I’m pleased to announce I’ll have a story, “The Mother’s Keepers,” in this upcoming anthology, The Sum of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound, edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law.
Here’s how it’s described:
The world of caregivers and unsung heroes, the province of ghosts . . .
If we believe that we are the protagonists of our lives, then caregivers— our pillars—are ghosts, the bit players, the stock characters, the secondary supports, living lives of quiet trust and toil in the shadows. Summoned to us by the profound magic of great emotional, physical, or psychological need, they play their roles, and when our need diminishes . . .
Fade.
These are their stories.
Children giving care. Dogs and cats giving care. Sidekicks, military, monks, ghosts, robots. Even aliens. Care given by lovers, family, professionals. Caregivers who can no longer give. Caregivers who make the decision not to give, and the costs and the consequences that follow. Bound to us by invisible bonds, but with lives, dreams, and passions of their own.
Twenty-three science ction and fantasy authors explore the depth and breadth of caring and of giving. They nd insight, joy, devastation, and heroism in grand sweeps and in tiny niches. And, like wasps made of stinging words, there is pain in giving, and in working one’s way through to the light.
Our lives and relationships are complex. But in the end, there is hope, and there is love.
In addition to me, authors included in the anthology are: Colleen Anderson, Charlotte Ashley, Brenda Cooper, Ian Creasey, A.M. Dellamonica, Bev Geddes, Claire Humphrey, Sandra Kasturi, Tyler Keevil, Juliet Marillier, Matt Moore, Heather Osborne, Nisi Shawl, Alex Shvartsman, Kate Story, Karina Sumner-Smith, Amanda Sun, Hayden Trenholm, James Van Pelt, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Christie Yant, Caroline M. Yoachim, and Dominik Parisien (Introduction).
This is the second of Laksa’s “social causes” anthologies; I also had a story in last year’s Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts.
Laksa will donate $1,000 CAD to the Canadian Mental Health Association upon publication. In addition, a portion of the anthology’s net revenue goes to the Canadian Mental Health Association.
I’ll be present at the pre-launch event at When Words Collide in Calgary in August, and also at a launch event at Can-Con in Ottawa in October.
