My “Winter Winds” in The Rabbit Hole VII: Not From Here

I asked fellow The Rabbit Hole VII: Not From Here anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so appeared over the past few weeks. The last two in this set are of yours truly.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to The Rabbit Hole VII: Not From Here (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

And now, my Winter Winds:

It occurred to me, as I sat watching, that the scene was not as it should be. The winds played oddly on the landscape, and even the patterns of the falling snow were different. However, it wasn’t until I turned off the floodlights, which are white, and turned on the ground lights, which are pink, that the entire scene was revealed to me.


How the story came about:
Winter Winds was my first for-pay publication (1987). I wrote it during my third time through college, winter term and, bored, I started writing…on a terminal…over a 300-baud modem…to my college’s DEC 10 Big Iron computer.
Yeah, I’m old.
I wrote it thinking it was a perfect Twilight Zone story (don’t know if that magazine exists anymore). No deal.
Back then you actually mailed things out and, typical college student me, I didn’t have lots of coin to spare so chose my markets carefully.
And evidently poorly.
Nobody took an interest.
Finally and as a joke, I sent it to Child Life and got a response in less than a month (lightning quick in those days). They loved it.
And it’s been one of my most anthologized stories ever since.

About me

See all The Rabbit Hole VII: Not From Here stories here.

The Rabbit Hole VII: Not From Here is available on