Mystery, Dragons, Spies, and Custard
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Bothering With the Details: A Copyediting Cozy Mystery Short Story
Longtime copyeditor Lydia Menchin prides herself in having memorized The Chicago Manual of Style and being able to focus despite distractions. But the tech company she works for still fires her, assuming her age made her unable to understand electronic newsletters.
Lydia still reads the newsletter and finds the mistakes the new, clearly inferior editor misses.
Until she starts to suspect the errors might just be intentional….
“Bothering With the Details” originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, 2018.
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Dragons. Who doesn’t love them? But this collection isn’t just about the brutes or beasts. No, there are philosophical dragons. Technological dragons. Even sexy dragons. Not just fantasy dragons. But science fantasy. Or straight science fiction. Historic and future dragons. You’re going to meet dragons from all walks of life in the pages of this anthology. Mostly unexpected. Not the kinds of dragons you’ve met before.
Come and explore all the myriad facets of these fascinating creatures.
Available in both ebook and print.
This anthology contains my story “Beautiful Soul,” set in Victorian London.
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Set your cauldron to bubbling, and read these fifteen tales of magic, sorcery, and enchantment! What if you could smell magic—or go to a bar and get a shot of magic to go with your cocktail? Will an aging sorcerer’s last pupil ever learn anything? And what could possibly go wrong when a pair of witches enter the local chili cook-off? Includes stories by DeAnna Knippling, Leah R. Cutter, Robert Jeschonek, Debbie Mumford, Annie Reed, Rei Rosenquist, Alicia Cay, James Pyles, Grayson Towler, Jamie Ferguson, Dayle A. Dermatis, Thea Hutcheson, Leslie Claire Walker, Sharon Kae Reamer, and Steve Vernon. This anthology contains a reprint of my story “Telling the Bees,” part of the Holly and Willow hedgewitch series.
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The Florentine Exchange:
A Page-Turning Spy Story Full of Twists and Turns
During a sultry summer in Florence, Italy, rule-following Libby must make an information exchange when her mentor, Antonia, sprains her ankle.
But then she discovers Antonia had two identical thumb drives. Was Antonia planning to give the wrong one to her contact?
Libby must make split-second decisions while her own life is on the line.
Clever spy thriller “The Florentine Exchange” transports readers to the sticky sumer humidity and historical beauty of Italy and keeps them on the edge of their seats, as only accomplished writer Dayle A. Dermatis can do.
“The Florentine Exchange” originally appeared in Fiction River Special Edition: Spies, 2019, and was reprinted in Voices Carry, and Other Stories of Women and Crime, 2020.
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Custard: A Romeo and Juliet Story (Sort Of)
Brownies—not the little girls or the fudgy treat kind, but the Scottish pixie kind—help take care of households by being superior with household chores.
Agnes and Neil, from different brownie clans and working at different manor houses, both pride themselves in their custard. Custard, which requires the best, freshest eggs.
A chance meeting over a favorite clutch of eggs starts Agnes and Neil on an adventure, and the chance to create something new.
Their story will never be forgotten.
Editor Dean Wesley Smith says of “Custard,” “Dayle Dermatis…is a storyteller whose compelling and playful prose I will follow down virtually any path.”
“Custard: A Romeo and Juliet Story (Sort Of)” originally appeared in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, 2021.
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