Why Short Reads?

I've had this question a few times: Why not just take all the stories in this series and publish them as one big book?

Well, I started off trying to do just that. It was taking a reaaaally long time.

I grew up reading long, multi-volume epic Sci-Fi and Fantasy. You know the ones I mean. They were great. I was transported to other worlds, for hours on end. I originally thought that was how this one would go.

However, I find nowadays, I don't really have hours and hours to spend on my world-hopping. I'm guessing maybe you don't have as much time to do that as you'd like, either.

Short stories have been around a long time. In the 30's people read short stories in magazines ["pulp fiction," so called because of the type of paper they were printed on] and even now, there are lots of Science Fiction anthologies and the like.

Amazon even has a "Short Reads" category....

This gave me an idea.

I switched gears and started writing it in a short story style. All of a sudden it began moving. The pacing picked up and it became fun to write. Much like a TV series [and who doesn't like those?] the action progressed at a break-neck pace and at the end of the section, the story had resolved within the settings of that story bite. The over-arching story continued, but it was broken down into easily digestible portions.  :)

My hope is that you, dear reader, find these compartments of story as enjoyable an escape as I found them to be while writing them.  Even with our busy schedules.

R. MacKay