One of my short stories has been published in the Writers Abroad anthology Foreign & Far Away.

The book comprises short stories, flash fiction, non-fiction pieces and poetry, all on the theme of foreign places.

My story, Longhouse, was inspired by time spent in Sabah, Borneo, and includes the following line:

I look up. Tourists. They always target me, because I’m fair-skinned, tall, so obviously not local. To them I must look like a life-ring in a dark and unfamiliar sea.

Writers Abroad are donating all profits made from sales of Foreign & Far Away to Book Aid International, a fabulous charity which works to improve access to books and supports literacy, education and development in sub-Saharan Africa. It’s a wonderful venture to have my short story included in.

My excitement increased when I discovered that Writers Abroad received more than 200 submissions for the anthology, and my tale is one of only 38 short stories that made it to publication.

Intriguingly, author Amanda Hodgkinson, who wrote the recent SkyLightRain guest post on writing historical fiction, provided the anthology’s foreword. It seems that the writers’ world really is a small one!