‘Jacinta’s Lovers’ has appeared in the Love Hurts anthology from Meerkat Press,¹ who are “committed to finding and publishing exceptional, irresistible, unforgettable fiction.” So no holding back there. The anthology is available at Amazon.
‘Jacinta’s Lovers’ is science fiction with a sprinkling of fantasy fairy dust, and the broad inspiration for the story was a collection of works by the Australian poet Peter Porter. I’d planned to quote a line from the magical poem ‘An Australian Garden’ which appeared in The Rest on the Flight—
And everything that lives shall have a name to show its heart
but getting permission from the publishers turned out to be difficult.
Another, more defined, source for the story was The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and when I reread it, it got me thinking about the relationship between the science fiction and fantasy genres.
¹The literary meerkat at Meerkat Press:
