#atozchallenge: Anthology of an Anthology

This April it's all about the 2014: A Year In Stories project I'm participating in via Pure Slush Books. (You were warned here.)

What is the 2014: A Year In Stories project?

A twelve-volume anthology, a volume per month, throughout 2014. The writers involved were assigned a specific date of the month, and they each write a story every month that takes place on that date. Mine, for example, is the 1st; my stories take place on Jan 1, Feb 1, Mar 1...

Yep: today is April 1st. A story of mine is happening. Interested? You can read it in the April volume's Amazon sample. You can also read Stephen V. Ramey's review here. (He reviews the day's story every day, and has been doing so since January 1st. A round of applause for Stephen, please!)

2014 April Vol. 4
If you like today's story, think about this:
I'm the ugly duckling among these thirty-one swans. 

To quote Pure Slush (because no one says it better):

"What we're publishing is a series of stories from each writer that arcs across the whole year, involving the same character or set of characters. Twelve days in the lives of [these] people. So every month, as the books are released, readers can dip into these characters' lives. Like a serial."

Pure Slush, Background to 2014 Project

Who are the writers involved?

Find all thirty-one, and the dates assigned to them, here.

And the stories?

Seven snippets for your daily extraordinary fiction fix:

Each week I pick my two favorites. Two favorite little darlings. On Monday I first picked the redhead boy who I would guess to be about seven years old [...]
The inner, slimy, workings of a paedophile's mind. (Susan Tepper's Snakes and Snails, January)

2014 January Vol. 1

I hear the familiar buzz of voices, inane chatter from my daughter, more coherent speech from my son, my wife's voice with the edge of authority in it, keeping them on task. It sounds foreign to my ears, even after all these years--spending 7 or 8 months a year mostly away from them makes me a stranger in my own life.
Michael Webb's baseball stories aren't about baseball at all. (First Inning, January)

I have lived with this project for three years and the two accents are integral to the book. I can only conclude their non-inclusion is a sign that you do not take me or my work as a writer seriously.
Sally-Anne Macomber explores writerly tantrums in Indignation (January).

"...I'm sure he just, well, he probably hasn't had a minute to himself..." 
I keep my mouth shut, pour out the tea and get the last of her birthday cake out of the fridge.
Mandy Nicol's slice of life and heartbreak. (Thorns, January)

I'd suggest she hire one of those planes that writes fluffy messages in the sky to spell out the word "CUNTS" over their love nest, but she'd kill me for resorting to any form of humour so early on in her heartbreak.
Shane Simmons portrays the love-hatred of friendship in You Can't Choose Your Friends (January).

There will be a high-speed chase scene, profanity, cops, those fuckers, trying to fuck things up, and a broken heart, or at least one sore dick. But this is not that kind of story.
Michelle Elvy takes us on a joyride--literally and otherwise--in Cornfield (January).

Men who say, "I'm paying so much in child support I need to know how fertile you are," even before I buy them a drink.
Matt Potter's quirkiness-personified protagonist, Morgana Malone, complains in Morgana Malone and the Case of the Mysterious Flood (January).

This self-same Matt, by the way, is also the instigator, mastermind, ringleader, peacekeeper, and editor extraordinaire behind this project. Come back on M day for an exclusive backstage pass: Susan Tepper interviews him right here on Quiet Laughter.

~ * ~

Did you enjoy these snippets? I'll keep sharing, one or two a day, from different stories and different authors. (Want more now?) I'll also look behind the scenes, at stories and authors, and dig deeper into the characters. Think of these posts as something like the 2014 project "movie companion" ;)

What's on the agenda for tomorrow? 

Bachelors! 

Eligible, creepy, forlorn, desirable, old enough, not young enough.
Boat owners, baseball players, writers with writer's block, businessmen, hit men.
Ex-husbands, fathers, sons. 
You name it, 2014's got it. 

Thanks for the visit, and see you around the A-to-Z blogs!