COMING SOON...
Unguarded Heart
COMING SOON...
The Guessing Game
short stories
Treasure can present itself in a multitude of other ways: the precious family heirloom, time spent with a loved one, a memory held close to ones heart or, as Dave Dick’s illustration on this collection’s cover portrays, a proud cat with its catch. Colp’s eighth collection, Treasure, features stories that delve into just some of the many different interpretations of the concept. Stella's story, "A Secret Kept" can be found in this anthology.
Featured in COLP Treasure Anthology
A Secret Kept
When love goes wrong, it can be a killer. This collection exalts and explores the many ways love can go wrong, may it be romantic relationships, friendships, or familial bonds, sometimes, love can become deadly or scary. Here you have fourteen chilling tales of love and the wounds it leaves, sometimes metaphorical sometimes literal. Love kills, and these authors expertly wield the knife in this anthology that you don't want to miss! Stella's story, "Of Guys and Dolls" can be found in this horror anthology.
Featured in Tainted Love Anthology
Of Guys and Dolls
Viruses are not new to life or literature, but the ways we experience them are always evolving. And stories are some of the best ways to heal, connect with others, process our own emotions, and remember the nuances of unique times and places, so join us as we explore love and loss, passion and betrayal, fear and panic, togetherness and separation, community and isolation within viruses of all varieties—real and imagined.
Stella's story, "Surviving the Dawn" can be found in this new anthology.
Surviving the Dawn
Featured in When the World
Stopped Anthology
Dragon Child
A Thousand More
You’ve heard the story of the princess trapped in the tower, the damsel in distress awaiting her white knight. The story is almost too common that when I set out for this quest, I had my every move planned. Save the beautiful princess from whatever evil had her trapped there and deliver her to the king for a handsome sum. Easy money.
Can you imagine my surprise when I arrived at said tower, so high up that you can barely make out the top through the clouds, to find this, this mess? The princess, should I even grace her with such a pleasant title, is nothing I expected. Any princesses I’d heard about were legendary beauties with poise, and grace, and a general appreciation for someone who has risked their life to save them.
An Unlikely Damsel
For the Love of Life
“I see the moon, and the moon sees me.”
Her voice carries on the night breeze as it winds its way through the tall weeds, loosening soft petals from their bud to swirl above, higher and higher still. And Esme twirls with them, her sheer nightdress ghostly pale; a beacon in the night. It calls to Edmund, and he finds her this way.
Only the Moon Sees
It isn’t that complicated, but kind of is. I mean, we see this kind of thing in rom coms and silly television shows on a regular basis. And we always assume we know how it’s going to end. Until you’re in the middle of it, and there are suddenly all these equations you never considered. It’s just, well, it goes a little something like this: he loves her, she doesn’t even know he exists, and I am crazy for him.
Now this could go one of three ways in my head. They could fall madly in love and make me want to lose my lunch every time I see them together. I could finally become brave enough to admit my feelings for him and we end up together. Or all of us continue living our lives, pining over the people we can’t have.
It Goes a Little Something Like This
“I see the moon, and the moon sees me.”
Her voice carries on the night breeze as it winds its way through the tall weeds, loosening soft petals from their bud to swirl above, higher and higher still. And Esme twirls with them, her sheer nightdress ghostly pale; a beacon in the night. It calls to Edmund, and he finds her this way.
Only the Moon Sees
The burn comes first. It goes down, chased by a sharp intake of breath. Down it flows, pooling in her belly, lining the insides. More goes down, numbing the path. She can barely taste it, and now she doesn’t have to hold her breath. Her veins tingle, her mind buzzes, and she no longer feels like herself. I am coming, the one Jenny has come to depend on in such social crisis.
Drunken Spoils
"Stella B James considers stereotypes of femininity in her story To Be a Girl."
~Shooter Literary Magazine
To Be a Girl
You were the life of the party, constantly surrounded by giggling girls. And I was the cynical one, the one who never wanted to catch your eye. But somehow, I did, and I had only one thing to fear. What would happen if I fell in love with you?
If I Fell
My mama lived by three simple rules and merely twelve hours after her death, I had broken them all. But what mama don’t know can’t hurt her.
The Unspoken Rule
He loves me.
I study the petal held between my fingertips with interest, amused that something so fragile could determine my heart’s fate. I drop it to float down and land on the pavement where many discarded petals lay scattered at my feet.
My head falls back, breathing in a sigh of contentment, enjoying the warmness that spreads over me. Warm like his fingers when they accidentally brush against mine. Warm like his honey brown eyes that sometimes linger on me when I am up at the board working out a frustrating math equation. Warm like his voice that soothes over me as his breath tickles against my cheek.
Love Me Not
