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Occasionally, when an author finds inspiration for a new story, a few notes are made, ideas become words and they quickly build into sentences. A fictional world is created, characters are born, and then problems are introduced by the author.

In the case of Czech Mate, the problems were in the real world. I visited Prague in September 2017 and within hours I had an idea and was making notes. I arrived back in the UK after my holiday and the new story was allotted time among other projects. It was about four months later when I shelved the unfinished manuscript, written in the first-person point of view.

My ‘Czech Mate’ idea didn’t have sufficient intrigue and would need time to develop in my head. Fortunately, I maintain two or more Work in Progress (WIP), so I was content to move on to something else. Although this book wasn’t getting much attention I was producing other stories so my output wasn’t an issue.

In November 2018, Czech Mate was put on hold again, having been reworked in third-person point of view. Throughout 2019 I pulled the manuscript out and wrote brief passages to build on my initial idea. It was early in 2020 before I had my Eureka moment. The basic plot remained the same but the detail of the story took on a life of its own with the introduction of two fresh characters.

How many drafts? I hear someone ask.

My response—how good are you with a scientific calculator?

The story is out there now and waiting to entertain you.

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For those of you who subscribe, Czech Mate, like all of my titles, is available to read free on Kindle Unlimited.

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Some might see ‘Time after Time’ as a worn-out phrase but I saw it as both the inspiration and title for a new venture—a collection of tales related to ‘Time’.

I first considered a personal anthology of short stories using ‘Time’ as the theme and then it occurred to me to widen the net—offer the idea as a platform for fellow authors. I first had guests contributing original tales when I produced The Welcome: and other Sci-Fi stories, a ‘genre-based’ collection.

This new anthology is not genre-based but ‘theme-based’ which means that authors had the freedom to use any genre with which they were comfortable (except erotica), but the story had to be original and related to ‘Time’.

Occasionally, an author will be attracted to a theme and in this case, a couple of my guests provided more than one story. This is a win-win. It first provides the reader with a larger volume of entertainment for the same low price of 99p/99c. It also gives the author the opportunity to showcase more of their talent in their new work.

Why is a collection of 19 stories being sold at only 99p/99c?

My reason for producing these ‘guest author’ anthologies is not to make money, but to provide a platform for my fellow scribes and me. Short stories are one step above poetry at the lower end of eBook sales but for those who enjoy a selection of coffee-time tales and like a bargain, it works well.

For the benefit of both readers and guest authors, there is a short bio and links included for all who have submitted stories. A unique feature in this anthology is a foreword about Time by etymologist, Millie Slavidou, one of my guests. I believe the brief introduction into the subject creates the right mindset before delving into the tales.

I wrote six original stories specifically for this collection and they appear at the latter end of the book. As I’ve done for my guests, I’ve included a bio and links for readers to check out my other literary efforts.

I hope you feel motivated to give this collection a try and you are entertained. As with all eBooks I publish, this one will be available to read free on Kindle Unlimited.

If you do try the book, please consider leaving a review.

Thank you.

Tom

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