My short story “Sleepers” appeared in the March 2014 issue of Interzone and was reprinted online in the December 2014 isssue of Fantastic Stories.

First line: “The newscasters say that the sleepers came without warning, that one day they weren’t here and the next, they were.”

Inspiration: In February of 2013, my partner had spinal surgery. On my birthday one day later, I broke my ankle in a car crash. This left us both rather helpless in a 700 square foot duplex, but it also gave me six free weeks of writing time and some misery for inspiration. Naturally, I wrote about a young woman struggling with panic and the drawn-out death of her father in a hospital.

Praise for “Sleepers”:

• “This story, for me, has a similar power and feel of the archetypal Joel Lane story and that means extremely powerful.” –THE DF LEWIS DREAMCATCHERS (Gestalt Real-Time Reviews)
• SFRevu calls it interesting in this review.
• “This is a story of letting go, and coming to terms with bereavement and life, a potential triumph over anxiety.” –Matthew S. Dent’s A Mad Man With a Blog
• “Issue 252 of science-fiction and fantasy magazine Interzone (number 252, TTA Press, ISSN 0264-3596) contains a mixed bunch of fiction with “Sleepers” standing out as the best.” –Steve Rogerson on Wizzley.com

Buy a copy of Interzone, the high quality British SFF magazine where “Sleepers” first appeared (Issue 252): http://ttapress.com/interzone/backissues/

Read it for free on Fantastic Stories: http://www.fantasticstoriesoftheimagination.com/short-story-sleepers/

Art: The Tempest by Jennifer Stufflebeam