 27 low-fi tales. It's available in ebook formats from Grace&Victory directly at Payhip. The anthology is $9 CAD, so a little over $8 in USD.

I do hope you enjoy it! Here are the first few lines of "A Fresh Catch of the Day" to whet your appetite.

Jiàn, seventy-one but as spry as sixty-three, pondered which vendor she’d like to barter with to use her water-spouting skills for lunch. A spark of light about as bright and fast-fizzling as a firecracker caught her eye. Ah, the light-weavers are at work.

And a photograph to set the mood:

An oyster chef at work.

I hope you enjoy "Fresh Catch of the Day!"